Running a business can feel relentless. Long hours, constant decisions, cash pressure, and the sense that no matter how hard you work, you’re always reacting rather than leading.
For many business owners, the challenge isn’t a lack of effort or ambition – it’s a lack of financial clarity.
Financial management for business owners isn’t about accounting compliance or year-end reports. It’s about understanding how your business really works, knowing what drives performance, and using that insight to build a business that supports your life, not consumes it.
That is the purpose of the FiMBO programme.
Before any discussion about growth, profit, or cash flow, there is a more important question:
What does success mean to you?
For some business owners, success means freedom – control over time, flexibility, and lifestyle.
For others, it means building a valuable asset they can eventually sell.
For most, it sits somewhere in between.
The problem is that many businesses grow without a destination in mind. Without clarity, decisions become reactive, growth becomes inconsistent, and the business drifts.
A business without direction doesn’t fail dramatically – it quietly underperforms.
A well-run business doesn’t succeed by chance. It succeeds because:
Without a plan, effort increases but results often don’t.
Planning gives you control. Control reduces stress. And reduced stress allows better decisions.
The statistics around business survival and exit are uncomfortable but important.
Most businesses:
Very few business owners achieve the exit they expect.
The key reason?
Exit readiness is treated as a future problem, not a present discipline.
A business that is well-run, profitable, and cash-generative is always more valuable – whether you plan to sell or not.
Many owners believe growth requires:
In reality, sustainable growth comes from small, consistent improvements.
A 1% improvement across key areas doesn’t feel dramatic in the moment – but over time it compounds into transformational results.
This approach removes pressure, reduces risk, and builds momentum.
Most businesses track:
These are outcomes – not drivers.
To influence results, you must focus on the inputs you can control.
That’s where business growth drivers come in.
There are seven core drivers that influence business performance:
Each driver is interconnected. Improve one, and others often improve too.
Ignore them, and problems compound quietly.
A profitable business can still fail if cash flow is poorly managed.
Late-paying customers, weak credit control, and poor visibility create:
Credit control is not just an admin task – it is risk management.
Improving debtor days by even a small amount can release significant cash back into the business.
Growing sales without fixing fundamentals often increases risk:
In many cases, improving existing processes delivers better results than chasing new revenue.
Stability first. Growth second.
When small improvements are applied consistently:
Equally, small deteriorations quietly destroy value.
This is why understanding your numbers is non-negotiable.
Financial management isn’t about becoming an accountant.
It’s about:
That is the foundation of the FiMBO programme – and the heart of Growing Your Numbers.
You don’t need to work harder.
You don’t need to take bigger risks.
You need clarity, control, and consistency.
Small changes, applied deliberately, change everything.
Innovation tax reliefs such as R&D tax relief and Patent Box are a key part of the government’s strategy to boost productivity and economic growth. They help businesses offset the cost of developing new products, services or processes. In practice, these schemes can give companies vital breathing space, the R&D tax helping to de-risk the process. It gives cash flow back in the future, allowing to do a lot more and making investors’ money work harder.
R&D tax relief helps cover the cost of development, while Patent Box reduces Corporation Tax to 10% on profits derived from patented innovations. Together, they create a tax-efficient way to support your business as it grows.
R&D tax relief
Patent Box
You may already be claiming one of these, but very few businesses take advantage of both.
Combining R&D and Patent Box gives you a complete, tax-smart innovation strategy. Used together, they create a joined-up approach: you’re not only backing your innovation financially, you’re building future tax efficiency into your business model.
A good innovation strategy doesn’t just ask “what can we protect?” — it also asks “what’s the tax value of what we’re building?”
It’s not just about protecting your R&D and innovation with patents, but also about creating a tax asset through Patent Box, which makes your business more attractive overall.
Patent Box, another Government innovation tax incentive, is the next logical step.
How much could Patent Box be worth to your business?
Despite being available since 2013, Patent Box is massively underused. HMRC’s latest statistics show over 65,000 R&D tax relief claims in 2022–23, but only 1,600 Patent Box claims.
If you take the total amount of ‘relief’ for Patent Box claimed last year, it comes to £1.47Bn. There are only 1,600 claimants, so the average claim value is circa £1M.
BUT:
This is a missed opportunity. Yet many businesses are unaware of it or assume it’s only for large companies. In reality, SMEs can and do benefit. With the right guidance, even niche or process patents can become a valuable tax asset.
How?
Patents can increase the value of a business considerably:
Tax efficiency:
These provide levers to achieve the business goals:
See how it works: For a concrete example, take a look at this case study →
If you want to have access to innovation tax reliefs without exposing your company to risk, ABGi is a trusted, practical partner. We’re here to help businesses identify and claim the reliefs they’re entitled to — and plan for the ones they’re not using yet.
We’ve worked with hundreds of UK companies to build joined-up R&D and IP strategies that deliver real value, while keeping the process simple and secure.
Here’s how we work:
Straightforward, objective advice
We’ll always give you a realistic view of what’s eligible — and we’re just as happy to say “no” as “yes.”
Technical strength
All our consultants have real industry experience, are UK-based and understand both the science and the numbers. Meet the team →
Robust, HMRC-compliant claims
We produce detailed, high-quality reports that meet HMRC expectations. We don’t outsource report writing, and our challenge rates remain low.
Patent Box guidance
We help you understand what qualifies — and how to get there, even if you don’t currently hold patents.
Enquiry defence included
If HMRC raises a query, we’ll manage the enquiry at no extra charge, from initial contact to final agreement.
Flexible involvement
We do most of the work: gathering information, writing the technical narrative, calculating eligible costs, and managing digital submissions. You stay in control and can be involved as much or as little as you like, we’ll tailor the process to your business.
If you’re innovating, you could already be sitting on a valuable tax asset — but unless someone shows you how the pieces fit together, it’s easy to miss.
R&D tax relief and Patent Box work best when they’re part of the same conversation.
Let’s start that conversation. We’ll help you build a strategy that supports growth and turns your ideas into lasting value.
