A long-established charity came to us with a tangled, expensive accounting setup that flagged problems without ever solving them. Years on, it's a well-run organisation with a clear, honest view of its own performance.
When a new manager took over this long-established charity, she inherited an accounting setup that even seasoned professionals would have struggled to untangle.
“As a charity, having reliable financial support is essential. Inspired Accounting (formerly Gower Accountancy) has been a valued partner to our organisation for over two decades. Their expertise, responsiveness and clear financial guidance have helped us strengthen our financial management, make informed decisions and focus on delivering high-quality services to the people who rely on us. Their long-term support has played an important role in the stability and growth of our charity.”
The problem
Her predecessor had employed a junior, inexperienced bookkeeper working without oversight. To catch what the bookkeeper missed, the charity had also brought in external consulting accountants — but their adjustments were understood by no one outside the consultants themselves. On top of that, an auditor was appointed to review both the bookkeeper's work and the consultants' changes, creating a chain of checks that flagged problems without ever solving them. It was an expensive setup too: high fees for input that rarely translated into anything the team could use, because the systems needed to act on it were beyond the bookkeeper's experience.
What we did
Our first step was to rebuild the sales recording process from the ground up, creating a system that tracked income independently of bank deposits — giving a genuine, verifiable check on revenue. We then grouped the charity's services into seven business headings, so it was finally clear which activities were generating a surplus and which were draining funds.
We built this into Sage, took over payroll, and mapped staff roles against each business heading so costs could be properly allocated. With a full reconciliation complete, we established proper management accounts with a clear profit-and-loss view, produced bespoke reporting for each service line, and set up monthly meetings with the treasury team and board to review performance together.
Where they are today
We remain fully active in the charity, building budgets, actuals and comparatives to track performance, with turnover now projected at £1.2 million. It's a robust, well-run organisation providing much-needed services to the community — something we're genuinely proud to support.
The charity has evolved through a series of challenges over the years, including periods of external pressure, the impact of Covid, and changes in management with very different operational styles. We have systems in place to keep costs under control and continuously assess performance, flagging both areas of concern and areas doing well.
It employs a growing team, all managed by us, and we've continued to modernise its systems — including migrating from Sage to Xero as the organisation outgrew its previous software. Every set of monthly accounts is backed by full documentary evidence and a complete audit trail, keeping the charity fully auditable — essential for any charity-sector organisation. We've since implemented similar systems for others in the same sector, giving them the same clear, honest view of their performance.