Colin Fittall

Inspiration

Like many people in business of my age, I first became intrigued by this subject watching John Harvey-Jones in the BBC show ‘Troubleshooter’ back in 1980. (It was the first fly-on-the-wall business programme of its ilk.)

So on the back of watching ‘Troubleshooter’, I headed straight down to the nearest bookshop and invested all my birthday money (I was just 15) in the book I refer to in the video.  It proved to be a shrewd move!

Lucky break

That book laid the foundation for what I believe is a uniquely privileged financial background, one which saw me initially under-study, and later work side-by-side, with the author of that book I’d bought decades earlier… someone who proved to be a renowned Finance expert. It’s experience few (if any) other accountants can call upon.

Working with Brian Warnes was revelatory, forcing me to take nothing at face value and challenge everything that… to this day… continues to pass for conventional financial wisdom.  What was an informal ‘modern-day apprenticeship in Finance‘ in many ways had me re-learn Finance from scratch, casting aside much of what had got me through my professional exams.

Here are just some of the things I learned…

• A funamentally simple and logical way that explained how Finance behaves without recourse to the finance textbook mumbo-jumbo that I and other accountants have had to endure.

• That there are precious few financial relationships that REALLY matter.  And once you’ve mastered these you’ll never look back.

• And that EVERY organization has its own unique financial ‘design’ for which you can develop an instinctive feel.

Proof of the pudding

It’s afforded me a particularly powerful financial perspective that has enabled me to achieve what most would regard as extremely unlikely financial outcomes from some truly daunting financial situations, like…

• The £6m turnover lighting business that was 2 weeks away from closing the doors when we first came across them.  It’s now 3x the size with sector-leading profitability.  An outcome achieved by keeping faith with the same financial strategy Brian and I introduced 19 years ago.

• A £2m turnover scaffolding company whose bank sought to close them down for failing to keep within what was frankly an already overly-generous overdraft facility.  Moving from a monthly loss of £13k to a profit of £46k, they became a client their bank was desperate to retain.

• The £3m turnover shop-fitting and electrical contractor on the receiving end of a £270k HMRC winding-up petition (for the second time in 3 months) with their bank terminating their facilities.

• The £4m tunrover health and country club that found itself put in the hands of the (now infamous) restructuring arm of their bank from which 90% of other businesses failed to escape unscathed, if indeed at all.

For a comprehensive list: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colin-fittall-6235577/

What This Means For You

In line with the spirit and ethos I first saw in Troubleshooter, in running Bottom Line Impact, my aim has long been a simple one…

To make a tangible financial difference to EVERY entity I work with.

Let’s be clear:  ‘Finance‘ is a means to an end, not an end in itself. Frankly, finance-textbook theory is NOT fascinating… but the commercial outcomes (and knowing how to create good ones) is truly compelling.  And bottom-line, the acid-test of really understanding any subject is being able to do something useful with it.  In short, results matter.

So if you choose to work with us… in whatever way… you’ll benefit from a down-to-earth approach to Finance in a language you’ll recognise as plain English, together with a personal approach to you and your situation using a financial methodology that you can 100% trust to deliver the financial savvy and outcomes you need.