The Scenario

Aqua Babies is a North West based children’s swimming tuition business that came to us off the back of a tough time after COVID.

The company had recently experienced a lengthy HMRC enquiry which had taken time and energy from the directors during an already difficult period.

The company’s records were semi-manual and getting accurate performance data was hard to come by and untimely.

The directors needed accuracy and insight to turn things around.

How We Helped

The accounting system needed a serious upgrade & streamlining and we used Xero & Dext to achieve this.

By removing paperwork and keeping digital records, we were able to keep the data live which gave quick and accurate feedback on the business’ performance.  By creating a more efficient system, the directors were able to spend less time on the accounts and more time on running the business.

Alongside this, we reverse engineered long-range forecasts to give the directors the targets they would need to turn the business around and recover from COVID.

We kept them accountable to these targets on a quarterly basis and as time passed, continued to update the plan to get them where they wanted and needed to be.

We also developed a weekly rolling cashflow tool to help them manage their cashflow with ease, spotting the pinch points and taking away the unknowns and unpredictability they had previously felt.

The business has now not only recovered from the COVID period but is stronger than it has ever been.

What They Said

James is the ultimate professional – we cannot believe how different our accounting experience is now after being with our previous trusted longstanding accountant for over 20 years.

Covid hit and being in the leisure industry we closed overnight and left limping along trying to find a way forward and keep our staff employed and our business viable.

Along came James as our new accountant, like a beacon of light in the style of a Star Wars lightsaber – probably one of our most important business decisions coming out of Covid.

James has provided us with regular communication relating to our financial position.  He listens and aims to match his efforts to our needs.

We have quarterly reviews and documented reports which are presented in an informative and understandable format.  Backing up the numbers and words are graphs and visuals which help us tremendously.

Our accountancy processes now benefit from the latest technological packages to take the stress and time out of our day-to-day operations.

Dext enables us via an app to download invoices and receipts in an instance as we go about our business.

We now have a real understanding of our finances and the impact we can have on our performance year on year.

Previously we felt extremely in the dark and often found it was too late to react to any information we gained after our year-end.  Now as well as all the wealth of analysis of KPIs and barometers at our fingertips, we also have an accurate view of our cash flow with a working spreadsheet.

Looking forward with our cash flow has been instrumental in improving our current position.  We appreciate what we have in the bank and what costs we have to budget for.

Business decisions are now easier as a result of having such clarity.

Being on course and actually ahead of the course, everything is accounted for.

Consequently, our understanding and best practices have enabled our turnaround and recovery from Covid has been far sooner than targeted, which has been an incredible achievement and removed any unnecessary stresses along the way too.

We now have focus and momentum and the desire to achieve and actively feel we are driving our own business achievements and reaping the rewards.

James is dynamic, forward-thinking, and adds to our thought process and development by sharing self-development knowledge as well as the latest business ideas.

He is our eyes and ears where accounts are concerned and supportively acts as a consultant to our business.

He has demonstrated a keenest to get to know us and our business and facilitates brainstorming for better thinking to help growth and change.

We are extremely impressed with the service we have had so far from James.  He also provides us with encouragement and coaching to be the best we can be and the fit between him and us just works incredibly well.

He truly cares about our business performance.

James is such a likeable, lovely, genuine guy with a brilliant sense of humour.

James has helped to open up our interest in our finances and has been key in our continued business growth and success going forward.  He explains our accounting position in a language we understand and not some complex ’accounts speak’.

We highly respect and regard James as one of our team and would highly, wholeheartedly recommend his services and that of Elevate.

Carol Ralph & Wendy Edmondson – Directors