Frequently asked questions

Onwards Capita is the parent company behind Cleriqa and provides direct CFO execution for SMEs. It helps businesses improve cash flow, working capital, lender readiness, financial control, and decision quality, while building finance infrastructure that accounting firms can use at scale.

Onwards Capita turns finance data into action. It provides focused CFO services for SMEs, builds Cleriqa as a cash decision platform, and works with accounting firms that want to cut review work, protect margins, and deliver more value to clients.

Onwards Capita works with SME owners, finance teams, accounting firms, lenders, investors, and strategic partners. The service offer is most relevant when cash control, working capital, financing readiness, or management decision quality can materially change the outcome.

Cleriqa is a product by Onwards Capita. Onwards Capita developed the CFO workflows and commercial model; Cleriqa turns the repeatable parts into a platform for SMEs and accounting firms.

Onwards Capita was founded by Frédéric Vérin, a CFO operator with more than 22 years of experience across cash management, working capital, restructuring, fundraising, M&A, and finance transformation. He is also a co-founder of Cleriqa.

No. Onwards Capita does not replace routine bookkeeping, tax filing, or statutory accounting. It works above the bookkeeping layer, using existing finance data to improve cash control, decision support, financial readiness, and execution.

Onwards Capita offers four focused services: the 48h Cash Sprint, the Cash Flow Management System, the Lender Ready Finance Pack, and Financial Control & Decision Readiness. Each service addresses a different stage, from identifying trapped cash to installing ongoing cash control or preparing for financing.

Engage Onwards Capita when cash is tightening, profit is not converting into bank balance, working capital is absorbing growth, a lender discussion is approaching, or management does not trust the numbers enough to make a major decision.

The 48h Cash Sprint is a rapid cash diagnostic. Within 48 hours of receiving the required data, Onwards Capita builds a profit-to-cash bridge, estimates where cash is trapped, identifies the three highest-priority actions, and produces a 30-day execution plan.

The 48h Cash Sprint delivers a profit-to-cash bridge, a trapped-cash estimate, the top three actions ranked by impact and effort, a 30-day execution plan, an operating-cost heatmap, and critical KPIs tailored to the business model.

The Cash Flow Management System installs ongoing visibility and execution discipline. It includes a 13-week cash forecast, a weekly cash review, an action tracker, and follow-up on the receivables, payables, inventory, cost, and timing decisions that move cash.

The 48h Cash Sprint diagnoses the problem and builds the action plan. The Cash Flow Management System keeps the forecast current, tracks the actions, and creates the weekly operating rhythm needed to improve cash flow consistently over time.

The Lender Ready Finance Pack prepares an SME for bank, lender, or working-capital discussions. It combines a forward-looking cash forecast, key financial and operating KPIs, a clear funding use case, risk explanations, and the repayment logic in one coherent pack.

Financial Control & Decision Readiness is for businesses that have accounting support but still do not trust the numbers enough to act. Onwards Capita reviews reporting structure, control gaps, critical KPIs, and finance cadence so management can rely on the information before making decisions.

No. Onwards Capita works with the accounting support and systems you already use. The objective is to turn existing data into better cash control and decisions, not to replace routine bookkeeping or disrupt the current finance workflow.

No. Onwards Capita and Cleriqa are designed to work with existing accounting data and finance workflows. The exact setup depends on the source systems, data quality, and scope of the engagement.

The minimum data typically includes the latest profit and loss statement, balance sheet, accounts-receivable ageing, accounts-payable ageing, and inventory ageing where relevant. Revenue, gross-margin, bank, invoice, bill, and vendor data may be requested when needed.

The 48h Cash Sprint is designed to be light touch, usually requiring around three to four hours of management time for kickoff, data review, questions, and the final readout. Longer engagements require a regular decision owner and timely access to updated data.

The 48h Cash Sprint produces a CEO-ready diagnosis within 48 hours after the required data is received. Other services depend on data quality, scope, and implementation needs, but they are designed to reach useful cash visibility quickly rather than require a long finance transformation.

No. Onwards Capita focuses on cash flow, working capital, lender readiness, financial control, and decision support. Routine accounting administration, payroll processing, tax filing, and statutory compliance remain with the company’s accountant or specialist provider.

Cleriqa is a cash decision platform built by Onwards Capita. It turns accounting data into early warnings, practical cash actions, scenario decisions, and lender ready outputs for SMEs, while helping accounting firms cut review and rework and improve delivery margins.

Cleriqa helps SMEs see where cash is tightening, understand what is driving the movement, know what actions to take, test decisions before committing, and prepare clearer forward-looking information for lenders.

Cleriqa helps accounting firms cut review and rework, protect compliance margins, increase the number of clients each accountant can support, and add a branded advisory layer without building a larger delivery team.

The commercial reason is better firm economics. Cleriqa is designed to lower review and cleanup effort, increase client capacity, and create high-contribution-margin advisory revenue with limited operational disruption and no need to add a full CFO delivery team.

No major workflow change is intended. Cleriqa connects to or ingests existing finance data, prepares outputs, flags exceptions, and lets the firm review what requires judgment. The firm keeps its normal client relationship and remains in control.

Cleriqa removes repetitive review work and scales finance judgment; it does not remove the need for accountable human decisions. Accounting firms keep control of client relationships and exceptions, while SMEs can continue using their existing finance team and advisers.

No. Cleriqa is designed around read-only access and controlled review. Proposed corrections can be reviewed through approval workflows and shadow-ledger logic before any operational use or posting.

Cleriqa uses deterministic checks before model-generated suggestions, audit logs throughout the process, approval controls, read-only access, and shadow-ledger logic. These controls make recommendations reviewable, traceable, and reversible rather than relying on black-box output.

Only within an agreed partner framework. The firm approves the target clients and commercial messages, keeps ownership of the relationship, and can control how the platform is presented under its brand.

Yes. SMEs can access Cleriqa directly for cash visibility, action planning, scenario decisions, and lender readiness. Accounting-firm access remains a separate partner route designed around the firm’s client relationships and economics.

SMEs can request a platform discussion through the Onwards Capita or Cleriqa website. Accounting firms should request a partner conversation so the team can review data access, workflow, client selection, branding, and commercial activation.

Onwards Capita helps the SME explain its cash position, funding need, use of funds, risks, operating KPIs, and repayment logic with forward-looking evidence. The result is a clearer and more credible financing discussion, not a guarantee of approval.

The longer-term bank use case is forward-looking visibility on SME cash performance after lending. With appropriate data access and lender configuration, Cleriqa can support cash-health monitoring, working-capital indicators, and early warning signals before repayment stress becomes visible in arrears.

No. Cleriqa is a decision-support and monitoring layer, not a credit bureau or automated lending decision maker. It can provide forward-looking cash indicators and risk signals, but the lender remains responsible for underwriting, monitoring, and credit decisions.

Yes. Onwards Capita is open to strategic discussions with banks, fintechs, accounting networks, and other institutions that need better visibility into SME cash performance, finance readiness, or portfolio monitoring. Institutional use cases remain subject to product scope, data access, controls, and pilot validation.

Start with the problem, not the service name. Use the 48h Cash Sprint when the source of cash pressure is unclear, the Cash Flow Management System when ongoing visibility and execution are needed, the Lender Ready Finance Pack before financing discussions, and Financial Control & Decision Readiness when the numbers are not reliable enough for management decisions.

Use the website contact form or book a meeting. Select whether you need CFO support, want to explore Cleriqa, represent an accounting firm, or are contacting Onwards Capita as an investor or strategic partner so the inquiry can be routed correctly.