Books that survive diligence, metrics that tie to them.
Investors rebuild your numbers. Founders who have consistent monthly accounts, a deferred revenue schedule and metrics that reconcile to the ledger close rounds faster and on better terms. Founders who do not, discover it in diligence.
Four mistakes we fix in the first month.
Cash booked as revenue
An annual contract paid up front is twelve months of revenue, not one. Recognising it on receipt overstates growth and understates the liability.
Metrics that do not tie
MRR from the billing tool, revenue from the ledger, ARR from the deck: three numbers, none matching. Diligence notices in the first hour.
SAFEs nobody accounted for
Convertible instruments sit unrecorded until the priced round, then the cap table and the accounts disagree.
Reliefs left unclaimed
R&D credits, SEIS and EIS assurance, EMI options and QSBS each have conditions that are easy to breach without noticing.
Built for the sector, not adapted to it.
- Revenue recognition under IFRS 15 or ASC 606 with a deferred revenue schedule
- MRR, ARR, churn, NRR, CAC payback and burn, reconciled monthly to the ledger
- Cap table maintained alongside the accounts, SAFEs and notes recorded
- R&D credit claims, SEIS and EIS advance assurance, EMI and 409A support
- Investor update pack in the format your investors use
- Financial model and data room for the next round
Usually these.
In roughly this order of importance for startups & saas.
Startup & SaaS Accounting
Revenue recognition, deferred revenue, SAFE notes, R&D credits and investor reporting for venture-backed companies.
Financial Modelling & Fundraising Support
Three-statement models, investor decks and data rooms built by people who have raised and been audited on them.
R&D Tax Credits
UK R&D relief under the merged scheme, with the technical narrative and costing HMRC now demands.
Virtual CFO
A senior finance lead on a fixed monthly fee: strategy, forecasting, board reporting and fundraising support.
Company Formation
UK Ltd, UAE mainland or free zone, US LLC or C-corp: formed correctly, with tax registrations and bank account support.
Payroll
UK PAYE, UAE WPS and US federal and state payroll, run to the day with every filing that goes with it.
Where should a startup incorporate?
The UK for the cheapest early funding through SEIS and EIS and the R&D credit; Delaware if US venture investors are the plan; the UAE through ADGM or DIFC for Gulf-based founders raising regionally. A Delaware parent over a UK or UAE operating subsidiary is common and we structure it.
Can you handle a Stripe-based billing stack?
Yes. Stripe, Chargebee, Paddle and Recurly are reconciled to the ledger monthly and the deferred revenue schedule is built from them.
Talk to someone who has done startups & saas books before.
Thirty minutes, no pitch deck. Tell us the entities and the countries, and we will tell you honestly what applies and what it costs.