How to read your P&L without an accounting degree
The five lines that matter, what they mean, and the questions to ask when something looks off.
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City Solution is the finance department UK founders wish they could hire: bookkeeping, payroll, VAT, management accounts and fractional CFO support, working inside your tools as if we sat at the next desk.
London and the wider UK is our home, with our own team in South Africa too — and when your business expands further abroad we plug in vetted partner firms so you keep one point of contact, in your time zone.
We don't sit on the other end of a quarterly email. We're inside Xero, in your Slack, on your standup invite. Same week, same tools, same urgency.
From your first PAYE registration to your first board pack, we cover the whole arc. Pick the bits you need; we'll join the dots.
Weekly reconciliation, receipt capture, clean ledgers. The foundation everything else sits on.
Learn more →RTI, pensions auto-enrolment, P60s and starters/leavers. Your team paid on time, every time.
Learn more →Registration, scheme selection, MTD-compliant quarterly returns and HMRC correspondence.
Learn more →Monthly P&L, balance sheet and cash. KPIs that actually help you decide what to do next.
Learn more →Board prep, fundraising support, unit economics. A seasoned voice in the room when you need one.
Learn more →Limited company setup, share structure, HMRC registrations and bank account intros.
Learn more →Statutory accounts, Corporation Tax (CT600), Confirmation Statement and director self-assessment.
Learn more →12-week and 12-month forecasts. Scenario modelling for hires, raises and worst-case planning.
Learn more →The honest comparison most accountancy sites won't show you.
| DIY software | Traditional accountant | City Solution | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Books reconciled weekly | You do it | Monthly at best | ● Weekly |
| Named, accountable team | ● | One partner, rotating juniors | ● Bookkeeper · Manager · CFO |
| Lives inside Slack/Teams | ● | Email only | ● Yes — same channel as your ops team |
| Monthly management pack | Build it yourself | Add-on, often quarterly | ● Included in Growth & Scale |
| Board support | ● | Out of scope | ● Fractional CFO on call |
| Predictable monthly fee | ● | Often hourly billing | ● Flat monthly, no surprises |
| Speaks 'startup' (SEIS/EIS, R&D, ARR) | ● | Sometimes | ● Native vocabulary |
Most clients are fully onboarded within two weeks. Here's roughly how the first year unfolds.
We connect to your stack, audit the prior year, and tidy any open issues. Named team introduced.
Books reconciled. Payroll switched over. VAT registered or migrated. You get your first board-ready pack.
Monthly management accounts with commentary. Cashflow forecast updated. Hiring + tax planning baked in.
Statutory accounts, CT600 and confirmation statement filed early. CFO partners with you on next-year strategy.
Flat monthly pricing scaled to transaction volume and complexity. No hourly billing, ever.
For freshly-formed limited companies and pre-revenue founders.
For revenue-generating startups with a team and active investors.
For Series A+ businesses needing CFO firepower.
37 things to get right in your first 12 months — from forming the company correctly to filing R&D claims that actually survive HMRC review. Built from real client work.
The five lines that matter, what they mean, and the questions to ask when something looks off.
Read article →What each scheme means in practice, the eligibility traps to avoid, and how to set yourself up for advance assurance.
Read article →PAYE, pensions, employer NIC and what to tell your new joiner before their first day.
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