04 · Finance Operations & Payroll
The recurring finance work, owned and kept moving.
Payables, receivables, billing, expenses, and payroll inputs on one visible calendar—prepared, approved, and kept moving without chasing.
- Prepared
- Approved
- Executed — by written agreement only
- Payroll checkpoint
Prepared, approved, executed—three different words on purpose.
The engagement is explicit about which of the three the firm does. Preparation is the default: complete, coded, evidenced work put in front of your named approver. Approval always stays with the client. Execution is a separate, written decision—never an assumption buried in an onboarding document.
Recognition
Signs this is the gap.
- Invoices go out late because the delivery team is busy.
- Supplier payments happen in panicked batches.
- Expense claims sit unprocessed until someone complains.
- Payroll inputs are assembled at the last minute, every time.
- Approvals happen in chat threads nobody can find later.
Scope
What is included—and what deliberately is not.
Included in the engagement
- Accounts payable: capture, coding, and payment-run preparation
- Accounts receivable: invoicing support and collections follow-up
- Expense processing against an agreed policy
- Payroll input preparation and provider coordination
- A recurring operations calendar with owners and approval points
Out of scope
- Direct execution of payments or payroll, unless separately and explicitly agreed in writing
- Employment, contract, and payroll-tax advice, which sit with the relevant registered advisers
- Approval authority—every approval remains with the client's named approvers
Preparation and coordination are the default. Direct execution of payments or payroll is agreed explicitly in writing, never assumed.
The working cycle
How the work runs.
- PrepareInvoices, expenses, payment runs, and payroll inputs are assembled, coded, and checked against the calendar.
- ApprovePrepared items go to the client's named approver with everything needed to decide—nothing moves without them.
- ExecuteApproved items are executed by whoever the engagement names in writing—the client, a provider, or, only where explicitly agreed, the firm.
- RecordWhat happened lands back in the ledgers in the same period, not in a month-end reconstruction.
- EscalateRejected, disputed, or stuck items follow the escalation path with an owner and a date.
Outputs
Deliverables, and what each is for.
- Operations calendar
- The recurring cycle on one page: what happens, when, and who owns it.
- Prepared payment runs
- Complete, coded, and evidenced—ready for a named approver to decide.
- Open-item lists
- Everything in flight—unbilled, unpaid, unapproved, disputed—each with an owner.
- Payroll input file
- The period's payroll data, prepared and reconciled for the provider and the approver.
Ownership
Who owns what.
Figures & Finance
- Prepare and code the recurring cycles to the calendar
- Coordinate providers and chase the inputs
- Keep open items visible with owners and dates
The client
- Approve payment runs and payroll through named approvers
- Own banking access and payment release, unless explicitly agreed otherwise in writing
- Supply the policy decisions: what gets paid, when, and within what limits
Registered advisers
- Payroll-tax and employment questions, coordinated with the relevant registered advisers
Fit
What the service needs, and who it suits.
Required information and access
- Agreed approval limits and named approvers before the first cycle runs
- Access to the invoicing, expense, and payroll systems in use
- A shared channel for queries and escalation
Suited to
- Businesses where recurring finance work stalls whenever the team gets busy
- Companies formalizing approvals after growing past founder-does-everything
- Teams that want preparation handled but control retained
Questions
Asked before most engagements.
Do you actually make the payments?
Only if that is separately and explicitly agreed in writing, with the control and liability wording settled first. The default is preparation and coordination: your approvers keep control of money movement.
Can you run our payroll?
The service prepares payroll inputs and coordinates with your payroll provider. Whether anything beyond preparation is in scope—and under whose authority—is a written engagement decision, not a default.
What happens when an approver is unavailable?
The approval path agreed at onboarding names deputies and an escalation route, so the calendar keeps moving without anyone improvising authority.
Will this work with our existing providers and systems?
The provider and system landscape is confirmed during scoping. The calendar is built around what you already run wherever practical; changes are proposed openly, not forced.
Connected work
Works closely with.
Bring this service to a clarity call.
The first conversation maps finance operations & payroll against your current setup: the highest-priority gap and the clearest next step.