What is commercial finance?
Commercial finance sits between the numbers and the decisions that drive your business.
It’s not about producing accounts or filing tax returns. It’s about understanding what your numbers are telling you and using that insight to make smarter decisions about growth, profitability and performance.
At Twenty Six Insights, I help sports and creative businesses understand what’s happening beneath the surface — turning data into practical actions that support better outcomes.
Sound familiar?
These are the questions commercial finance is built to answer. If any of them sound like something you've thought about, that's exactly where I come in
Growth & Strategy
Can I afford to hire?
What happens if revenue grows by 20%
Should I invest in new equipment or facilities?
Profitability
Which services are making money?
Which clients are most profitable?
Am I charging enough?
Cash flow
Why is cash always tight, even when we're busy?
How much cash do I actually need>
When might I need funding?
Performance
Which KPI's should I actually be tracking?
Why is revenue growing but profit isn't?
What's really driving my business performance?
Business decisions
Should I expand, or is it not the right time?
Should I outsource or keep it in-house?
What are the real risks of this decision?
Return on investment
Will this project grow my business?
Will it be profitable - and when?
How long will it take to generate a return?
Recognise any of these?
These are exactly the conversations we'd have. Let's start with a free 30-minute call
IS A FULL-TIME HIRE THE RIGHT ANSWER?
For many businesses, the challenge isn't whether they need better financial insight - it's whether they need it five days a week
A commercial finance professional with the right experience commands a salary of around £70,000, maybe more, but the salary is only part of the story
True cost of a £70,000 commercial finance hire
Based on 2025/26 UK employer rates
Salary
£5,833/mo
£70,000
Employer NI
£813/mo
£9,750
Employer Pension
£110/mo
£1,321
Total employer cost
£6,756/mo
£81,071
Before recruitment fees, equipment, software licenses and training
MONTHLY COMMITMENT
£6,756/month
Minimum - before any additional costs
NOT INCLUDED IN ABOVE
+ Recruitment agency fees (typically 15-20% of salary)
+ Equipment and software licences
+ Training and professional development
+ Management time and onboarding
+ Holiday and sick pay cover
For businesses that need senior commercial finance thinking - but not five days a week - there's another way.
Real-world examples
The examples below are based on real commercial finance challenges I’ve worked on. Details have been simplified and anonymised to protect confidentiality.