Fractional COO For UK accountancy firms

Run a calmer, more profitable, less founder-dependent firm.

Optivo gives accountancy firm owners senior operating leadership on a simple monthly retainer — so the business runs better behind the scenes and performs better at the front. Without the cost of a full-time hire.

Or score your firm free in 3 minutes →

For founder-led firms from £250k to £3m+ in fees · No setup fee · 3-month minimum, then rolling monthly

Andy Jackson, fractional COO for accountancy firms
£4,000 +VAT
per month, all-in — one retainer
£4,000
+ VAT per month, all-in
Weekly
COO working session
Immediate
start — no hire, no ramp-up
1
operator — not a deal desk
The pattern

Most firms don’t struggle because they lack technical ability.

They struggle because the business has outgrown the way it operates. As the firm grows, too much depends on a few key people — and the owner is still pulled into the day-to-day.

The pattern

Growth outpaces structure

Processes become inconsistent. Work gets stuck between people, systems and clients. Roles blur, handovers weaken, and everything routes back through the partners.

The cost

Busy, but not in control

Good people spend their time on admin, workarounds and chasing instead of client work. Software is in place but not embedded. More growth just means more complexity.

The answer

Operating discipline

Optivo brings experienced operational leadership into the firm on a flexible monthly basis — building the systems, rhythm and habits that let the firm manage itself.

Who it’s for

Founder-led firms that have outgrown informal ways of working.

Optivo is built for owners who know the firm could run better — but don’t have the time, headspace or senior operational support to make the changes stick. Not ready to hire a full-time COO, but well past running everything from your inbox.

  • The owner is still too involved in workflow, people issues, client problems and day-to-day decisions.
  • Growth has outpaced operational structure — bottlenecks now affect deadlines, delivery and client experience.
  • You want to grow advisory, improve client experience or use your technology properly, but can’t create the capacity.
  • Too much depends on a few key individuals, and the firm feels fragile when they’re away.
  • You’re preparing for succession, merger, acquisition — or simply a calmer, more valuable firm.
  • You need senior operational thinking now, without the cost, risk or commitment of a full-time hire.
The Optivo Monthly COO

What your firm gets, every month.

One retainer. Senior operating support that shows up every week and moves the things that are actually stuck — not another report that sits in a drawer.

Weekly COO session

A practical working session on what’s stuck, what needs deciding and what needs to move this week. Operational leadership, not advice.

Monthly operating review

A structured review of workflow, capacity, deadlines, client issues, projects and margins — documented and shared with you and your partners.

A live operating plan

One shared source of truth tracking priorities, actions, owners, risks and progress — so the whole team knows what it owns.

Workflow & team improvement

Ongoing work to improve how jobs flow through the firm, how roles are structured, and where friction and rework are removed.

Client journey improvement

Onboarding, communication, review meetings and delivery made consistent, valuable and commercially effective.

Pricing, packaging & advisory

Help to turn better clients, advisory and recurring value into a practical operating model — plus light-touch support between sessions.

See the full service →
In practice

Optivo in the field.

Client engagements shown anonymously, alongside the firms Andy has built, acquired and integrated himself — the operating experience Optivo’s advice is built on.

Accountancy & audit firm · Operating foundation

“Good people, strong technical capability, an established client base — but no operating infrastructure to match. The mandate wasn’t to run the firm. It was to build the systems that let the firm run itself.”

IRIS Elements
Live as the central operating system
20+ SOPs
Core processes documented & owned
2 offices
Consistent onboarding across both

A five-partner, full-service accountancy & audit firm across two offices — a current Optivo blueprint engagement.

Financial services firm · Modernisation & growth platform

“A strong advice firm with no scalable way to grow beyond referrals. The brief was to modernise how the business runs and build a partner introduction platform from the ground up — turning an ad-hoc referral habit into a repeatable growth channel.”

Partner platform
Introducer portal built & launched from scratch
One pipeline
Client introductions tracked end-to-end
Adviser systems
Integrated with the firm’s planning tools

A UK financial services & financial planning firm — a fractional COO modernisation and partner-platform build.

Buy-and-build · Buzz

Optivo’s playbook comes from doing it, not just advising on it. Buzz is a modern accountancy group Andy built from the ground up — multiple brands, a clear compliance-to-advisory client ladder, and the operating systems to run it all.

Multi-brand
An accountancy group built from scratch
Compliance → advisory
A structured client value ladder
Systems-led
Run on process, not key people

Buzz Accounting — Andy’s own buy-and-build accountancy group.

M&A & integration · Practice Group

The hands-on M&A and integration experience behind Optivo’s advice. Through Practice Group, Andy acquires accountancy and advisory firms and integrates them — an operator-led buy-and-build focused on better systems and governance, not financial engineering.

Buy-and-build
Acquiring & integrating firms
Operator-led
Systems & governance, not just deals
Multi-office
Integrating teams across locations

Practice Group — Andy’s own accountancy M&A and integration platform.

See the results →
What people say

Trusted by the people who’ve worked with Andy.

Feedback from people Andy has advised, led and worked alongside across two decades of building and running organisations.

“Andy is simply one of the best people managers I have met.”
David EsdaileDirector, Healthwatch Trafford
“Very talented, astute and intuitive business advisor.”
Emma FrewBid Manager
“The energy he brings to business & clarity in direction is what makes him such a brilliant business coach.”
Andy NelsonSEO Consultant
“He is very high functioning, working at both strategic and operational levels. Andy knows how to get the best from his people and facilities.”
Tom CalderbankDevelopment Officer
“I found Andy to be very authentic and professional with a wealth of knowledge. I would certainly work with Andy again.”
Joe ConstantLeadership Coach
“Andy is an exceptional Strategy Consultant, Facilitator and Trainer who is able to combine sound business sense with a passion…”
Cordelia Osewa-Ediae FRSAStrategic Advisor & Board Member

Let’s build a firm that runs without you in the middle of it.

A confidential, no-obligation call to understand your firm, where it’s stuck, and whether Optivo is the right fit. If it’s not, I’ll tell you.