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Here’s the dirty little secret, we started out just like every other accounting firm, selling outsourced FD services and offering strategic business advice. 🤫
The reason we landed with our current model is because we listened and paid attention to what startups actually want. As such, we were able to identify exactly where startups were being let down by existing solutions.

Solutions available to startups

Essentially startups have three options.
Accounting firms
Hiring full time
RORA

Accounting firms
Most accounting firms charge a fixed fee guaranteeing some outputs. This wasn’t always the case but the ubiquity of SaaS pricing adopted by startups led to many firms following their lead.
The advantage is that it is very simple to explain. But if you dig deeper, you’ll see that most are overly simplistic. For example, the screenshot below assumes that complexity increases with the value of monthly expenses. This clearly doesn’t consider complexities that come from having multiple entities or complicated invoicing models.
And the worst thing is, a fixed fee model perversely incentivises the accounting firm to do as little as work as possible to remain profitable. It is better for them to paper over the cracks than to spend any time fixing the fundamental issue.
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Hiring full time
The natural next step is to hire someone full time. But this email from a founder illustrates how that isn’t always a straight forward option either.
Hey, I’m spending so much time on finances right now. I think it’s about time to hire someone to the team.

But I don’t really know who the first hire should be. If I hire a CFO, they’ll be too expensive. But if I hire someone too junior, I’ll have to spend a lot of my time managing them.

What do you think?

RORA
How about an option where you get the right number of days each week of the right person with the right level of skillsets?
And that’s exactly what RORA is 🎉
We like nice comparison tables so here’s one.
Solution
The good
The bad
1
Accounting firms
Generally charge fixed fees guaranteeing outputs like bookkeeping, payroll etc
Simple pricing model
Pricing too simplistic.
To be profitable, firms are incentivised to do as little as possible
2
Hiring full time
Fully dedicated
Full time hire may not have the right expertise to handle bookkeeping, systems implementation and also fundraising
There is no extended network to learn from
3
RORA
Right level of skill sets for the right number of days each week
Limited availability on certain days
There are no rows in this table
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The model in practice

Fundamentally, our model works because of this maxim.
Accounting firms deliver outputs and we deliver inputs

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Screenshot 2021-12-07 at 17.01.55.png
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The operating model of accounting firms is to have a list of outputs - an agreed upon scope of work to cover in their engagement letter. This leaves no room to deal with ad hoc requests, any time to plan ahead for the company and a focus on compliance and not much else.
Our operating model is to agree on inputs - how many days of FinOps Managers, Associates or Lead days dedicated in a week. We then work with startups to define what their priorities are in the time we have, or to increase the time we have to accelerate on the priorities. Our model allows us to be more flexible on what we do week on week and to be truly part of the team, which then gives us further context to really support the business.
It is by delivering on inputs rather than outputs that we ensure we set the right expectations with our partners.
So if we are delivering on inputs, what does it mean for outputs?

The equation

inputs + RORA’s magic dust = outputs
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Screenshot 2021-12-07 at 18.11.27.png
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The reason why inputs matter is to achieve outputs. That is absolutely key. And with the “RORA (previously Quantico) magic dust”, we maximise our chances of achieving outputs.
It is by dedicating a specific number of days with a partner, combine*t that is not the bar we should set our standards at. Similarly, a partner may be really displeased due to unrealistic expectations even though by our standards, we’ve done a great job.

What we do (and don’t do)

Overview

We deliver on inputs to achieve outputs. What actually falls in our areas of expertise?
It really is a broad area of the intersections of finance, accounting, operations, technology, tax, legal, HR. It is because we deliver on inputs that we can help startups achieve on a wide variety of outputs depending on the priority.
Here is more detail on some frequently asked specifics.

Personal tax services

RORA does not offer a personal tax service. It would be great if Quantico brought its unique blend of excitement to everything from personal tax to personal shoppers. Unfortunately that day hasn’t come yet.
Why don’t we offer this service?
We’re here to create fulfilling careers for accountants and to give startups the tools to grow. Personal tax falls outside of that.
We’re not an accounting firm.
Our aim isn’t to give people everything they ask for, it’s to focus obsessively on what we do better than anyone else.
Personal tax requires a separate engagement with the founders as individuals rather than startups. The extra risk management means we’re not the most economical choice.
What should we say to partners?
I’m afraid we don’t have a personal tax department. We’re actually not an accounting firm, we’re FinOps experts - our focus is on systems for growth..
We can absolutely send you the names of a few traditional accounting firms (🥱) that provide the service. They’re set up to do it economically. We don’t make a specific recommendation and we don’t earn any referral fees. We do have a list of External Advisors somewhere.
We can make things as smooth as possible by providing them all the business information they need.
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FAQs
Can’t you just look at it?
Of course we can look at stuff, we want to be helpful and pragmatic, but we have to be clear that we’re not personal tax experts and Quantico [literally!] isn’t an accounting firm. It’s not a service we offer.
We’re really looking for a one stop shop. Can’t you just tag this on to your scope?
We are the one stop shop for scaling your business and we can do that better than anyone else. However building systems for your business and engaging with you personally for your tax are two different things. We focus obsessively on what we do best.
Can you recommend me to another firm who can help with this?
We don’t have any specific recommendations but the HMRC basic tools to file tax returns is actually a quite a good place to start as they pull in information from your PAYE already.

EMI options

RORA supports with implementing EMI options. As always, we will bill according to the time we spend.
Where we fit in compared to accounting and legal firms
Our 'time spent' model allows us to charge partners for just the time we need
Other accounting and law firms typically charge a fixed fee of between £2,000 - £5,000 to draft a template share option agreement, draft the initial valuation and administer the initial grant of options.

Example email to partner
Our recommended way to set up and manage an EMI scheme, I would recommend that we use the system
Vestd
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. There are
different plans
⁠
available, and I would suggest using the
Standard
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plan to enable us to more quickly prepare the valuation to be agreed with HMRC and to support subsequent annual valuations for future option grants. Another alternative is to consider SeedLegals.

The other advantage of using Vestd is that is also provides a cap table management system and can manage the digital signing of documents.

Quantico has used Vestd in the past with other partners and received a 10% discount which we will pass on.

In order to set up the system, work on the initial valuation to be agreed with HMRC and review and create all the promised option grants, I have estimated this would take around 2 days of FinOps Manager time.

It may be one of my colleagues working on this one-off project, but I will be around the help them out and will take on regular management of the scheme going forward as part of the existing scope.

R&D tax credits

Background
We always favour the approach that creates the most transparency, and best aligns our interests with our partners
We believe that the market for R&D tax returns has become largely commoditised. The rules have been around long enough for it to become clear what HMRC will and will not accept.
There are multiple software solutions (targeted either at accountants or entrepreneurs) that take you through the whole process.

Where we fit in compared to other providers
Our 'time spent' model allows us to charge partners for just the time we need, whereas many other options also bake into their fixed price an element of risk.
Our contracts with partners and invoicing makes it clear that the service we are providing them with is days of work, and therefore we do not commit to defending claims.
We do not set out to be a cheap firm, but as the market for R&D claims is relatively inefficient our fully transparent approach means that we often are the cheapest option.

Vs accounting firms and boutique operators
These will almost always charge a fixed fee as a percentage of what they are able to claim.

Vs freelancers
In our experience freelancers charge a mixture of fixed fees or hourly rates.
As they are usually from a tax specialist background they tend to charge very high fees.

Example email to a partner
As there have been no prior submissions we will need to:
- identify all relevant R&D expenditure in the relevant financial years
- calculate the R&D tax credit due from HMRC
- compile an accompanying R&D report that supports the tax credit claim
- complete and file the CT600

For the completion of the R&D report we will need to liaise with the development team to identify the relevant costs and to provide. narrative over the activities that were undertaken and why they qualify for tax relief.

We have a template narrative with guidance notes that we would look to share but would need to earmark some time to run them through and discuss with the development team.

On pricing, as with all of our work, our charging model is simply based on day rates.

My best estimation of the time required.
- 2 days of FinOps Associate (to provide the underlying transactional information)
- 2 days of FinOps Manager (to prepare the calculations and report)
- 0.5 day of Tax Specialist (to review spend and provide guidance on qualified costs and maximising claim)

Recruitment as a service

Background
In the past we have been slow to talk about how and when our clients should hire. This has led to negative outcomes as they have hired without our involvement in the process.
As we work with fast growth businesses inevitably many (but not all) of them will reach a point where it makes sense for them to hire a team.
Our mission is to modernise every aspect of accounting, creating better careers and better businesses. Connecting candidates and businesses is a fantastic opportunity for us to do this.

Our mindset
We are the finance function experts, that means it is our job to plan ahead for the businesses we run.
If we are being micromanaged by our clients, then we're not doing our job right.
If a business shows us a growth forecast that will make it sensible for their finance function to change, it's our job to say that immediately. If we don't know what their plans are, then it's our job to ask.
Our partners will tell us that they have pain, but it is our job to translate that into a solution.

We have resources that can massively help our partners as they recruit
Between us we have a lot of expertise on how a finance team should be structured, we're working to centralise this knowledge
We've screened nearly 200 accountants and have a large database of applications
We've developed an effective screening and interview process
We can onboard new hires and present them with an overview of financial processes
We can provide new hires with the resources in our FinOps Handbook
We can provide access to our peer group support and training sessions

Top pain points for partners
Partners are generally confident in their ability to attract candidates but vetting them is incredibly time consuming
Many entrepreneurs hate the idea of paying contingent fees, and believe that they can do the hiring themselves
Entrepreneurs may naturally want to hire the most junior resource first, and may feel unable to vet for technical competence
The first finance hire in a startup lacks a support community and effective training

How we structure this as a service
As a minimum we should have a role in the process and charge for our time as normal. Even if this is all we get it is a better outcome than being isolated from the process
Ideally we would also receive a success fee to compensate us for the value we provide which isn't tied to hours worked

Example email to a partner
We can manage the whole hiring process or only get involved in the technical interview stage.

Typically, if there's already someone internal managing recruitment, we will only feed into the technical interview stage. If there isn't an internal recruitment function, we can then manage the whole pipeline, from writing the job ad, posting the ad and managing the candidates through the following stages.

Screening interview - This is where it's going to be quite time consuming and as we have interviewed many accountants, we have a a good sense of what works well here. We will work with you to define the screening criteria and questions. The estimated time per interview is 0.5 hours.

Technical interview - This is where we can add additional value is around assessing the technical aptitude of the candidate. As above, we normally charge per time, approximately 1.5 hours to interview a candidate and to summarise the notes.

Final Interview - We typically wouldn’t want to get involved in this stage as I’m sure you will be keen to make sure that the candidate is the right cultural fit. So, we would step out of this process.

In addition, there will be additional time of 1 day per week to project manage and an additional £2500 referral fee if the candidate has come from our network.

Solutions available to startups
The model in practice
Screenshot 2021-12-07 at 17.01.55.png
The equation
What we do (and don’t do)
Overview
Personal tax services
EMI options
R&D tax credits
Recruitment as a service
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