LIKEN LIMITED

What LIKEN LIMITED does

Liken Limited is a UK private limited company registered in England, founded in 2004 by James Rowlands (finance background) and Hugh Skingley (IT background), both previously senior staff at Ultra Electronics, Philips & Drew, and UBS. The company operates from a registered office at 15 Pennington Drive, Weybridge, Surrey, and provides part-time Chief Financial Officer and Finance Director services alongside a broader financial and commercial advisory practice. Its target market is owner-managed small and medium-sized businesses with turnover between £1m and £10m that require qualified board-level financial support without the cost of a full-time executive hire.

The service portfolio is organised under four pillars — Support, Analyse, Solve, and Control — and comprises sixteen discrete offerings including CFO services, executive coaching, accounting support, ad-hoc advisory, performance reporting, due diligence, benchmarking, market analysis, troubleshooting, systems implementation (Sage, Exchequer, Opera, Quickbooks, BPiCS, OGL, Astute), change management, exception reporting, strategic and exit planning, target setting, and commercial tax planning including R&D tax credit claims. Service delivery is fractional and bespoke, typically ranging from 1 day per month through 1 day per week, scaled to client needs. There is no software product, no disclosed pricing schedule, and no technology platform; Liken is explicitly a human-delivered professional services firm rather than a technology company.

Revenue is generated entirely through bespoke professional-services engagements billed monthly, with no disclosed pricing tiers, no public rate card, and no productised recurring offering. Customer segments span financial services (banks), government (NHS Trusts), retail, wholesale, engineering, IT service management, FMCG, software development, and asset management. Marketing is relationship-driven via the company website (liken.com), a blog ("Thoughts"), and direct phone/email enquiry. The company is founder-owned and bootstrapped, with no external funding rounds, no parent company, and one historical corporate move — the 2012 divestiture of its former Liken IT Asset Management division to ITAMS, after which the firm has operated solely in financial and commercial advisory.

Name

LIKEN LIMITED

Legal name

Liken Limited

Website

https://liken.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2004

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Liken Limited is a UK-based, founder-owned professional services firm providing part-time CFO services and financial advisory to owner-managed SMEs with £1m-£10m turnover, delivering fractional executive-level finance support across multiple sectors since 2004.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Management Consulting / Financial Advisory Services

NAICS

Management Consulting Services (54161)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYFSAEAAAO

Business Owner & Executive Financial Planning

Financial & Insurance/Financial Advisory, Brokerage & Intermediation/Investment Advisory & Financial Planning

SECONDARYFSAEAAAA

Comprehensive Financial Planning

Financial & Insurance/Financial Advisory, Brokerage & Intermediation/Investment Advisory & Financial Planning

Keywords

• Part-time CFO services
• Financial advisory
• Executive coaching
• SME management consulting
• Tax planning services

Headquarters

HQ city

Weybridge

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. CFO/FD Services: Part-time Chief Financial Officer and Finance Director services provided to SMEs, typically engagements from 1 day per month through to 1 day per week.
2. Executive Coaching: Certified executive coaching services by James Rowlands, trained at Henley Business School, provided alongside financial advisory services.
3. Performance Reporting & Analysis: Bespoke performance reporting, due diligence, benchmarking, and market analysis services.
4. Systems Implementation: Implementation and configuration services for accounting and business systems including Sage, Exchequer, Opera, Quickbooks, BPiCS, OGL, and Astute.
5. Tax Planning: Commercial tax planning services including R&D tax credit claims for SMEs.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Liken Limited delivers part-time Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Finance Director (FD) services to owner-managed SMEs with turnover between £1m and £10m, alongside executive coaching, performance reporting, due diligence, benchmarking, market analysis, systems implementation, troubleshooting, change management, strategic planning, target setting, exit planning, and commercial tax planning (including R&D tax credit claims). Engagements are scalable from one day per month to one day per week, designed to provide board-level financial expertise without the cost of a full-time executive.

Product overview

LIKEN LIMITED is a financial and commercial advisory services firm (not a software product company) that provides a portfolio of professional services to owner-managed SMEs. The core offering consists of four service pillars: Support (CFO Services, Executive Coaching, Accounting Support, Ad-Hoc Support), Analyse (Performance Reporting, Due Diligence, Benchmarking, Market Analysis), Solve (Troubleshooting, Systems Implementation, Managing Change, Exception Reporting), and Control (Strategic Planning, Target Setting, Exit Planning, Tax Planning). These services are delivered by qualified finance professionals and are designed to scale with business needs from occasional advisory through to regular part-time CFO engagement.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• CFO Services Part-time, scalable CFO resource for owner-managed businesses with turnover between £1m and £10m, providing board-level financial expertise from 1 day per month up to 1 day per week.
• Executive Coaching Certified executive coaching delivered by James Rowlands, trained at Henley Business School, providing coaching and behavioural change support alongside financial expertise.
• Accounting Support Qualified resource to support accounting functions, providing advice on journal postings, accounting treatment for financed assets, and commercial requirements tailored to the business.
• Ad-Hoc Support Flexible support extending beyond finance into general management, legal, HR and marketing, based on experience across manufacturing, technology, service and wholesale businesses.
• Performance Reporting Bespoke performance reports prepared and delivered to clearly communicate what is happening within the business, explaining why performance issues occur.
• Due Diligence Due diligence services for acquisitions, undertaken on behalf of accounting firms and directly with buyers across a range of industries to ensure targets fit needs.
• Benchmarking Financial and market data analysis comparing relative performance against rivals and best-in-class businesses within the sector.
• Market Analysis Market analysis services ranging from niche focus to full spectrum analysis, identifying threats and opportunities and how the business can take advantage or protect itself.
• Troubleshooting Problem identification and root cause analysis, with guidance on implementation and support to see solutions through to successful conclusions.
• Systems Implementation Implementation and configuration services for accounting and business systems including Sage (Line 50, Line 200), Exchequer, Opera, Quickbooks, BPiCS, OGL, and Astute.
• Managing Change Change management services keeping focus clear, helping devise plans and supporting clients to stick to plans and see changes through to successful conclusion.
• Exception Reporting Development of exception reports with appropriate triggers to identify when something is slipping, enabling timely corrective action.
• Strategic Planning Strategy development drawing on theory but adapted to fit the owner's style and business culture, including defining goals and understanding how to achieve them.
• Target Setting Development of financial and operational KPIs that are realistic, achievable and specific to the business, with monthly or quarterly reporting solutions.
• Exit Planning Focus on achieving personal goals, preparing the business to deliver maximum return, and preparing owners for selling their business.
• Tax Planning Commercial tax planning including corporation tax minimisation and R&D tax credit scheme claims for SMEs, with extensive knowledge across diverse industries.

Named customers3 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• ITAMSminorOthers · 1 January 2012Liken IT Asset Management, a division of Liken, was sold to ITAMS in 2012. This was a business divestiture rather than an active partnership. Liken Ltd continues to provide financial and commercial support services to SMEs.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves4 records

Broad incumbents

• BDO UK: Large UK accounting and advisory network providing outsourced finance director and CFO services to SMEs and mid-market, overlapping with Liken on part-time FD mandates but operating at much larger scale.
• RSM UK: Mid-tier UK accounting and advisory firm offering fractional FD/CFO services among a wider portfolio of audit, tax, and consulting services; competes with Liken for SME advisory work but as part of a broader practice.

Others

• Robert Half UK: UK staffing and consulting provider placing interim finance directors and CFOs into SMEs; an adjacent competitor addressing the same 'part-time FD' need through interim placement rather than advisory engagements.
• Hays Senior Finance: UK recruitment firm placing interim and fractional FD/CFO talent into SMEs; adjacent rather than direct, as it provides people rather than advisory services, but competes for the same client budget and decision-maker.

Direct peers

• FD Centre: UK-based fractional finance director provider targeting SMEs that need board-level finance support on a part-time basis, serving the same niche as Liken with similar day-per-month engagement structures.
• B2B CFO Partners: US network of fractional CFOs serving SME and mid-market owner-managed businesses, comparable in business model and target customer to Liken's part-time FD proposition.
• Pilot.com: US-based fractional CFO and accounting services firm for SMEs and startups, analogous to Liken in providing outsourced CFO-level support to small and growing businesses, though technology-enabled.
• Part Time FD: Specialist provider of part-time finance director services to UK SMEs, directly comparable to Liken's core fractional CFO/FD offering and target customer profile.
• Kruze Consulting: US fractional CFO and R&D tax credit firm serving venture-backed startups and SMEs; directly comparable in combining CFO advisory with R&D tax credit work, similar to Likens service mix.
• The CFO Centre: UK-headquartered fractional CFO firm providing part-time finance director services to SMEs, directly competing with Liken in the same owner-managed £1m-£10m+ segment with a comparable engagement model.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about LIKEN LIMITED