We have had the immense pleasure of working in a voluntary capacity with Sara-Jayne from Amethyst Raccoon for the last two years as bookkeeper for New Mills Festival CIC.

Prior to Sara-Jayne joining us the job of generating accounts and invoices, providing updates to the rest of the committee and the multitude of other day to day tasks had defaulted through a lack of volunteers to one of the existing volunteer directors and the additional workload was proving too much. We always seemed to be playing catch-up and preparing the books and making them balance for meetings especially the AGM was hugely stressful.

Since Sara-Jayne has joined us, she has expanded the role of bookkeeper way beyond our expectations. This has freed up other volunteers to think more strategically and to concentrate of the sustainability of the organisation. The directors are now always fully briefed on the finances and are confident that the bookkeeping and day to day financial tasks are in safe hands.

Although Sara-Jayne is a volunteer she treats the role with the utmost professionalism with exceptional attention to detail. A huge benefit has been transferring our accounting to an online and more automated system which has meant the end of large amounts of paper to be archived and a central point where directors can find information.

However, whilst we would highly recommend Sara-Jayne for her professionalism it is her personal touch and genuine interest and concern in our organisation and activities that has impressed us the most.

Before I worked with you, I would do my books on the dreaded January. It was the only time I would look at money. I would get very stressed. Obviously you don’t know how you’re doing, do you? You don’t know how profitable you are. You don’t know about any of your products: are they making money?

For someone like me who completely buries their head, it was a really big thing to get my head around. It was quite monumental to realise I’m actually earning money because I don’t feel like I’m earning money. Actually looking at the books, I’m actually earning quite a bit of money.

Having you there to encourage me to face it led was just incredible.

The experience was transformational. Purely because it has completely transformed my business. Every aspect. I get a lot of copycats. Now, when they’re undercutting me, I know they’re making a loss. So it’s given me a lot of confidence to let people copy me. At the end of the day, I know the figures because we’ve been through it together. I want a business that’s going to last and not put me in debt. That’s not what business is about; it’s an energy exchange. I have so much confidence now.

I know what I can afford to do now. I can actually sit there like a businessperson and say, ‘That was not a financially safe thing to do. Don’t do it again!’

Going out and doing talks knowing that I can help other business owners, knowing that I am profitable. Knowing the figures so I can grow the profit.

Amethyst Racoon has brought clarity and responsiveness to the financial workings of New Mills Festival. We can now see the current state of each project and event within the Festival as well as overall figures. Additionally by having immediate access and understanding of all our figures when she attends meetings Sara-Jayne is able to directly respond to any queries that arise on whatever aspect of our finances.

For the project that I was directly responsible for she ensured that it came in on budget and was able to follow through on all grant requirements, etc. Beyond that she is personally interested in how the various events are doing and can contribute informed suggestions on how to proceed.

I would happily recommend her services to any arts organisation or individual trader.

A huge thank you for the bookkeeping spreadsheet! It’s amazing! Made my end of month mad rush to do the books so so so much easier! Absolutely love it thank you so so much!

I have worked with Sara-Jayne for a few years & she is an amazing supportive person who supported me so patiently in our previous roles. I continually contacted Sara-Jayne requesting support and she was very efficient and effective in her support and an amazing personality. Sara-Jayne is very approachable and nothing was too much of a problem. Thanks for everything, Wayne