Sector: Franchise hospitality & retail
Services: Financial mastery · Xero implementation · Budgeting · Financial discipline · Board reporting
The problem: multiple platforms, inconsistent data, no discipline
This group of companies was operating across several platforms for recording financial data. Income came from multiple streams. Cut-off processes were unreliable. And there was no consistent approach to budgeting, project management, or reporting across the group.
The directors couldn’t get a clear picture of how individual shops or projects were actually performing. They were making decisions based on incomplete information.
What Ascentis did
We undertook a comprehensive overhaul of the group’s financial systems, with Xero as the central hub. Multiple tracking categories were set up within Xero to assess the performance of individual shops and income streams. Project management tools within Xero were used to evaluate profitability per shop build, giving the business real insight into where margin was being made or lost.
Financial discipline was introduced across the entire business:
- A clear process for ordering and approving costs
- Regular budget preparation and review
- Finance models for ad hoc projects and long-term strategy
- Structured board meetings with a fixed agenda to create proper accountability.
What changed
- Greater financial discipline — all company outgoings properly identified and classified
- Improved project profitability, with specific issues in shop builds addressed directly
- Private equity investment secured — the robustness of the financial data gave investors the confidence to proceed
The result
A business that went from fragmented and reactive to investor-ready. The financial systems that Ascentis put in place didn’t just solve the immediate problems, they positioned the group for the next stage of growth.