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.

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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 passNine desks, 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 passNine desks, 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.

Hands on the drum — steady load, no drama
Hands on the drum — steady load, no drama
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 actually 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 actual difference

Something with no stake in the answer checks the books

Every failure this system has ever had reported success while 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 actually 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?
It is not positioned as the lowest-cost option, and being the cheapest is not what it is trying to be. What is being sold is oversight — something with no stake in the answer checking the books and the credit control, not just doing them.
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.

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

Tell us which, and we will tell you plainly whether this desk is the right shape for it.

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