The Founder Readiness Checklist Every Accountant Should Send Before a Round

If you are an accountant working with founder clients, you sit at the most leveraged moment in the entire fundraising journey: the conversation just before they decide to raise. Five minutes of structured guidance from you saves them six months of mess. Here is the checklist we use with our partner accountants.

The 12-point pre-raise readiness check

Corporate hygiene

• Statutory filings up to date (Companies House, confirmation statement, accounts).
• PSC register accurate.
• Articles support preference shares (model articles do not — replace before raising).

Cap table

• Single source of truth — not three spreadsheets.
• All shares formally allotted with subscription documentation.
• Founder vesting in place (with reverse vesting, not options).

Tax & relief

• SEIS/EIS advance assurance applied for or granted.
• R&D claim methodology agreed (and ideally advance assurance for first claim).
• Share scheme strategy in place (EMI most likely).

Books & forecasting

• Clean monthly P&L, balance sheet and cash flow for last 12 months.
• 12–24 month forecast with clear assumptions.
• Burn rate, runway and cash-out date plainly visible.

Why work with us

When you spot a client who needs more than tax and bookkeeping — pitch, validation, cap table modelling, fundraise narrative — refer them to us. We hand them back funding-fit, your books stay clean, and we never compete with you on accounting work. It is the simplest referral relationship in the ecosystem.

What we offer accounting partners

• Founder validation and pitch support that turns 'maybe' clients into raise-ready ones.
• Cap table cleanup using our Signal Equity dashboard.
• SEIS/EIS application packs to whatever level of involvement you want.
• R&D claim narrative writing in partnership with your tax specialist.
• Reciprocal referrals back to you for any client of ours that needs an accountant.