flinder and NLB merge to form Ascendant, leading the way in “Finance as a Service”

News

Ascendant – the clear choice for the next chapter of growth at flinder

We’re excited to share that flinder is growing. We’ve joined with another very similar firm, Next Level Business (“NLB”), in a new group called Ascendant. With £4 million in combined revenue and a strong client base, Ascendant is targeting leadership in outsourced business finance. The combined group offers digital accounting, CFO advisory, and finance team solutions for high-growth tech and e-commerce sectors.

This move will give us greater scale, scope to grow our talented team and specialists, and invest further in our business, so that we can serve more clients and offer a broader range of services.

We will also have a growing number of specialists to allow us to support clients in areas such as corporate tax planning, business acquisitions and sales, personal tax and more. In addition, we will look to enhance those services we already provide.

Alastair Barlow, flinder CEO & co-founder, is becoming a consultant to Ascendant and will support the strategic direction of the group with growth through acquisition. Alastair said:

We explored a number of options and realised Ascendant was the clear choice for flinder's next chapter. With our shared vision, cultural alignment, and appetite for innovation, we now have a powerful platform for growth and prime opportunity to be the market leader in “Finance as a Service”.
I'm excited for everyone on the journey; our people, clients and new acquisitions, as we gain the scale and resources to accelerate our vision, allowing us to deliver more value and impact to our clients.

Moving forwards, Luke Streeter, flinder COO & co-founder, will continue to run the business, stepping into the CEO role for Ascendant’s “Finance as a Service” business. Luke said:

Together we now have 5 CFOs and over 50 team members supporting our brilliant clients. By coming together as a group, we can share resources and ideas, and obtain the investment we need to grow even further.
With our help, “Finance as a Service” takes care of all the financial management and support needs of our clients, so they can concentrate on growing their business. It’s the fastest-growing part of the accountancy market, and we are delighted that by joining Ascendant we’ll be playing an even bigger part in it. "

By joining forces, we’re now able to serve more businesses because we can:

  • Have investment for new hires and potentially further acquisitions of like-minded firms;
  • Provide greater opportunity for team development, growth and progression;
  • Shape new services we’ve previously not been able to resource in-house effectively and share internal resources; and
  • Further specialise in our chosen sectors and build a bigger presence in our target markets.

David Inglesfield Ascendant Group CEO, said:

Paul (NLB CEO), Luke, Alastair and their teams have created something amazing. NLB and flinder combined make a great foundation for our growth plans. We look forward to working with them to take it to a leadership position across many other business sectors and across the country as a whole.

On behalf of Alastair and Luke, we sincerely thank our incredible team and clients for buying into our vision and their continued support. Thank you so much for giving us the opportunity, and we look forward to continuing to serve you for a long time to come.

About Ascendant

Ascendant is a business created to build a market leadership position providing accountancy and finance services for growing owner-managed businesses.

Ascendant provides a central platform for quality accountancy firms, allowing them to grow faster by sharing resources and best practice and accessing Investment capital and expertise.

Ascendant is an equity partnership with regional firms, whose partners retain equity and join Ascendant’s central management team to help grow the business overall.

For more information, contact marketing@flinder.co or visit www.flinder.co