Longview Advisory Services
Strategy01
Financial strategy & business intelligence
We interrogate the numbers, fix the reporting, and give you board level control of cash, margin and where the money actually goes.
Fractional Finance Director · Automation · Shropshire & West Midlands
Fractional Finance Director & Business Automation Specialist
Business advisory, financial leadership and the systems to deliver both.
Longview Advisory Services gives owner-managed companies across the Midlands the financial control of a fractional Finance Director and the engineering to act on it. Our business advisory sets the strategy, then builds the reporting, data pipelines, automation and applied AI that run it. We work throughout Shropshire, Staffordshire, Birmingham and the wider West Midlands, and with businesses across the UK, remotely or on site.
Services
Business adviser and fractional Finance Director, end to end.
How Longview works as a business adviser to UK owner-managed businesses, from fractional Finance Director support through automation and data pipelines to coaching.
Efficiency02
Process optimisation & efficiency
We strip out slow, manual processes across the business and rebuild them as secure, automated workflows, wired into the systems you already run.
Growth03
Scaling & restructuring
We restructure operations and finances so the business can scale without losing grip on cash, margin or quality.
Exit04
Exit planning & business sales
We prepare the business for sale, tighten the numbers that drive valuation, and run a due diligence process that stands up to a buyer's scrutiny.
Coaching05
Coaching & advisory support
A regular, senior sounding board for owners and their teams, including tailored support for neurodivergent entrepreneurs.
Neurodiversity coaching & training →
Technology & AI
We build the software behind the advice.
Longview brings together finance, operations and software expertise to design and deliver practical technology from within the business. We improve and automate processes, connect data, and build the applications, reporting tools and AI systems required to support better decisions.
Applied AI01
AI with a clear business case
We use AI where it reduces cost, saves time, improves control or lowers risk. That may include document capture and OCR, email and workflow automation, secure search across your own data, or AI agents carrying out defined tasks. Every application is built around a measurable business outcome, not the novelty of the technology.
Engineering02
Production-ready technology
We design and build secure business software, data systems, integrations and cloud infrastructure that can operate reliably in day-to-day use. Solutions are structured, documented and built in manageable components, using appropriate technologies such as Python, SQL, modern web frameworks and AWS. The aim is not to produce an impressive prototype, but dependable technology that can be maintained, extended and supported as the business develops.
Data & BI03
Reporting you can trust
We build the data pipelines that bring together finance systems including Xero, ERP, CRM, project platforms, operational software, spreadsheets and in-house applications, to create clear KPI dashboards and management reporting. The underlying process is aligned to best practice, data is cleaned, reconciled and structured as part of the work, giving the business more reliable information, stronger controls and a defensible trail back to source.
Discipline04
Control by design
Security, access permissions, data integrity, AI ringfencing and human oversight are considered from the start. Sensitive and automated actions are restricted, logged and reviewable, with safeguards matched to the financial and operational risk.
Vanilla where it counts, modern where it pays
About
Strategic finance, grounded in how people actually work.
Gregory Smout is an accomplished Finance Director and Chartered Management Accountant with more than 30 years of senior-level experience in global, multi-site companies across manufacturing, services, engineering and horticulture. His expertise spans rebuilding underperforming businesses, maximising profitability and managing complex financial challenges, including restructurings, turnarounds, strategic exits and raising capital under pressure.
Gregory's career has covered businesses with turnover ranging from £5 million to £300 million, including a decade at board level in organisations with turnover of up to £40 million. He has led the transformation of loss-making businesses into profitable operations, including one that achieved EBITDA of £2.5 million. He has also managed due diligence for high-value business sales and improved transparency and efficiency through advanced ERP systems, financial controls and business intelligence.
Gregory's qualifications in finance and psychology combine strategic financial insight with a practical understanding of culture and team dynamics. This blend supports both his certified psychological coaching, which helps organisations become more inclusive, resilient and high-performing, and his fractional Finance Director work, through which he provides entrepreneurial UK SMEs with strategic financial guidance.
Alongside the finance work, Gregory designs and builds the software that supports it. He thinks like someone inside the business, applies proven financial, operational and control principles, and then builds the technology needed to support them.
That is the central point: the automation, reporting and AI we put into a business are held to the same standards as its accounts. Technology is never the goal. It is a lever for improving profitability, control and owner freedom.
Track record
Proven where it counts.
Thirty years of delivering measurable financial and operational improvements across entrepreneurial SMEs and complex multi-site organisations. Every engagement we take on is led by a senior business adviser, commercially grounded and focused on changes that improve performance, control and business value.
- 01Loss to £2.5m EBITDALoss making businesses turned into profitable, sustainable operationsTurnaround
- 02High value sales completedBulletproof due diligence framework supporting multiple successful business salesExit
- 03ERP & BI at scaleFinancial controls and reporting across multi-site groupsSystems
- 04Capital raised under pressureRefinancing, mezzanine, asset finance and grantsFunding
Sector experience
Senior level experience across four core sectors.
From entrepreneurial SMEs to global multi-site organisations across the Midlands and the wider UK, adaptable to dynamic and fast moving businesses.
- ServicesMulti-site & international
- ManufacturingSME to global scale
- EngineeringEntrepreneurial growth
- HorticultureProcess modernisation
Contact
Let us take the long view on your business.
Tell us the one bottleneck costing you most right now. You will get a direct, senior reply, not a sales pitch.
Use the contact form- Senior partner on every engagement
- UK based, remote or on site
- Based in Newport, Shropshire (TF10)
- Serving Shropshire, Telford, Shrewsbury, Staffordshire, the Black Country, Birmingham and the wider West Midlands