Why is revenue forecasting so difficult in agencies and project-based businesses?

In this episode of The Fractional CFO Show, Adam Cooper speaks with Julia Longo, Group Finance Director at SAENTYS, about the operational and financial realities of forecasting revenue in a fast-moving creative consultancy environment.

SAENTYS operates across the UK, France and Switzerland, supporting clients in the real estate, hospitality and destination sectors. Julia oversees finance across multiple entities and shares a practical, experience-led view of how forecasting, reporting and operational planning work inside an international agency business.

The discussion explores the difference between billing forecasting and revenue forecasting, and why many businesses have strong visibility over invoicing and pipeline activity but still struggle to understand future profitability and utilisation properly.

Adam and Julia discuss the challenges of managing constantly shifting project scopes, changing client deadlines, freelancer requirements and resource allocation, all while trying to maintain accurate financial reporting and forward-looking visibility.

The episode also covers the importance of management accounts, KPI reporting, operational finance processes and cross-functional collaboration between finance, client services, operations and creative teams.

Other topics covered include:

• Revenue forecasting vs billing forecasting
• Financial planning in project-based businesses
• Profitability management for agencies
• Cash flow forecasting and pipeline visibility
• Resource planning and utilisation management
• PSA systems and operational reporting
• Finance leadership in creative businesses
• International reporting and multi-entity finance operations
• Forecasting challenges in professional services firms
• Improving financial visibility through better systems and processes
• Time tracking, project profitability and operational accountability
• Management reporting for growing agencies
• Finance transformation and process improvement
• Forecasting uncertainty and decision-making with incomplete data
• The role of finance in supporting operational performance

Julia also shares insights from her non-traditional route into finance leadership, moving from a background in chemistry and operations into senior finance roles within the agency world. The conversation highlights why strong finance leaders in creative and professional services businesses need commercial awareness, operational understanding and the ability to work closely with non-finance teams.

This is a practical conversation for agency founders, finance directors, COOs, management accountants, project-based businesses and professional services firms looking to improve forecasting accuracy, profitability, financial visibility and operational decision-making.

Guest:
Julia Longo - Group Finance Director at SAENTYS

Hosted by:
Adam Cooper - ACC Finance Solutions

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and all major podcast platforms.

#FinancialForecasting #RevenueForecasting #ManagementAccounts #CashFlowForecasting #Profitability #AgencyFinance #FinanceLeadership #OperationalFinance #ProfessionalServices #BusinessGrowth

In this episode of The Fractional CFO Show, Adam Cooper is joined by Callum Lockwood (Re:signal) to explore how SEO and marketing decisions translate into real commercial outcomes.

Too many businesses still measure success through traffic, rankings, and vanity metrics. But as Callum explains, those numbers don’t always lead to what actually matters, revenue growth, profitability, and cash flow.

This conversation takes a more commercial and CFO-led view of SEO, reframing it as a long-term growth investment rather than a standalone marketing channel.

Together, Adam and Callum break down how founders and operators should think about return on investment (ROI), payback periods, and contribution margin when evaluating SEO and digital marketing spend.

They also explore how AI is changing the economics of marketing in 2026, from reducing the cost of content production to increasing competition and shifting where real value is created.

Key themes from the episode include:

• Why traffic alone is a poor indicator of business performance
• How to connect SEO activity to revenue, margin, and commercial outcomes
• The role of SEO within a broader growth strategy and marketing mix
• Common areas where businesses misallocate marketing budget and resources
• Why many “SEO problems” are actually issues with pricing, positioning, or conversion
• How to think about SEO in terms of customer acquisition cost (CAC) and lifetime value (LTV)
• The impact of AI on search, content, and digital competition
• What CFOs and founders should be asking before investing further in marketing

This is a practical, experience-led discussion designed to help founders, CEOs, and operators make better decisions about where to invest for sustainable growth.

If you’re spending on marketing, or questioning whether your current strategy is really delivering a return, this episode will help you rethink how SEO fits into your wider commercial model.

In this episode of The Fractional CFO Show, Adam Cooper is joined by Elliott King, agency founder, digital marketing expert, and Managing Partner at FINN Partners, to explore the real journey from startup to exit.

Elliott shares honest insights on managing cash flow through growth, the shift from project to retainer revenue, and the financial discipline required to build a sellable agency.

They also dive into the realities of M&A, including due diligence, valuation drivers, and what actually changes after a sale.

Plus, a look at how AI, SEO, and owned media are reshaping digital marketing, and what agency founders should be doing now to stay competitive.

A must-listen for agency owners focused on growth, profitability, and long-term exit strategy.

Thinking about raising debt finance for growth, refinancing, acquisitions or working capital?

In this episode of The Fractional CFO Show, Adam Cooper speaks with Steve Cockell, Founder of Obica Business Funding and experienced commercial debt advisor, about how the SME funding landscape has changed, and what founders must do before approaching lenders.

They discuss:

• The decline of traditional relationship banking
• The SME funding gap between £500k - £2m
• Invoice finance vs unsecured cash flow lending vs asset-backed facilities
• How to craft a compelling funding narrative
• When to use a debt advisor
• What lenders really look for in today’s credit environment

If you’re planning business growth and want to use debt finance strategically, this episode will help you approach funding with clarity and confidence.

In this episode of The Fractional CFO Show, we explore a question many agency founders quietly wrestle with:

What would actually change in your business if you freed up just 10 hours a week?

I’m joined by Jesse P. Gilmore, Founder of Niche in Control and host of the Leverage for Growth podcast. Jesse works closely with agency owners who have built successful businesses, but find themselves trapped in delivery, decisions, and day-to-day firefighting.

This is a practical, grounded conversation about escaping founder-dependence without losing control.

We unpack how agency owners can:

• Diagnose where their time is really going using Jesse’s Time Audit framework
• Move away from trading hours for revenue and towards value-led pricing and profitability
• Build systems and delegation that support scale, not complexity
• Use AI deliberately as a leverage tool, not a distraction
• Reframe metrics like utilisation, average client value, and earned standard hours to support better decisions

From a CFO perspective, this episode sits right at the intersection of time, money, and leadership capacity. Because reclaiming time isn’t about working less, it’s about building a business that no longer relies on the founder to function.

If you’re an agency founder or service-based business owner feeling stretched, stuck in the weeds, or unsure how to create headroom without risking performance, this episode will help you think more clearly about what needs to change, and in what order.

A thoughtful, practical listen for anyone serious about building a scalable agency with stronger margins, better systems, and more intentional leadership.

In this episode of The Fractional CFO Show, Adam Cooper sits down with Dean McKenna, Co-Founder of Cassia Digital Agency, to unpack how digital strategy should actually connect to business performance, not just aesthetics.

This is a practical, experience-led conversation for founders, operators, and business owners who know their online presence matters, but aren’t always clear on where to invest, what good looks like, or how to make it pay back.

Dean brings a refreshing, structured perspective to a space that often feels vague or overly technical. He talks through his GROW model, a simple but powerful way of linking business goals to digital execution, and explains why so many companies end up spending money on websites, SEO, or marketing activity that never really delivers a return.

A big theme throughout the conversation is credibility. Many businesses build strong reputations offline through relationships, referrals, and delivery, but lose momentum when a prospective client checks them out online and the website doesn’t reflect that same level of quality. That gap, what Dean describes as “website shame”, can quietly erode trust and cost real opportunities.

We also get into the numbers behind digital performance. Not vanity metrics, but the ones that actually matter from a commercial perspective, traffic quality, conversion rates, SEO visibility, and cost of acquisition, and how these link back to revenue, profitability, and long-term business value.

Along the way, we explore:

• Why a strong offline business can still lose deals due to poor digital credibility
• The hidden cost of misaligned messaging, branding, and user experience
• How to approach website and digital investment with a clear ROI mindset
• Why strategy should always come before design, development, or paid traffic
• The role of structure and accountability when founders are spinning multiple plates
• How AI is starting to reshape search, discoverability, and how customers find businesses
• The difference between a “brochure website” and a revenue-generating digital asset
• Practical ways to sense-check whether your current website is helping or hurting growth

This isn’t a technical deep dive, it’s a grounded conversation about making better decisions, avoiding wasted spend, and treating your digital presence as a core part of your business strategy.

If you’re thinking about investing in your website, improving your online presence, or simply trying to understand what “good” looks like in 2026, this episode will give you a clearer, more commercial way of looking at it.

This week I’m joined by Michael Henderson, Founder of RiskBox Ltd, a man on a mission to help creative businesses understand what insurance they really need.

Michael brings a refreshingly honest take on one of the more confusing of running a businesses. He shares real stories, practical guidance, and insights that could save your business time, money and headaches when things go wrong.

🌟 Some of my favourite parts of our conversation include:

✅ Legal must-haves vs. nice-to-haves: What’s actually required when starting out.
✅ Overinsured or underinsured? Why many founders get this balance wrong.
✅ Contracts and cover: How to handle insurance clauses in big client agreements.
✅ Cyber and ransomware: What protection looks like in a digital-first world.
✅ “Mitigation of loss”: The little-known insurance clause that could save you thousands.