Outsourced Finance Function
Growing marcomms agencies need more than basic compliance services. Barnridge Accountancy provides end-to-end outsourced accounting services to growing agencies. With our support, you can keep cash flowing, protect your margins, and gain the confidence to scale.
Outsourced finance departments for ambitious agencies
Running a successful agency means balancing momentum and growth with financial reality. And that’s hard if your accounts feel like a moving target.
At Barnridge Accountancy, we help marcomms agencies take control of their accounts. We understand the impact of fluctuating retainers, scope creep, and late-paying clients, so you won’t have to explain your business model to us. You can trust us to manage the numbers while you concentrate on everyday agency life.
From bookkeeping to management accounting, we can act as your fully managed finance department, ensuring your accounts are always accurate, available, and up to date. Beyond basic accounting, we will also provide genuinely helpful insights to inform important decisions like pricing, hiring, and director remuneration.
Talk to us about what your agency needs
More time back to run your agency
Reduce the finance admin and put your energy back into your agency.Reduce the finance admin and put your energy back into your agency.
Numbers that make sense
Regular performance reports to show what’s really happening.
Scalable support
The services you need, when you need them, as your agency evolves.
Senior expertise without the salary
Ongoing professional support without the overhead and HR headache.
Who our outsourced finance services are for
Barnridge works exclusively with founder-led marketing, creative and communications agencies that turnover around £250k to £5m.
Our clients are usually past the point where basic compliance is enough, but not yet at the stage where hiring a full internal finance team makes commercial sense. They are growing, often quickly, and need access to senior expertise to help get them to the next level.
While they all differ creatively, our clients face the same financial tensions: project margins, retainers, staffing costs, freelancer spend, late payments and fluctuating cash flow. If your agency is at a point where you need better financial oversight, it is worth a conversation.
The agencies we work with include:
Accounting systems set up
We can design, implement, and manage online accounting systems tailored to the realities of your agency. That might include project tracking and valuable time-saving automations, such as invoice approval and credit control.
We use Xero because it integrates seamlessly with the right apps and makes agency finances easier to manage. Whatever apps and integrations you choose, you’ll get a reliable, real-time, easy-to-use system you can trust.
Bookkeeping services
Bookkeeping is routine, but it matters. If transactions are not recorded properly, the rest of your reporting becomes guesswork.
We keep your records clean, current and easy to understand. You can see what has been billed, paid, what is due and where costs are creeping in. It also reduces end-of-year surprises and provides better control over VAT compliance.
Accounts payable and receivable
Late client payments can put serious pressure on your cash flow. Late supplier payments can damage relationships and create unnecessary noise inside the business. As your outsourced team, we keep both sides under control.
Your outsourced accounts team can raise client invoices, track what is owed, monitor what is overdue and follow up where needed, to protect your working capital.
On the accounts payable side, we process supplier invoices, manage expenses and prepare payment runs for staff, suppliers and freelancers. All you need to do is review and authorise them.
Cash flow forecasting and budgeting
Agency income is tied to project milestones, client churn and unpredictable payments. That’s why a constant view of cash flow is essential. We can help you see what’s around the corner, protect your cash, and plan for leaner periods before it becomes a major issue. It also gives you assurance when it comes to timing new hires, investing money back into the agency, and drawing a director’s salary.
Our forecasting service looks at your forecast profits, cash, and net assets, giving you a complete picture of what your business might look like in the future. This can become a powerful business planning tool, especially when it comes to raising finance.
Credit control
In our experience, busy agencies have little time for credit control, and things can get awkward when it comes to chasing clients. Your outsourced team can follow up missed and late payments with structured reminders and sensible escalation, without damaging relationships. You will receive regular reports to give you visibility over repeated late payers.
Bank account management and reconciliation
When your bank feed doesn’t match your records, reporting becomes unreliable and small errors can sit unnoticed for months. Your outsourced team will reconcile accounts regularly, check unusual movements and keep payment records tidy. You get a cleaner balance sheet and a quicker month-end process.
Payroll services
Payroll must be accurate and reliable to retain the best talent. Your outsourced finance team can ensure everyone is paid properly; you only need to provide director approval. We’ll keep you compliant, including managing PAYE and National Insurance deductions, HMRC payments, payroll allowances, benefits reporting, P11Ds and PAYE settlement agreements. We can also advise on tax-free and tax-saving benefits for your team.
Management reporting
Historical and annual financial data can be useful, but they don’t show you what’s happening right now. You will receive a monthly dashboard showing performance measures such as profit, cash, debtors, costs, margins, and any other KPIs important to your business.
Outsourced Finance Director
As your agency grows, decisions get more critical, such as when to invest in new systems and when to increase prices. Our outsourced FD service is for agencies with established teams and growing revenues that need more than monthly reporting.
As an independent outside voice, we can challenge assumptions, bring a fresh perspective to key decisions and work closely with your leadership team to keep financial operations aligned with business goals.
Finance inbox management
For agency founders, the daily inbox struggle can be overwhelming. By creating a dedicated finance inbox, we can manage all accounts-based emails, including supplier queries, client billing questions, remittance advice, statements and chasers. We’ll route invoices for your approval and flag anything that needs your attention. You can be confident that nothing will be missed and that your clients will always receive a response without delay.
Client contract preparation
A signed contract is essential before your team can start work for a new client. To save delays, we can prepare your client service agreements using your standard template. We’ll populate the fees, payment terms, notice periods and scope details, ready for review and signature. The added benefit of your accountant preparing contracts is that the numbers flow seamlessly into invoicing, ensuring fees are accurate and payment terms are enforced from day one.
Outsourced accounting services to keep your agency moving
You may not need all of these services straight away, but the benefit is that your outsourced team can grow with you. Here’s what we typically offer as part of our outsourced finance solutions.
Outsourced accounting in action
A growing digital agency came to Barnridge as their generalist accountant could no longer keep pace. Barnridge now delivers monthly reports in time for CFO meetings, manages staff payments in a single batch, reconciles accounts properly, manages the finance inbox, and handles supplier and freelancer payment runs. The agency has grown considerably, while the founder has regained time and improved financial control.
“Michael has really helped transform the way we handle finances and use data to make better, more informed decisions. He’s meticulous, professional and insightful. Highly recommended!”
PJ Appleton
Co-Founder, Bloxspring
Fair, fixed-monthly pricing
Every agency is different, so we price our outsourced finance function around the level of support you actually need. You may only need core bookkeeping and reporting, or you may want a fuller finance team covering payments, credit control, management information and FD input.
We’ll agree the scope and monthly fee upfront, so you know what is included before we start. From there, we’ll check in with you annually to see if your package still meets your needs.
Let's bring your agency's accounts under control
Where could your agency be this time next year if accounting wasn’t holding it back?
Your business deserves the type of guidance only a specialist accountant can give. At Barnridge, we work exclusively with agencies, so we understand the financial pressure as well as the untapped opportunities: better margins, smarter pricing, cleaner cash flow, stronger retainers and decisions that move the agency forward.
We are an experienced team, an ICAEW member firm and Xero-certified advisers, so you can be sure your accounts are in the best hands.
Talk to us today to find out how outsourcing your finance function can help move your business forward.
Give us a call
020 3997 6165
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Frequently asked questions about our outsourced finance services
What is a virtual finance office?
A virtual finance office or outsourced finance function is a remote finance team that runs your day-to-day accounting and reporting. Some agencies outsource a handful of functions, such as bookkeeping and payroll, while others opt for a fully outsourced team and finance manager with FD support.
How can an outsourced finance department help my agency?
Agency owners choose outsourced accounting to achieve more accurate records, stronger cash visibility and clearer reporting. It also reduces time-consuming admin for founders and helps make more commercially informed decisions.
How quickly can you take over our finance function?
At Barnridge, we onboard new clients efficiently and quickly. We’ll review your existing processes, accounting systems, reporting needs, payment routines and communication preferences. The aim is to create a clear and steady operating process, so everyone knows what happens when, who is responsible for what, and how financial information will be shared.
Are outsourced finance services flexible?
Outsourced finance services can scale up or down as your agency changes. You may need more support during a growth phase, a hiring push, a systems tidy-up or a period of tighter cash control. Equally, you may not need the cost of a full finance department in-house all year round. The advantage is flexibility: you get the level of finance support your agency needs now, without building a fixed internal team before the business is ready for one.
How much do outsourced finance departments cost?
When it comes to marcomms agency accounting, one-size-fits-all doesn’t work. How much it costs depends on factors such as the size of your business and the volume of transactions. But one thing is certain – it’s far less than hiring an in-house team and CFO. Following an initial consultation to understand your needs and see if we’re the right fit, we create bespoke packages with fixed monthly costs for you to choose from.
Not sure where to start? Get in touch with the team today and one of our accounting experts will be able to help.