ABOUT ORDINAL
ABOUT ORDINAL
What is an outsourced finance function?
An outsourced finance function is an external team responsible for some or all of a company’s finance activity. This can range from bookkeeping, reporting and cash management through forecasting, strategic finance and transaction support. The aim is to give a business the finance capability it needs without requiring it to build the entire function in-house.
What types of businesses does Ordinal work with?
Ordinal works primarily with founder-led, operator-owned and growing businesses. We support companies at different stages, from businesses establishing their finance foundations through to more developed organisations looking for better reporting, strategic finance support or help with a capital raise, acquisition or exit.
Can Ordinal work alongside an existing finance team?
Yes. Ordinal can operate as the finance function, support an existing team, or provide additional capability for a specific project or period of growth. The right structure depends on what the business already has in place and where additional support is most useful.
FINANCE ARCHITECTURE
When should a business set up its finance function properly?
Earlier than most businesses think. Good finance architecture means establishing the right systems, chart of accounts, reporting structure, controls and processes before complexity builds. Getting those foundations right early makes the business easier to manage and significantly easier to scale.
How is this different from hiring a bookkeeper or accountant?
Bookkeeping and statutory accounting are important parts of finance, but they are narrower in scope. A finance function connects the underlying records to management reporting, forecasting, cash management, strategic analysis and decision support. Ordinal is designed to connect those pieces rather than treat them separately.
OPERATIONS
What does Ordinal handle day to day?
Depending on the engagement, Ordinal can support bookkeeping, accounts payable and receivable, monthly close, management reporting, cash management, forecasting, budgeting and the wider financial processes needed to keep the business running accurately and efficiently.
When should a founder stop managing finance themselves?
Founders should remain close to the numbers, but they should not need to spend their time producing, maintaining or reconciling them. Once finance administration begins competing with higher-value work such as customers, product, people and growth, it is usually time to build a more structured finance function.
STRATEGIC FINANCE
When does a business need strategic finance support?
Strategic finance becomes valuable when management needs more than accurate historical reporting. This includes understanding what is driving performance, testing assumptions, forecasting outcomes, evaluating pricing or margins, allocating capital and giving operators better information from which to make decisions.
TRANSACTIONS
Can Ordinal support a capital raise?
Yes. Ordinal can support the financial preparation and execution of a capital raise, including forecasting, financial materials, investor analysis, due diligence preparation and management of the financial workstreams required through the process.
Can Ordinal support an acquisition or sale?
Yes. Ordinal supports businesses preparing for and executing acquisitions, strategic investments and sale processes. Our approach is informed by the belief that transaction readiness should begin long before a live process, with clean information, well-understood economics and a finance function capable of standing up to scrutiny.
Get in touch
Ordinal Partners builds and runs finance functions for founder-led, operator-owned and growing businesses. From bookkeeping and financial operations through strategic finance and transactions, we give operators clear numbers, better information for faster decisions, and the financial foundations to scale efficiently, raise capital or transact without distraction.