Beyond 100 Days: Defining your next steps
To get a handle on financial reporting in your first 100 days, you need a clear view of how data is produced, who owns each part of the process, and where gaps in systems or skills could create risk. By focusing early on accuracy, compliance and the tools behind your numbers, you can strengthen reporting, build trust, and free your team to add more value.
Contents
In this insight, part of our guide to your first 100 days as a finance leader at an entrepreneurial SME, we cover the essential checks new finance leaders need to make across reporting, systems, compliance and tax in the first few weeks in role. Visit the hub for more on navigating risk, building trust with your team, and shaping your first few months with confidence.
Financial reporting
When you are getting familiar with how your business handles financial reporting, it’s important to spend time understanding who does what, how key reports are produced, and how the business currently measures financial performance.
For SMEs and entrepreneurial businesses, this approach is especially important. Finance teams are often lean, people wear multiple hats, and understanding their day-to-day realities will help you make key improvements without overloading them.
A first-hand perspective:
“I think that in finance, and especially as a CFO, communication is absolutely key. It’s also one of the best ways to make sure you truly understand the numbers. The first time I became a CFO, I followed my predecessor’s accounts for the first 12 months. The second time round, I made my own impact immediately. It wasn’t that the previous person had done anything wrong; I just had my own way of looking at things, my own approach to forecasting, and my own perspective. So very quickly, even by the first month end, I made sure I put my own stamp on how I reported the numbers.”
Matt Wakerley
CFO, Inspiretec
To make sure your financial reporting is accurate, timely, and fit for purpose, spend your early weeks understanding:
1. Is your financial data reliable?
Check the quality of the underlying data:
- Are reconciliations up to date?
- Are basic accounting controls in place?
- Are entries being reviewed properly?
Accuracy is especially critical for entrepreneurial businesses and SMEs, where small errors can have a big impact.
2. How is compliance currently managed?
Look at the steps taken to ensure compliance with accounting standards, tax rules, and any regulatory requirements. Ensuring that all key items - such as VAT, payroll, statutory accounts and filings - are in hand and will be completed and submitted on time.
3. Are there any gaps in people or systems?
Your business might be relying on legacy tools or manual processes. Assess:
- Whether the team has the right skills
- Whether technology supports efficient reporting
- Where automation or training might help
This will highlight opportunities for improved accuracy and speed.
4. What do your stakeholders need from reporting?
You will need to report to different audiences with different needs. Some want detail; others want high-level insight. Take the time to understand the expectations of owners, the Board, lenders, and any external parties, and check whether current reports meet those needs.
Taking the time early on to understand these areas will help you quickly spot risks and find opportunities to strengthen your reporting process. Improvements in accuracy and efficiency can have a rapid and meaningful impact, freeing up time, improving decision-making, increasing trust, and reducing financial risk.
As you look to understand your business’s current financial reporting strategy and processes, you will need to take time to check in with your team on roles and responsibilities around reporting, do a deep dive into major financial reports, and understand the current KPIs for assessing how financially fit your business is.
Understanding finance IT systems
Digitisation is a requirement today to remain competitive and free up time for your team to focus on more strategic, value-adding activities.
So, in your first 100 days, add to your to-do list:
1. To meet with key IT personnel
In scaling SMEs and entrepreneurial businesses, the “owner” of key IT systems varies. It can often be operations, finance or, most commonly, an external IT provider.
You will need to look at immediate demands and problems, what will allow the business to run more efficiently if resolved, month-end reporting, approval processes and quality of data.
Look at where automation is being (or has been) brought into the business, ensuring that built-in automation tools in off-the-shelf packages are 'turned-on' and being utilized fully in Finance before considering higher-cost automation.
2. Ask your team
Ask your team about their pain points and discuss how automation and digitisation could support them in their role. Do they have what they need? The people using any new tools need to understand and buy into the benefits of them.
3. What worked before may not be optimal now
Are there some time-consuming manual processes that don’t bring value and could simply be removed, rather than automated? And when it comes to retaining talent, what heavy lifting could be automated to improve employee satisfaction?
First-hand insights:
"One risk is moving too quickly to professionalise everything. Not everything needs fixing immediately. Focus on the changes that genuinely support strategic growth and risk management."
Pablo Shorney, Finance Director, Dudley’s
“Making the reporting and forecasting your own is important. Communication is key, and it’s also one of the best ways to make sure you truly understand the numbers.”
Matt Wakerley, CFO, Inspiretec
Compliance essentials
Establish your compliance expectations early on, and – crucially – ensure that everyone understands their roles and responsibilities in maintaining compliance.
In early conversations with your finance team, discuss how compliance features in their daily work and foster open communication to address any compliance-related concerns.
Ensure you have the right protocols in place, and nothing is missed by mistake. While financial statements are an obvious item, others that you may need to check include confirming the compliance requirements that are applicable to your business (VAT, PAYE, Companies House filings) and any customer and lender requirements. Understand who has ownership for these, and dates of any payments or reporting requirements, i.e. bank covenant compliance reporting.
1. Engage with your external accountants or auditors
In your first month, take the time to speak with your external accountant or audit provider. Use this as an opportunity to understand their upcoming work, confirm what information they need from you, and discuss any upcoming changes in reporting or regulation that could impact the business. Doing this early will help you avoid surprises and build a collaborative working relationship from the get-go.
It’s also helpful to bring your wider finance advisers together early on – for example, your tax adviser, VAT specialist, payroll provider, or outsourced bookkeeping partner. You can use this session to understand all upcoming deadlines, risks, and regulatory requirements across VAT, corporation tax, payroll, CIS (if relevant), and any sector‑specific obligations.
2. Prioritise compliance initiatives
Once you have identified any areas of high compliance risk, you can start to build a priority list to tackle them over time, from most to least critical. The details of this roadmap will depend on your available resources, and the wider businesses strategy.
3. Communicate with regulatory bodies and internal auditors (where you have them)
If you do not have internal audit, focus on practical controls: reconciliations, approvals, and evidence for your external accountant/auditor. For regulated businesses, identify your key regulator contact and make sure reporting responsibilities are clear.
Understanding the tax landscape
In your first 100 days you’ll need a clear view of what tax rules your business must comply with and who manages each part.
1. Clarify who is responsible for tax
Meet with the party or parties responsible for tax to understand their remit. If you rely on external accountants or advisers, confirm what they cover. Remember: some taxes (like payroll) may sit with HR or an external outsourced provider.
2. Understand the compliance picture
Get a quick overview of:
1. Key deadlines and the tax calendar
2. Any audit or review cycles
3. Known risks or past compliance issues
4. Areas where responsibilities are unclear
3. Check if you have enough support
SMEs and entrepreneurial businesses typically have very limited in‑house tax expertise. Assess whether your team has the tools, capacity, and external advice needed, especially if you operate in more than one country.
Liaising with a good tax adviser can really make the difference when working across international borders.
4. Keep communication open
Regular contact with your tax lead or advisers helps you:
- stay on top of potential issues
- ensure tax implications are considered in business decisions
- update them on any changes that may affect compliance.
