Hobfolk
Money · Bookkeeping & credit control

Bookkeeping and credit control,
checked by someone who isn't the one who did it.

Bookkeeping kept current, and credit control — chasing what's owed — run on a defined ladder. The part most services never mention: something with no stake in the answer checks that both were actually done right, not just done.

Start a conversationSee the whole crew
You go home. It doesn't.Every promise gets a row and a due dateAnswered the same day, not the next working dayA drawing before the quoteUnverifiable is never a passA desk per department, one address eachNothing is sent that a human cannot read backThe folder exists before you price itYou go home. It doesn't.Every promise gets a row and a due dateAnswered the same day, not the next working dayA drawing before the quoteUnverifiable is never a passA desk per department, one address eachNothing is sent that a human cannot read backThe folder exists before you price it
The case for it

The books getting done, and something checking them, are different jobs

The books getting done, and something checking they were done right, are two different jobs. Most services only sell you the first.

Software has made the mechanical side of bookkeeping fast and commonplace — a bank feed categorised, a reconciliation run, a report generated. What software does not do is check that the mechanical part was actually right, and that gap is where an error sits undiscovered for months, usually until an accountant finds it at year end.

This desk keeps the books current and runs credit control on a defined ladder, and then a separate desk — one with no relationship to protect and no reason to feel awkward about either the numbers or the client — checks the work. That is the actual service being sold here: not the lowest price for the mechanical part, but a second, independent pass on it.

The month nobody reconciled, found in the quarter after it
The month nobody reconciled, found in the quarter after it
What's included

Everything below, not a menu underneath the menu

01

Bookkeeping, kept current

Bank transactions categorised and reconciled on a schedule, not once a quarter when the accountant asks for it.
02

Credit control — chasing what's owed

A staged ladder: a reminder, a firmer one, then a decision that comes back to you. Standing instructions protect the relationships you don't want automatically chased.
03

Reconciled against the bank statement, not the total

A payment short by a fee or a discount is flagged, never quietly forced to balance.
04

Monthly reporting, one page

Cash position, aged debt and what's committed but not yet invoiced, in language a director reads.
05

Independent verification

The books and the chase ladder are checked by a desk with no stake in the numbers — the same principle the Assurance desk runs on, pointed at your accounts.
06

Prepared for your accountant, not instead of them

Quarterly figures assembled and reconciled. Your accountant owns the presentation of your return.
The morning view

This is what is on the screen when you open it

Not a report you request. The position as it stood when the desk finished, with every chase that went out overnight and every one due today.

Money · overnight position Illustration — invented figures
£84,120 Owed to you
£31,450 Due this month
£38,200 Overdue
£14,470 90+ days
31.4k
Current
22.1k
1–30
11.3k
31–60
4.8k
61–90
14.5k
90+
  • 02:14Stage 3 INV-2291£14,470 97 days. Third notice sent, statement attached, copied to their accounts inbox.
  • 02:16Stage 2 INV-2334£8,900 48 days. Reminder sent to the named contact, not the generic address.
  • 02:19Stage 1 INV-2361£3,120 9 days. Polite note: is the invoice with the right person?
  • 02:21Paid INV-2318£6,740 Cleared overnight. Matched against the bank line and closed.
  • 02:24Held INV-2340£2,180 Query raised by the client. Chasing stopped, flagged for a person.
In a live account, every row is a real action taken or refused, logged against the invoice it belongs to — not a summary written afterwards.
The actual difference

Something with no stake in the answer checks the books

Every failure worth remembering reported success while it was failing — a reconciliation that balanced by forcing a number, a chase that was sent and never landed. So the same rule that governs everything else here applies to the books: the desk that did the work does not mark it.

A second desk, with no relationship to protect and no visibility into the commercial conversation, checks the reconciliation and the chase ladder independently. It has nothing to gain from saying the books are fine, which is precisely why it saying so means something.

The limits

What this desk will not do

Every department has a written boundary. A service that claims no limits has simply not found its own yet, and you will find it for them.

Where this desk stops

  • It never contacts a creditor. Money going out is yours, personally and always. There is no automated desk on that side of the ledger.
  • It does not move money. It reconciles and prepares; you release every payment.
  • It is not a substitute for a qualified accountant or tax adviser where one is legally required for your filings.
  • It does not replace your own sign-off on statutory accounts or returns. Your accountant, or you, sign what is filed.
Questions

Asked before, answered here

Why not just use software?
Software does the mechanical part well — categorising a transaction, running a reconciliation, generating a report. What it does not do is check that the mechanical part was right. That gap is where errors sit undetected for months, and it is the part this desk is built around.
Is this the cheapest option?
No. You are paying for a second, independent pass on the books and the chasing, not for the cheapest bookkeeping.
Do you replace our accountant?
No. Your accountant owns your statutory filings and the presentation of your return, and always will. This desk keeps the books current and the money moving in the gaps between accountancy visits.
Does 'credit control' mean debt collection?
No — it means chasing what is owed on ordinary trading terms, on a defined and courteous ladder. A genuinely disputed or bad debt is a commercial decision that comes back to you, not something this desk pursues on its own.
The department

This guide belongs to the Money desk

Money

Invoices out, cash in

Invoices raised, books reconciled, cash position current, and a separate desk that does the asking.

Open the department Case studies

Every case, in one place

Real, dated things that went wrong in the businesses this office already runs, and the fix each one produced.

See all the cases

Which is costing you more right now — late payment, or bad numbers?

Tell us which, and we will tell you whether this desk is the right shape for it. This desk on its own is from £1,450 a month, no seat count, thirty days’ notice either way — and the first month is a paid trial you can stop.

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