From Outsourced Chaos to AI-Powered Clarity: How Unlocking Language Cut Bookkeeping Costs by 50%
Industry: Speech & Language Therapy (Public Sector Contracts)
Client: Unlocking Language
Team Size: 40+
Turnover: £2m+
Service Provided: AI-Driven Bookkeeping & Sales Invoice Management
Result: 50% cost reduction, improved cash flow, and restored financial control
The Problem: Expensive, Inaccurate Outsourcing Was Hurting the Bottom Line
Unlocking Language delivers essential speech and language therapy services to schools and local authorities — a fast-moving, high-volume operation with over 40 staff and turnover exceeding £2 million.
But behind the scenes, their finance function was anything but smooth.
“We had a mix of in-house staff handling sales invoicing and offshore contractors doing the day-to-day bookkeeping. It worked for a while — until it didn’t.”
Their first contractor had been solid. But when they moved on, the replacements cost more, made frequent mistakes, and failed to deliver on time. Crucial invoices were missed. Financial data was patchy. The in-house team had to constantly step in.
Despite trying different contractors, the same problems kept coming back — rising costs, unreliable output, and missed billing that directly impacted cash flow.
The Turning Point: Automating the Finance Function with MBS
That’s when Unlocking Language turned to MBS Accountants — not just for help, but for a better system entirely.
We recommended fully outsourcing their sales invoicing and bookkeeping to our AI-driven finance function. Rather than managing multiple people and patchy workflows, they’d have one expert team, one system, and one clear point of contact.
Here’s how we tackled it:
✅ Held a deep-dive kick-off session to map their existing finance process
✅ Rebuilt the sales invoice run to be consistent and timely
✅ Used our AI-Driven Bookkeeping platform to automate categorisation, backed by manual reviews
✅ Assigned our Pod 1 team — Becks, Jason and Alysa — to handle everything and continuously optimise the system
We didn’t just plug in automation — we tailored it. We taught the AI how their business worked, cleaned up the historic backlog, and built a future-proofed flow for scale.
The Results: Cost Savings, Clarity, and a £20k Boost
Since switching, the transformation has been clear and measurable:
💸Bookkeeping & invoicing costs cut by over 50%
Previously: £1,000+/month
Now: £299/month for AI Bookkeeping + £150/month for invoice runs
🔄Cash flow improvedby recovering over£20,000 of missed sales invoices
⚙️ Past errors fixed, backlogs cleared, and the books are now accurate and up to date
⏳ Time freed up from managing unreliable contractors and patchy admin
“It was great to fix the headache. The MBS team found tens of thousands in missed billing and helped us get the system under control.”
There’s still some automation left to refine — but compared to the chaos before, the finance function is now a well-oiled machine.
The Takeaway: Cheaper Isn’t Always Smarter — But AI Done Right Is
This isn’t just a story about saving money.
It’s about building a system that works — even better than hiring someone in-house or overseas.
“If we’d hired a UK contractor to do the same job, it could’ve cost £2,500 a month or more. The savings here are real.”
👥 Is Your Business Drowning in Financial Admin?
If you’re a growing business with a high transaction volume and internal finance headaches — we can help.
We combine AI with real human expertise to:
Cut costs
Eliminate errors
Give you a clean, fast, efficient finance system
Free up your team to focus on what matters
👉 Book your free clarity call and let’s talk about how MBS can save your business time, money — and a whole lot of stress.
