How to Fix a Broken Finance Function (Without Hiring a Full Team)

When a business grows past £1m turnover, the finance function often starts to crack under the weight of growth.

Suddenly, you have late invoices, unclear cash flow, and no idea if that new hire or marketing push is affordable.

It’s tempting to say, “Let’s hire a full finance team.”But most companies don’t need more people, they need better systems, clearer accountability, and smarter controls.

Why is this such a big problem?

When the finance function breaks, the damage spreads far beyond the accounts team:

• Cash flow chaos: Without proper processes, money gets trapped in late invoices or overspending. Operations halt when suppliers stop work and Staff worry when payroll runs thin.

• Bad decision-making: Leaders make critical choices, hiring, launching products, spending on marketing, without clear financial data. This leads to overextending or missing growth opportunities.

• Supplier and customer trust breaks down: Late payments frustrate suppliers; billing errors confuse customers and your reputation suffers.

• Leadership distraction: Directors and founders get pulled into finance firefighting, chasing payments, approving costs, instead of driving strategy. The business stagnates.

• Missed opportunities: You hold back on expansion, hiring, or investment because you don’t know if you can afford it.

Why do finance functions break and how to fix them?

It’s rarely just one issue. Usually, it’s a multipul of impacts

1️⃣ Growth outpaces systems: What worked at £500k turnover, spreadsheets, manual approvals, casual processes, collapses at £2m+ when transaction volumes, teams, and complexity explode.

Example: Suddenly you’re handling multiple projects, international payments, or departments, but still reconciling accounts in Excel.

✅ Audit and map your finance function: Document every task: invoicing, collections, reporting, compliance, cash management, forecasting. Identify bottlenecks, duplication, or gaps.

Control tip: Turn this into a live process map, reviewed quarterly. Use it as a training tool and risk checklist.

2️⃣ No clear roles or accountability: Tasks are scattered across admin, sales, and ops. Directors approve costs ad hoc. Nobody owns the full financial picture.

Example: The admin assistant runs payroll; sales issues credit notes; the founder approves expenses via WhatsApp.

✅ Assign clear ownership and accountability: Create a RACI chart (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) for every process. Define who does what internally, and where you need external support.

Control tip: Set up monthly task checklists. Track completion. Review them in a leadership meeting so accountability stays visible.

3️⃣ Outdated tools and disconnected systems: Manual processes and non-integrated systems create delays, errors, and data silos.

Example: Invoices prepared in Word, bank recs in Excel, reports in Sage — none of it talks to each other.

✅ Upgrade systems and automate admin: Invest in cloud-based, integrated tools (Xero, QuickBooks, Dext, ApprovalMax) to automate bank reconciliations, invoicing, approvals, and reporting.

Control tip:Implement user permissions, approval thresholds, and audit trails. Set automatic alerts for overdue tasks or abnormal transactions.

4️⃣ Staff capability gaps: Loyal internal staff may be hardworking but lack experience managing complex financial operations.

Example: Your bookkeeper is great, but they can’t produce board-level reports or cashflow forecasts.

✅ Train non-finance teams: Operations, sales, and project teams influence cash flow every day. Make sure they understand the numbers.

Control tip: Run basic finance workshops:

• Why invoicing early matters

• How gross margin works

• What costs are fixed vs variable

Embed financial literacy into team culture.

✅ Outsource specialist work: Don’t hire a full-time CFO if you only need part-time expertise. Bring in fractional finance directors, accountants, or tax advisors for high-level tasks.

Control tip: Define clear scopes of work, deliverables, timelines, and communication channels. Include external experts in monthly finance reviews.

5️⃣ Leadership neglect or mismanagement: Finance is seen as “back office” admin, only noticed when there’s a crisis.

Example: Leadership only asks for numbers when cash runs low or year-end looms.

✅ Align finance and leadership: Finance isn’t just reporting, it’s strategy. Bring finance into leadership conversations.

Control tip:Set clear financial KPIs (e.g., DSO, gross margin %, cash runway) and track them monthly at board level. Make finance a standing agenda item.

✅ Build a live financial dashboard: Create a simple, visual dashboard showing:

• Cash today / 7 days / 30 days

• Aged debtors and creditors

• Sales pipeline

• Gross margins by product/project

• Overhead run rate

Control tip: Share dashboards across leadership. Use colour coding (green/yellow/red), charts, and brief notes. Review them weekly, not just at month-end.

Final takeaway

If your finance function is broken, hiring more people won’t fix it unless you first fix the system.

✅ Map your processes.

✅ Clarify accountability.

✅ Upgrade tools and controls.

✅ Bring in targeted expertise.

✅ Involve your leadership team.

Do this, and you turn finance from a bottleneck into a growth engine, one that protects cash, improves decisions, and powers your next stage.

Wrapping up today's insights, tomorrow we simplify another accounting challenge.