September always has that back-to-school feeling with a sense of a fresh start, new energy and the push to finish the year strong. The final quarter of the year is often one of the most productive for most businesses. But for many agency owners, it also brings a wave of pressure: busy pipelines, stretched teams and the financial worries that come with the final quarter. It’s a season that can feel exciting and, at the same time, overwhelming.
That’s exactly why having the right finance partner matters.
With this in mind, we wanted to take some time to explore the benefits of a marketing agency recruiting a virtual financial partner to help build sustainable growth and turn the busiest months into your most productive and profitable ones.
A virtual finance partner should be more than just a bookkeeper or accountant; they should become an integral part of the team, providing valuable insights that help drive sustainable growth. The rationale behind enlisting the help of an outsourced finance team is strategic, tailored and collaborative.
So what are the benefits to an agency owner in recruiting a virtual finance partner?
1. Industry expertise and experience
It’s worth employing a virtual finance team, headed by a Financial Controller or Finance Director-level professional with experience in working with agencies. They will understand what agencies go through, the typical issues they encounter and how to manage their finances in a streamlined way.
Key benefits they bring include:
- Working with a team that understands the agency model.
- How to balance retainers vs projects.
- How to optimise staff utilisation rates, pricing, project profitability and client churn.
With this skill set, your virtual finance partner can also help build a bespoke finance solution, tailored to your individual agency’s needs. They can offer support in areas such as cash flow forecasting, margin analysis and growth planning.
For example, we specialise in working with agencies, so we understand the day-to-day issues that agencies face, including resourcing and utilisation headaches, lumpy pipelines, overservicing and profitability challenges. Our reporting and solutions are tailored to this audience, so that our clients aren’t stuck with information they don’t actually need.
2. Expertise without the overheads
It is expected that you will have access to various levels of the finance team, including the bookkeeper, payroll, management accountant and senior finance team. You gain scalable access to a Finance Director or Controller-level skill set, but on a fractional basis.
By enlisting the support of a virtual finance partner, you can ensure that you gain the right level of support as your agency grows and your needs change.
In our work with clients, we typically assign a three-person team to each client, who work at different levels eg: day-to-day finance admin, management reporting and FD-level support. This prevents a situation that we often see at agencies hiring in-house: either underqualified staff being stretched too far, or highly qualified staff spending time on basic tasks.
3. Strategic financial guidance (not just bookkeeping)
A good virtual finance partner does more than “keep the books.” They help you interpret the numbers, model future scenarios and make smarter decisions that support sustainable growth and profit. Knowing the industry and benchmarks means that they’re equipped to work with agencies that want to become best in class and agency owners who’re looking to build a business of value.
This means shaping the business not just for short-term profit, but for long-term saleability and helping founders shift their mindset to recognise that running their business is about making a profit, but also building an asset.
4. Clear communication and engagement
Many clients who come to us are accustomed to working with accountants who don’t fully understand their business, don’t engage with the team regularly and often fail to recognise the issues they face or the opportunities available. A good finance partner will not just bury you in spreadsheets and data; they will become part of the team. They’ll be engaged in this assignment and will also help translate finance into plain English, giving you clarity, not confusion.
In some of our recent client feedback sessions, one of the key elements our clients shared that they loved about how our team works is that we are strategic and direct in our interactions. We won’t confuse our clients with a lot of jargon, but instead help them understand the key finance principles and insights from the data.
5. Proactive support, not reactive firefighting
A strong partner flags issues before they become urgent, like when cash flow might tighten or costs are creeping up. You shouldn’t be chasing them; they will already be on it. When our clients join us, we notice they’re often in fire-fighting mode. After a few months of working together, we help them stabilise their financial situation and collaboratively create an action plan to focus on the important things. It is great when they realise they don’t always have to be in survival mode.
6. Forward-looking forecasts, not just historic reports
Your virtual finance partner should provide monthly or quarterly forecasting (not just budgeting), with rolling updates and insights that help you answer questions like:
- Can I afford to hire?
- When will I run out of cash?
- What happens if we lose a client or increase prices?
- Who’s our most profitable client?
- What risks does our business currently face?
These are crucial questions, and ones you can only get answers to when you have a good and proactive finance support team in place. Building model forecasts and scenarios gives agency owners confidence to act, not only observe and that’s one of the key advantages of working with a good finance partner.
7. Systems, structure and best practices
A good virtual finance partner will have a wealth of knowledge on how to streamline processes and workflows in your agency. This is not just for your finance department, but also for operations, as these two departments often need to work closely together. Processes we might review include:
- Cash flow processes
- Reporting cadence
- Cost and margin visibility
- Resourcing and utilisation
- Financial planning
- Processing supplier payments and team expenses
8. Finance control and risk management
In recruiting a virtual finance partner, you should feel safe and confident you are in good hands. We always start any new client relationship with a financial audit to identify the financial issues that need to be addressed and opportunities that can be maximised. This means that they will also provide clean records, on-time compliance and confidence around tax, reserves and directors’ pay.
We work with creative, digital, marketing and PR agencies of all shapes and sizes. If you are looking for peace of mind or sustainable growth, with the right partner in place, we can help you to scale. Please get in touch to arrange a no-obligation discovery call to learn how we support agencies.
