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As the director of Acumist, an award-winning cloud accounting firm and a Xero Gold Partner, I had the pleasure of attending the 12-week VFD Mastery Programme. With over 35 years of business experience, I was searching for a solution that would bring more structure to our methods, and VFD Pro exceeded all expectations.
The platform is truly exceptional, offering shortcuts that save time and enhance our work processes. I thoroughly enjoyed the entire experience and am confident in the positive impact it will have on our clients at Acumist. We pride ourselves on combining outstanding service with automated accounting to help businesses bring their future into focus.
The FIMBO programme is a valuable addition and will serve as an educational platform for our clients and prospects. Increased knowledge and awareness will undoubtedly lead to them seeking additional support.
Regular check-ins and the supportive VFD community will be invaluable assets as we continue to develop our client offering. With VFD Pro's structured approach to financial management and business performance forecasting, I am certain our clients will achieve even greater success, enabling us to continue delivering top-notch accounting services. The approach VFD takes, along with the incredible people involved, has made this experience truly outstanding.
Name:Chris Gascoyne
Job Title:Director
Company:Acumist
Date:27/06/2023
Service(s) Provided:
As a client manager at Anthony Russel, I am constantly on the lookout for innovative ways to enhance the value of our advice to clients. That's why our investment in the VFD Mastery program has been an absolute game-changer for our team.VFD Pro has not only exceeded our expectations but has also outperformed other tools we previously considered, thanks to its comprehensive guidance and unparalleled support. Utilizing the VFD reports, we have been able to increase our clients' awareness of potential issues surrounding their breakeven position and overall cash flow. Moreover, the reporting suite comes in handy for exit planning when the timing is just right.The mastery training provided by VFD Pro has been exceptional, and it was truly inspiring to collaborate with a group of like-minded peers, each at different stages in their advisory journey. This experience has further cemented VFD Pro's place in our toolkit.What sets VFD Pro apart from other applications is its ability to cover the entire business lifecycle, from start-up to exit. Many alternative solutions require significant configuration and only focus on standard management reporting. In contrast, VFD Pro offers a seamless, holistic approach that has greatly benefited our clients and empowered us as advisors.In conclusion, I wholeheartedly recommend VFD Pro to any organization seeking to elevate their advisory services and deliver exceptional value to their clients.
Name:Chris Metcalf
Job Title:Client Manager
Company:Anthony Russel
Date:12/04/2023
Service(s) Provided:
I recently completed the FiMBO programme - a 12-session journey designed to help business owners like me better understand the financial planning to help grow and eventually sell your business. Out of all the sessions, the one that truly stood out was number 10, Exit Planning expertly delivered by Cliff Spolander and the most impactful takeaway for me was learning about the two crucial numbers that can make all the difference in the success of my exit strategy. This eye-opening experience taught me the importance of planning five years in advance if I intend to sell my business.The stark reality of how few people actually sell their businesses for their desired price was a sobering revelation, thanks to the often-repeated message in every session.The FiMBO programme is not only worthwhile but also essential for anyone considering growing or selling their business. If you're ambitious and envision retiring in the next 10 to 20 years, this programme is incredibly useful. But for those, like me, who are developing an exit plan within the next five years, FiMBO is almost indispensable.It has equipped me with the knowledge and tools necessary to navigate the complex process of ‘business exit’, and I could not be more grateful for this transformative experience.
Name:Paul Lawton
Job Title:Business Owner
Company:Chat Heroes
Date:12/04/2023
Service(s) Provided: Training
I cannot recommend VFD Pro and their 'Growing Your Numbers' Mastermind groups highly enough. As a part time finance director focused mainly on the service sector, it is crucial for me to have a robust and reliable reporting suite that helps my clients make informed business decisions. VFD Pro has proved an indispensable tool in my practice, enabling me to work closely with business owners and help elevate their performance as they prepare for future growth or exit strategies. To be working with the team behind the reports and understand their full value is amazing. Its not just the quality of the reports, but also the support provided through the Partner programme that has impressed me so much.The 'Growing Your Numbers' Mastermind groups have exceeded my expectations with their well-structured approach. These sessions have not only helped me better understand the client value of VFD Pro but also taught me effective ways to engage with businesses of the right scale. The knowledge I have gained from attending the Mastermind groups has been invaluable in enhancing my services to my clients. The support from VFD Pro and the rest of the Mastermind group delegates has been truly overwhelming. It has inspired me to deliver part of the FiMBO webinar program, which aims to support business owners in better understanding their financial information and making better decisions.Being part of a like-minded community of accountants and advisors who not only want to help businesses succeed but also offer moral support to each other has been an incredible experience. The power of the VFD Pro reporting suite lies in its ability to provide comprehensive and accurate financial information. This will be a game-changer for my clients in the £1m to £5m turnover range who understand the importance of reviewing and utilizing financial data to improve their decision-making processes.In summary, VFD Pro and their 'Growing Your Numbers' Mastermind groups have been an invaluable asset in my practice, and I wholeheartedly endorse their reporting suite, exceptional support, and well-structured educational sessions. Accountants and business advisors looking to take their client performance to the next level should seriously consider partnering with VFD Pro.
Name:Margot Clarke
Job Title:Management Accountant & Business Advisor
Date:11/04/2023
Service(s) Provided:
As a dedicated business advisor in the US, I work with ambitious business owners seeking to elevate their performance and ensure they are exit ready when the time comes. My clients typically have a turnover between $2 million and $20 million, and they recognize the crucial role that financial data analysis plays in making informed decisions for their businesses.
VFD Pro is an invaluable tool for business owners who want to truly understand and harness the power of financial data. Not only does it provide comprehensive, easy-to-understand, and actionable insights, but it also helps me work with the business to identify their key issues and establish the right KPIs to make progress toward their goals. This targeted approach allows the business to focus on the most critical aspects of their businesses and drive real results. VFD Pro's key attribute is translating financial data into decision making information.
One of the standout benefits of VFD Pro is their 'Mastery Programme,' developed specifically to support accountants and advisors in achieving positive outcomes with clients and prospects. By equipping me with the knowledge and tools needed to deliver impactful advice, the Mastery Programme has truly set VFD Pro apart from other financial data solutions.
Using VFD Pro, my clients will be able to make better strategic decisions, improve their operational efficiency, and ultimately maximize their business value as they prepare for their eventual exit. The platform will empower them to take control of their financial data, enabling them to set and achieve milestones that are aligned with their long-term objectives.
In today's competitive business landscape, gaining an edge is more important than ever. VFD Pro offers exactly that – a competitive advantage for advisers working with business owners who are ready to take their performance to the next level. With its unique combination of data analysis, issue identification, KPI tracking, and the exceptional training provided through the Mastery Programme, VFD Pro is an indispensable asset for those serious about unlocking a business's full potential and streamlining their exit process. I cannot recommend VFD Pro highly enough.
Name:Steve Duke
Job Title:Business Advisor
Company:Duke Business Advisors
Date:11/04/2023
Service(s) Provided:
Both Mark although it's mainly always Steve I/we deal with, make a v v concerted effort, going way beyond the extra mile to understand our business, immersing himself in our USP's, our features, benefits and SME "you appeal" to ensure he can continuously refer relevant clients and customers to both Know-it and Darcey Quigley. Steve has literally gone out of his way to support our businesses with v relevant and extremely good opportunity referrals, thank you. He has a tremendous work ethic, lots of energy to make things happen and is extremely thorough and his attention to detail is excellent and he tries always to make things v clear in his communications, particularly to the working group he chairs. He is proactive and has been the glue within setting up and maintaining the support of the working group. Steve proactively reached out to us to offer support as we visited Accountext, London and also was exceptionally supportive of me personally as I visited The Digital Accountancy Show and supported his live presentation session. I have personally built up a v close relationship with Steve which I'm extremely grateful for and this is not lost on me in the slightest, thank you so much.
Name:Gordon Merrylees
Date:30/08/2022
Service(s) Provided: 2. Business Growth Planning and other FD services, 4. Supplier partner introductions for client Exception Reports, 7. Marketing collateral for use on your website, social media and email communications
What stands out about the service is the visualisation and setting up is really very good. And the reporting features which are so valuable are good.
The fact that this enables me to do so much more with my clients and the support I get from VFD for me to do this is second to none.
Name:Gavin Jones
Job Title:Client Manager
Company:Lewis Ballard
Town:Cardiff
Date:05/08/2022
Service(s) Provided: 1. Enhanced Management Reporting, 2. Business Growth Planning and other FD services, 3. Interactive Business Intelligence Dashboard, 4. Supplier partner introductions for client Exception Reports, 6. VFD Pro training and support Academy
I am a massive advocate of VFD. Helping clients to go on a journey from compliance driven to value adding. Accountants have access to everything from credit, funding options through to exit planning.
Their responsiveness, openness and honesty stand out for me, those are the three things you need in a relationship and we have got them.
I would happily recommend VFD pro training and support to colleagues and have already recommended to other accountants.
Name:James Piper
Job Title:Managing Director
Company:Lightbulb Credit
Town:Nottingham
Date:04/08/2022
Service(s) Provided: 4. Supplier partner introductions for client Exception Reports, 7. Marketing collateral for use on your website, social media and email communications
I think VFD's technology is brilliant, I have learnt so much on financial management.
The exit planning was definitely very useful, in fact its been brilliant.
I would say its been invaluable training for a non financial manager like myself.
Name:Neil Campbell
Job Title:Commerical Director
Company:Risk Dashboard UK Ltd
Town:Corby
Date:03/08/2022
Service(s) Provided: 3. Interactive Business Intelligence Dashboard, 4. Supplier partner introductions for client Exception Reports, 5. Online workshop series for your clients and prospects, 6. VFD Pro training and support Academy, 7. Marketing collateral for use on your website, social media and email communications
VFD are very innovative, very advanced with their software. With other companies you have to manipulate it and with VFD its great. You can produce easy to read reports and the range of reports are always growing. They have recently improved the way some of the reports look making them easy to read. This is saving so much of the accountants time, it really is great.
Name:Kim Lanighan
Job Title:Owner
Company:Optics Accounting
Town:Oxford
Date:09/06/2022
Service(s) Provided: 1. Enhanced Management Reporting, 2. Business Growth Planning and other FD services, 6. VFD Pro training and support Academy
I was keen to use the Virtual Finance Director to help me understand how my business had performed in the year since I purchased it. The ease with which I uploaded my data and the level of insight it delivered about my business is something that would have taken me hours if not days to produce myself, if at all.I particularly like the forecast model which provides me with a view of performance over the next 12 months which I can amend in minutes, I even used the report it produced to secure additional funding to invest in the business.I now spend just an hour each month reviewing the performance of my business and formulating actions that deliver tangible improvements to my business and increased profits.
Name:Peter Taylor
Company:Playshack
Date:24/05/2018
Service(s) Provided:
"In my role as an NGBA business advisor I work with a number of large businesses providing hands on Sales & Marketing strategy and advice, in most cases fulfilling entirely the all essential management layer over their sales staff and their marketing suppliers. One of the challenges I frequently discover when first working with many businesses is the lack of accurate timely financial management information. The supply of this information is absolutely critical for any Company to maximise their potential as dictated by a golden business rule……â€Âyou can’t manage what you can’t measure†and how can you make decisions on strategy if you don’t know which of your marketing activities are providing the best ROI?Whilst I have always managed to persuade the Companies in question to provide enough data to help improve the situation I was recently introduced to the software Virtual Finance Director which takes the information to another level and provides an unbelievable insight into any business and delivers meaningful information in real time. This allows and indeed drives prompt informed decision making and is the perfect solution for improvement not only in Sales & Marketing decisions but across the full spectrum of business disciplines. For me and my clients it is the perfect solution.Reports can be produced direct from existing Company software rather than waiting weeks for someone to produce a report. The report features the ability to drill down into the data to give complete clarity and establish what is going on, what is working and what is not."
ReplyDavid, my sincere thanks for your glowing words of support, we were delighted to be of assistance. David Lee is a highly experienced Business Advisor and a Senior Partner for the Northern Group Business Advisors, (NGBA), the depth and breadth of David’s experience makes his feedback all the more gratifying to read. The Virtual Finance Director was developed specifically for this purpose, i.e. to convert financial data into useful Management Information to assist with effectively decision making by non-Finance experts which is exactly what the boards of directors of most SME’s are. David thank you again for your kind words and your support, we look forward to working to help you, your fellow Business Advisors with NGBA and above all, your clients make better informed decisions and make more profit for many years to come.
Name:David Lee
Company:NGBA
Date:22/05/2018
Service(s) Provided: Virtual Finance Director
"I was very pleasantly surprised to be asked to analyse the financial performance of a competitors client. All the more so when we discovered they were a substantial manufacturing business. The request was made by the Marketing Director who was frustrated at the company’s inability to deliver timely, accurate management data to assess the effectiveness of various sales and marketing activities.The request resulted in Burgis and Bullock importing the clients financial data via a Sage backup into the Virtual Finance Director. Financial issues, some good and some bad, were immediately apparent, allowing us to quickly drill down and provide expert financial advice and guidance that the incumbent accountant was presumably unaware of. We have not picked them up as a client yet, but when the next Audit is due, we are hopeful."
ReplySean, thanks so much for taking the time to recognise the qualities of the Virtual Finance Director in your feedback. It's extremely satisfying to know that someone as experienced and well respected in the industry as yourself, feels that this product can add value to your customer interactions. The beauty of this relationship was that the information and insight were in perfect harmony, rapidly building a compelling and illuminating assessment of business performance for the owner. The product quickly identified the anomalies in performance and your vast experience as a finance professional meant that you were able to translate this into actionable insight for the customer. This was a fantastic example of the Virtual Finance Director in action and reinforced our belief that we have truly created a product with a competitive advantage in this crowded marketplace.
Name:Sean Farnell
Job Title:Partner
Company:Burgis & Bullock
Date:22/05/2018
Service(s) Provided: Virtual Finance Director
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