Wrightcfo Ltd

03/08/2026

This week I can't ask "is this you?" — because the business I'd like to tell you about would much rather I didn't.

We're currently helping an owner prepare their business for sale. I can't share the sector, the size or the buyer. What I can share is what the work looks like — because between them, the CFOs in this practice have sat on every side of a sale over their careers, from preparing exits to running due diligence to integrating companies after the deal. It's broadly the same everywhere: numbers that survive a buyer's accountants, profits that are provable rather than plausible, a data room built before anyone asks, and the awkward questions asked internally before a buyer asks them expensively.

That's the difference between a good business and a sellable one — and it's built over months, not found in the final quarter.

The silence is part of the service. When word gets out a business might be for sale, staff get nervous and prices move. So we keep quiet. Terrible marketing, very good outcomes.

If a sale is anywhere on your horizon, even years out, the right time to start is before you think you need to. Message us — in confidence, naturally.

27/07/2026

Is this you?

You hired a brilliant finance manager when the business was doing £2M. You're at £6M now, and the numbers still arrive the way they did three years ago.

The instinct many founders have at this point is to replace them. Usually that's the wrong call, and an unfair one. What that person needs is what ambitious finance people almost never get: someone a few steps ahead, in their corner, showing them what the next level looks like.

We run coaching blocks for exactly this. Twelve sessions with one of our CFOs, covering commercial thinking, forecasting and cash, board communication, and how to challenge upwards. The business gets a finance function that grows with it. The finance person gets a career.

If someone on your team came to mind reading this, drop us a message. And if you're a finance person feeling the gap yourself, this works just as well when you're the one who asks.

20/07/2026

Is this you?

Year end has landed, the trustees meet in a few weeks, and the person who always translated the accounts for the board has gone.

A children's charity came to us in exactly that position recently. Kadia from our team took it on as a one-off project — a thorough review of the year-end accounts, then a board pack in plain English covering where the charity stands, the risks and opportunities, how the year compared to the last one, and what it all means for the children they support.

The founder was pleased. The trustees even more so.

"WrightCFO provided invaluable support during a period without a treasurer — a thorough financial review, translating year-end accounts into clear formats for all trustees." — Katherine Sparkes MBE, Flamingo Chicks

Not every engagement is a monthly retainer. Sometimes it's a few weeks of the right pair of hands at the right moment. If you know a charity missing that person this year end, do pass this on — or drop us a message.

24/06/2026

In February 2026, the UK filed almost exactly as many redundancy notices as it did in February 2009 — 430 then, 433 just before the last recession hit its worst.

Nobody knows what comes next. But across our clients right now, the pattern is hard to miss: redundancies, cost-cutting, founders who were hiring a year ago asking a very different question.

Most treat cost-cutting as a survival exercise — something you do reluctantly, when the bank balance forces your hand. The businesses that come through it well do the opposite. They cut before they have to, while there's still room to be surgical about it. Even the £1bn+ PE-backed group we're working with right now is doing this proactively, not in a panic.

And there's a piece of maths most founders never sit down to do: a pound of cost saved is worth far more than a pound of new sales. New revenue only gives you its margin — a saved pound is pure profit. At a 10% margin, cutting £1 does the work of winning £10.

This week's article covers why proactive beats reactive, where the painless 10% usually hides, and how to know how much to cut without cutting into muscle. There's also a calculator — put in your own numbers and see what a disciplined cut would do to your profit.

👉 https://wrightcfo.co.uk/2026/06/21/why-a-pound-saved-beats-a-pound-earned-fix-budget/

17/06/2026

Dreaming of taking your business past the £10M mark? Scaling successfully means more than just increasing sales—it’s about robust financial controls, clear reporting, and a team that’s ready for growth. If you want to know if your finance systems, governance, and margin management are truly investor-ready, take our Scale Readiness Assessment to find out where you stand

Most businesses stall before £10M — not because of sales, but because their finance function was built for a startup. Take the free 3-minute Scale Readiness Assessment and see exactly where the gaps are.

08/06/2026

Reaching £1M is the achievement everyone celebrates. Reaching £3M is the one that quietly breaks things — and almost nobody warns founders which things break first.

The founder who's still the bottleneck. The spreadsheet five people now edit. Profit up, but less in the bank. The first finance hire who's suddenly out of their depth.

None of it goes with a bang — which is exactly why it's so easy to miss until it's costing real money.

This week on The Scaleup CFO: the seven seams that tear on the way up, and how to spot them before they do. 👇

Growth doesn't break your product. It breaks your plumbing.

01/06/2026

We're refreshing Wrightcfo Ltd's online presence — and we'd love your help.

Since 2014, we've had the privilege of working alongside founders and finance teams building genuinely impressive businesses. If we've worked together over the years, a quick Google review would mean a great deal to us.

It helps other founders — the ones wrestling with the same challenges you once did — find a finance team that understands what scaling actually takes.

It takes about a minute:

https://g.page/r/CfhpPLXjDT8QEBM/review

Thank you for being part of the journey. 🙏

Post a review to our profile on Google

01/06/2026

The 3 mistakes I see costing creative, media and tech businesses the most.

Even the most experienced, talented founders make all three.

1. Undercharging, then wondering why you're exhausted.

-Why it happens: fear of losing the client.
-Result: you're busy, but not profitable — and you start resenting the work.
-Instead: price for the value you deliver, not the hours you log.

2. Treating revenue like success.

-Why it happens: big numbers feel good to say out loud.
-Result: you can have your best year on paper and still not be able to pay yourself properly.
-Instead: turnover gets you likes on LinkedIn. Margin pays your bills.

3. Saying yes to everything.

-Why it happens: every opportunity feels urgent.
-Result: you're everywhere and excellent nowhere.
-Instead: the clients you turn down define your positioning as much as the ones you take on.

Which one stings most? 👇

27/05/2026

Last week the IMF upgraded its UK growth forecast. The headlines celebrated. But there was a second number in the same report that mattered far more for anyone running a growing business — and almost nobody talked about it.
Our latest piece is about the gap between a national forecast and your actual numbers, and why the founders who scale through uncertainty are the ones who plan for it rather than react to it.
Worth a read if you're building something. 👇
https://wrightcfo.co.uk/2026/05/27/imf-forecast-not-a-business-plan/

21/05/2026

Investor-ready doesn't mean impressive. It means legible.

Numbers that reconcile. Definitions that hold up. Methodology that matches the investor's mental model.

Worth more than strong growth presented badly.

This week's newsletter covers what investor-ready financials actually mean before a Series A — and why the work starts twelve months out, not six weeks: https://wrightcfo.co.uk/2026/05/17/what-investor-ready-financials-actually-means-before-a-series-a/