Below The Line Finance : Fractional CFO & Business Advisors

Fractional CFO Services for Purpose-Driven Founders

Hi there, I’m Harriet

 

I partner with passion-led and purpose-driven founders who feel frustrated by the logical world of finance.

My mission is to transform your business journey into a financial success story, where money empowers your mission and amplifies your impact 🔥

Because I believe that business owners are first and foremost, vibrant, diverse humans each with their own unique stories, backgrounds, hopes, fears, dreams and beliefs that we bring into our ventures.

Together we heal money beliefs, strengthen your financial foundations, turn dreams into a profitable plan of action and build the infrastructure that boosts your bank balance and fuels your creative potential.

 Arrange a Chat

 

Fractional CFO Services for Purpose-Driven Founders

Harriet Formby MA ACA

Founder of Below The Line Finance, Fractional CFO, Chartered Accountant and Business Mentor based in Somerset, UK.

CREDENTIALS

ICAEW CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT

POST GRAD BUSINESS STRATEGIST

LEVEL 7 EXECUTIVE BUSINESS MENTOR

Professional Qualifications

ICAEW Chartered Accountant (ACA) , 8 years PQE

Trauma of Money™ Certified Practitioner

PRINCE2® Foundation Certificate in Project Management

Lean Six Sigma, IASSC Certified Yellow Belt

Scrum Master Certified

Academic Qualifications

Distinction: MA Strategic Business & Management, Bath Business School            

First Class: BA (Hons) Business & Management, Bath Business School                  

Level 7 Certification in Executive Coaching & Mentoring, Institute of Leadership Management 

Level 5 Award in Management Coaching & Mentoring, Chartered Management Institute

Academic Achievements 

Guest Speaker at the Cambridge Annual Medico-Legal Conference 2013.

Journal article ‘The impact of the Jackson reforms on medicolegal evidence’, Journal of Observational Pain Medicine, Vol 1, No. 3 2014.

Runner Up ‘NACUE’ Student Apprentice Final

Founding President of Enterprise Society.

Purpose

Financial empowerment to shake things up, bring light to the world, and change the game!



Mission

To equip creators & purposeful founders with the financial knowhow & expertise to scale their vision with profits, purpose, healthy cashflows & good vibes!

Values

Curious & Flexible

Always Learning & Growing

Conscious & Collaborative


MY JOURNEY

Fractional CFO Services for Purpose-Driven Founders

Making Finance Approachable

My aim to make the world of finance feel a lot more approachable and friendly!  But I bring a wealth of experience to the table. 

With a track record of success as a ICAEW Chartered Accountant (8 Years PQE), Fractional CFO and Business Transformation Lead.

Expertise and Experience

I have a deep understanding and practical expertise in change management, which I have demonstrated through academic publications and speaking engagements in business strategy at Post Graduate level. 

I have hands-on experience in providing strategic financial support and advice in the creative and tech startups space, developing highly profitable growth plans, build scalable finance functions and reporting capabilities,  from seed to series C.

Corporate Background

In the corporate space, I have lead finance transformation and technical international accounting projects for Fortune 500 companies and private equity-backed groups. In the M&A space, I have experience through FD roles of  integrating acquired businesses into multinationals. With certifications in Prince 2, Lean Six Sigma, and Agile, I blend both financial and operational knowledge.

Full Circle to Small(er) business 

In 2020, after a successful corporate career, I returned to working with small(er)  business owners and creative entrepreneurs to create more meaningful impact. I am particularly passionate about helping creative and neurodivergent founders overcome the unique challenges they face in managing finances and building profitable ventures that improve our experience of life on Earth.

Commitment to Mentoring

As a Member of the Association of Business Mentors, I have recently attained my ILM Level 7 Executive Coaching & Mentoring,  I am committed to supporting you to develop your business skills and achieve your full potential and I bring a trauma-informed approach to managing money topics, with Practitioner Certification in the Trauma of Money Method™.

"Whenever I talk to Harriet about things that are troubling me with our business finances I feel so much better! She always has a reassuring and practical plan of action and really cares about our success."
"I sleep better at night knowing we now have our cashflow under control and a profitable budget in place thanks to Harriet. I wish I'd started working with her sooner!"

SAVVY CFO SOLUTION FOR A NEW ERA!

 

Supporting Mission Led Businesses

 I am dedicated to supporting  mission-led startups, scale-ups, and more mature businesses. As an outsourced or Fractional CFO, I provide a personal and relatable service through Below The Line Finance’s Chartered Accountants and Business Advisory Practice.

Mini CFO™: Our Signature Offering

My signature offering, Mini CFO™, is a unique subscription-based solution that combines Fractional CFO expertise and (where required) accountancy compliance expertise for mission-led ventures. With everything you need to keep your finances in order and grow your business profitably, Mini CFO™ offers  a highly hands on and personal approach to achieve financial peace of mind and the strategic support to sustainably grow in the direction of your dreams.

Finance Education with Get Number Savvy™

 On the finance education side, I have developed Get Number Savvy™, a training platform that exists to empower creative founders to confidently manage their finances through training, courses, resources and more.

Trusted and Certified

As a Registered Chartered Accountancy Practice regulated by the ICAEW and a Certified Xero Advisor, your business numbers are in safe hands.

Fractional CFO Services for Purpose-Driven Founders
 Business numbers can feel  frustrating when you are a more creative or neurodivergent entrepreneur.
But I believe everyone has the potential to over come money blocks and thrive with numbers.
So step into my supportive space, lean into my expertise and grow your financial confidence to build your legacy!

How we help

Fractional CFO Packages

Fractional CFO solutions for a savvy profitable business life!

Access to financial expertise and commercially savvy advice to take your venture in the direction of it's wildest potential.

Consultancy
& Outsourced Projects

Outsourced Strategic Finance Insights to drive growth and change.

Access to CFO advice and input, business planning, modelling system optimisation and more.

Accountancy
& Compliance Services

As an ICAEW Chartered Accountancy Practice we provide accountancy, tax & compliance services.

As an exclusive add-on to our fractional offering.

Get Number Savvy Platform

Support with the fundamentals of finance, money healing and beyond through our Get Number Savvy™ Finance learning platform.

A trauma, informed space, for mission-led founders.

GET TO KNOW HARRIET

My Why

My recent personal goals have been about developing my own 15 acre small holding bordering ancient woodland with a meandering stream running across the boundary.

Transforming the land

Recently taken out of arable farming to transform with tree and orchard planting (over 3,000 native trees), introduction of rare breed poultry, Dartmoor ponies, a homebred foal and a haven for rehabilitating and training ex-racehorses. There is quite the herd of horses now … and a very small flock of pet sheep (who think they are dogs).

Finding balance in nature

Despite all the chaos and farm related jobs… this is my WHY! And of course serves as my reminder to be kind to nature, get plenty of fresh air and work in a sustainable way – as I have a little remote office space based here.

A dog walk or ride around the site, listening to bird song and watching the wild deer grazing with Red Kites souring overhead – helps solves many problems… clears the mind and is a favoured way to facilitate thinking and decision making. 

Challenges and rewards

 One down side of all the outside time is you might catch me talking often of (read complaining about) the weather and the long winters! But the wrath of the English winters  is usually worth it for the flexibly and life style. 

Explore more of our ethos here

 

The Logical And Intuitive Intersection

Discovering a Passion for Finance

A surprising insight, I have never had any interest in maths… 

I was always far more interested in the arts, creating ,writing, imagining the stories of the past and the possibilities of the future.

 In fact it still surprises me, that I am a Chartered Accountant sometimes!

Entrepreneurial Beginnings

As it was only when I was a University student and taking an interest in entrepreneurship that I discovered an interesting link that accounting could be useful beyond the necessary filings and taxes. Seriously who knew?

I was so taken with the idea of entrepreneurship at that point, I founded a student enterprise society, had success  in a student version of the Apprentice, and got involved in all kinds of grass-roots small business and not for profit networking and initiatives. I started doing a bit of  business consulting along with an environmental internship alongside my official learning and working. 

 I, and my co-founder, even spontaneously pitched to the Vice Chancellor for funding to build a radical new global student movement, that ultimately got a nice chunk of seed funding.

Revelation in Numbers

Anyway it was at this time that I discovered the ‘numbers stuff’, wasn’t just some boring school necessity with no real point to it. (I actually quite vocally felt most of my prior education was pointless until I found and loved my degree course experience.)

Until I realised that I  could use finance skills to help some amazing, creative founders and business owners to innovate, build their dreams and scale ventures that created positive world-changing impact. Suddenly it seemed worth the effort of the Chartered Accountancy route to pursue this and help more! 

Blending Finance and Creativity

I got through the intensity of the exams by immersing myself in really interesting finance work on the more creative, purposeful, forward-looking aspects of accounting and finance, by partnering with some really cool start-ups raising funds and doing epic things. I am sure that if I had been on an accountancy training contract in a big firm doing what I was told in something like audit… I probably wouldn’t have lasted a week! So it was a lucky alignment and opportunity for which I am grateful.

A Unique Intersection

And now I existing in a unique intersection, where the logical world of finance meets the boundless creative world of potential. With one foot firmly planted in the realm of numbers, budgets, and strategic financial planning, and the other in the intuitive, ethereal dream world of game changing ideas, and artistic expression, I embody a the blend of pragmatic vision.

My calling is to serve as a bridge, translating the world of money and finances to enable heart-led change makers to realising their purpose-led visions in a financially abundant framework that reimagines capitalism with more fair and equitable outcomes.

Purpose-Driven Finance

I tell this story so you know that my main interest in finance is not in getting excited about a new tax rule or technical accounting point.  My passion is in how I can use my finance skills and expertise to help more purposeful business owners succeed. Because when your ideas can flourish, the world is a better, fairer, more equitable, enriched and beautiful place. And that’s also what drives me to innovate and get creative in my own business offering.

To be Continued…

I will come back here to fill in a few more insights – but feel free to ask me anything else if we’re chatting soon!

And be sure to check out our Community & Environment page 

 

Talk to Harriet

If you’re looking for an accountant with a creative flair who supports purpose-driven entrepreneurs, this is your chance to explore how we can help you.

Let’s get to know each other, discuss your goals, and see how our unique approach can benefit your business—all with no pressure.

Book a convenient time in my diary, and complete the pre-call questionnaire so our session can be as productive and aligned with your vision as possible.