Managing Director – Stephen Beard
Stephen is the owner and primary fractional CFO for West Coast. His background is an unusual mix of senior finance roles, often combined with responsibility for business operations and logistics.
His skill set is focused on small to medium (SME) sized companies, and he can provide valuable insight at the higher strategic level, as well as helping with the nitty gritty of process engineering efficient operating procedures for your company.
Every CFO has very different skills, so to help you decide whether or not Stephen is the right fit, here is an overview of his career highlights, skills and philosophy.
The best way to find out whether West Coast Factional CFO can help your business is to book a free discovery call with Stephen.
Career Highlights
Qualified UK Accountant
Stephen has been a qualified UK accountant for nearly a decade, having completed the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) exams and work experience requirements. After moving to Canada he worked in a Canadian-US cross border accounting firm for one year, before founding his own firm.
Start Up to Scale Up
Director of Finance and Operations for one of the UK’s largest online retailers of alcohol. Oversaw their growth from start up to scale up. Went through multiple fundraises, as well as assuming responsibility for internal operations at Director level. This included leading an ERP system change, along with automation and robotics projects.
Founder with a successful exit
Having moved to Canada Stephen founded his own accounting firm, focused on bookkeeping and advisory work. Having grown this rapidly, Stephen exited the business after a successful sale in 2026.
Skills
Financial systems, modeling and oversight
Building efficient accounting systems and insightful reports are day to day tasks for Stephen. Accurate financial modeling is both a skill and an art, as there is a lot of subjective judgement in turning real world situations into quantifiable numbers.
Business Systems and Technology
There are a huge number of software available for automating and improving operations, many of them industry specific. Transitioning from your existing systems to a new approach on a different system is a major undertaking, and it’s something we can help with.
Communication
Whether it’s communicating financial reports or opportunities to improve operating efficiency, we believe that jargon free explanations are essential.
Strategic Planning and Advice
Strategic planning takes time. It’s necessary to understand your wider industry, to understand your business’s operations and to understand your finances. When we have all that information, we can help model out long term strategies, so that you can have confidence in your plan.
PHILOSOPHY
When it comes to business, people can have different goals, values and metrics for success. Core beliefs of Stephen’s approach to business are:
Work life balance – Owners need to build and create systems that allow them to step away from the business, take lots of vacation, and know that the business can largely run itself.
Play the long term – It’s essential to understand what your business needs to get to the next level, and achieving that often requires a patient approach. There are often tradeoffs between short-term wins and building long-term infrastructure, and while there are no hard and fast rules, playing the long-term is usually a better strategy.
Don’t waste time – Whether it’s testing multiple marketing channels at once or starting hiring processes in advance of growth – most businesses are reactive and not proactive in their planning process. Time is a resource that’s arguably more important than money, so it needs to be used wisely and in the service of achieving long-term goals.
