The Hidden Cost Of Growth: Why Successful Businesses Become Harder To Run
By Paul Gibbins on Jun 11, 2026, 8:36:22 PM
Why Does My Business Feel Harder To Run As It Grows? It is a question that many successful business owners eventually ask themselves, even if they never express it quite so directly.
Why Every SME Business Should Have a Finance Director
By Paul Gibbins on May 18, 2026, 10:00:00 AM
Why Every SME Business Should Have A Finance Director As SME businesses grow, financial management becomes significantly more complex. What may once have been manageable using basic bookkeeping and annual accounts often becomes insufficient as turnover, staffing, operational complexity and commercia …
The Benefits of Management Accounting: Why Every SME Business Should Use Management Accounts
By Paul Gibbins on May 13, 2026, 10:00:00 AM
What Are the Benefits of Management Accounting for SMEs? Many SME businesses reach a point where basic bookkeeping and annual accounts are no longer enough to support effective decision-making. As businesses grow, financial management becomes more complex: margins become harder to monitor, cash flow …
When Does An SME Need A CFO?
By Paul Gibbins on May 11, 2026, 4:47:34 PM
When Does An SME Need A CFO? As businesses grow, financial leadership requirements change. What works for an owner-managed SME at one stage of growth may become insufficient as the business becomes larger, more complex or more ambitious. Many SMEs operate very successfully with a strong Finance Dire …
Why Developing Your Team Is Critical for SME Growth, Performance and Business Value
By Paul Gibbins on Apr 30, 2026, 8:30:00 AM
The challenge facing growing SME business owners For many SME business owners, growth brings a familiar challenge. What began as a tight, founder-led operation becomes more complex. Decisions take longer. Standards become inconsistent. The owner becomes a bottleneck. At that point, the question is n …
How to Build Business Value Buyers Truly Pay For
By Paul Gibbins on Mar 10, 2026, 8:45:00 AM
A practical framework for SME owners planning a successful exit Where to focus if you want a stronger valuation To increase the value of a business before exit, focus on financial clarity, strong margins, scalable operations, a capable management team, and reducing reliance on the owner. These facto …
What Does a Fractional CFO Do in the First 90 Days?
By Paul Gibbins on Feb 16, 2026, 10:00:00 AM
What SME directors can expect from a fractional CFO in the first three months For many SME owner-directors, there comes a point where the business has grown to a level where stronger financial leadership is needed, but a full-time or in-house CFO does not yet feel justified.
What Buyers Value in a Business
By Paul Gibbins on Jan 26, 2026, 12:00:00 PM
How to build a business that achieves a stronger exit and commands a better valuation What do buyers really value? When business owners think about exit, the focus often centres on timing, valuation multiples, or finding the right buyer. However, experienced acquirers tend to approach the question f …
Pricing for Profit: How SMEs Improve Gross Margin & Profit
By Paul Gibbins on Dec 19, 2025, 10:00:00 AM
For many SMEs, improving profitability doesn’t require more customers — it requires better pricing. Yet pricing is often one of the least structured parts of a small business. Many owner-managed businesses rely on historic rates, gut feel, or “what we’ve always charged”, without a clear pricing stra …
How SMEs Can Improve Sales Performance: Six Steps to Build a Proactive, High-Performing Sales Team
By Paul Gibbins on Dec 17, 2025, 9:15:00 AM
How SMEs Can Transform a Reactive Sales Team into a High-Performing Commercial Engine For many UK SMEs, improving sales performance is one of the most important routes to increasing growth, profit and business value. Yet across Secantor’s work with owner-managed businesses, a consistent challenge em …