Notes for UK startup founders.
Short, practical answers on books, reporting, SEIS and EIS, R&D relief and the numbers investors ask for. Written by the Finox team. General information, not advice on your company.
Startup KPIs your board and investors will ask for: burn, runway, MRR and CAC payback
Investors ask how you calculate burn, runway, MRR and CAC payback. The useful answer is a definition that matches the ledger, not a benchmark copied from another company.
6 minFractional finance partner vs in-house bookkeeper vs full CFO: what you need at each stage
A bookkeeper records the transactions. A finance partner owns the close, the cash story and the investor pack. A full-time CFO is a leadership hire, not the next software subscription.
6 minR&D tax relief for UK startups after the merged scheme: what changed
For accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2024, most companies claim under the merged scheme or, if they qualify, enhanced R&D intensive support. The old SME and RDEC schemes do not apply to those periods.
6 minSEIS and EIS advance assurance: a founder's checklist
Advance assurance is HMRC’s view, before you issue shares, that a proposed investment is likely to meet scheme conditions. It does not approve the investor’s own tax relief.
6 minMonthly management accounts for startups: what to include and why investors care
Management accounts are the monthly pack you run the company on. Investors read them because statutory accounts arrive too late to explain the business.
6 minWhat investor-ready books actually mean for a UK seed-stage startup
Investor-ready books are a reconciled ledger and a pack a founder can defend. They are not the accounts you file at Companies House months later.
6 min