A small practice for owner-managed businesses
Fern Works handles the year end, the bookkeeping behind it, and the quarterly conversations in between — for sole traders and companies that would rather know their position in June than find out in January.
What we handle
Nothing here is bundled vaguely. Each lane lists the work we do and the records we need in order to do it without chasing you twice.
Statutory accounts prepared, reviewed with you line by line, then filed. We draft early so there is time to question a figure before anything is submitted.
You send usBank statements for the full period, the sales ledger, and anything bought or sold outside the bank.
Monthly coding, bank reconciliation and a short note on anything that looks unusual. You get a clean set of books rather than a folder of receipts with a deadline attached.
You send usReceipts and invoices as they happen — photographed is fine — plus read access to the business account.
Payslips on a fixed day each month, starter and leaver paperwork, pension submissions, and the year-end summaries your team will ask for.
You send usHours or salaries by the 20th, plus starter details before a new person's first payday.
Quarterly returns prepared from reconciled books, with a check on scheme suitability once a year — flat rate is not always the cheaper option once you start buying stock.
You send usPurchase invoices for the quarter and a note of any equipment bought on finance.
A planning conversation before the year closes, not after. Salary and dividend mix, timing of purchases, whether an incorporation or a second director still makes sense.
You send usYour rough plans for the next twelve months — hiring, equipment, property, or an exit.
Which engagement fits
Pick by how your business is shaped rather than by size. If you are between two of these, say so in your enquiry and we will tell you which one we would put you on.
For self-employed people with one trade and a single business account.
For owner-managed companies with a director payroll and regular VAT returns.
For businesses adding staff, holding stock, or preparing for lending or investment.
Our working year
The practice runs to a schedule so that nothing lands on your desk unannounced. This is the shape of a normal year with us.
New-year setup: codes and allowances refreshed, payroll rates updated, and last year's file closed properly.
First-quarter review. We flag anything coded oddly while the paperwork is still easy to find.
Mid-year tax check and a forecast of what will be owed, so payments are not a surprise.
Draft accounts prepared for March year-ends, with questions sent to you in one batch.
Planning window. Salary and dividend mix, equipment timing, and anything worth doing before the year turns.
Filing run. Clients who sent records before November are signed off and submitted first.
How we work
We would rather be slow to take you on and quick thereafter. The review at the start is where most of the surprises get found.
You send last year's accounts and a recent bank statement. We tell you what state things are in and what it would take to tidy them.
A written scope with fixed scheduling, authority set up, and a clean handover from your previous accountant if there is one.
Bookkeeping, reconciliation and a short note. Questions arrive in one batch rather than trickling in all month.
Accounts drafted, reviewed with you, filed ahead of the deadline, and followed by a planning conversation for the year ahead.
Rowan Ilve · Practice lead
Fern Works is deliberately small, so the person who reviews your accounts is the person who answers your email. Rowan looks after every engagement personally, with a bookkeeper handling the monthly coding on Core and Growth Partner clients. If a question needs a specialist — a complex property disposal, say — we will tell you that plainly and bring one in rather than guess.
Before you enquire
Straight answers to the six things people usually want settled before they pick up the phone.
It depends on your profit level, whether you need to retain money in the business, and how much administration you are willing to carry. A company brings filing obligations, a payroll and public accounts; below a certain profit the tax saving rarely covers that. We will model both against your actual figures before recommending either, and we will say so if the answer is "stay as you are".
Usually, yes — being behind is common and fixable. We will quote the clean-up separately from the ongoing work so you can see exactly what the catch-up costs and what the normal year looks like afterwards. If there are late filings outstanding we will tell you where you stand before you commit to anything.
However suits you, as long as it is consistent. Most clients photograph receipts as they go and give us read-only access to the business bank account; some send a monthly folder instead. We do not require a particular app. What we do ask is that personal spending stays out of the business account — that single habit saves more time than any software.
Yes. Once authority is in place we handle routine correspondence and queries directly, and we tell you what was asked and what we said. Anything that needs a decision from you comes to you first — we never answer on your behalf about facts only you can confirm.
Yes, and it is often the sensible moment to move. We write to your current accountant for the handover file, reconcile the position at the changeover date, and carry on from there. Mid-year moves take a little longer to onboard because we verify opening balances rather than assume them.
Fees are fixed in writing for the scope we agree, billed monthly, and based on transaction volume, payroll size and VAT frequency rather than an hourly guess. They only change if the work changes — you take on staff, register for VAT, add a second entity — and we agree the new figure with you before doing that work, never afterwards on an invoice.
Start an enquiry
Five fields. One reply from the person who would actually do the work, with an honest view of whether we are the right fit.