Phoenix Advisory and the person behind it.
Phoenix Advisory is led by Ross Radford CA(SA), FCMA, CGMA, a Big Four-trained Chartered Accountant and Chartered Management Accountant with 20+ years' experience across finance leadership, FP&A, corporate finance and audit in regulated, high-growth and professional services businesses.
Most recently Finance Director at Redington Ltd, where he progressed through Finance Manager, Head of FP&A, Interim CFO and Finance Director, and supported two major transactions: the sale of a majority stake to private equity and the later acquisition by Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.
Phoenix Advisory was founded on a clear conviction: founder-led businesses can have CFO-level insight without the cost of a full-time hire, and the right finance partner improves the numbers and supports the founder behind them.
A community of founder-led health optimisation brands where passion, purpose and profit are in balance, and the business funds the life behind it.
To give founders the financial clarity, calm and confidence to build extraordinary businesses without the grind, and the freedom to enjoy the life behind the work.
- CA(SA): Chartered Accountant (South Africa Institute of Chartered Accountants)
- FCMA, CGMA: Fellow Chartered Management Accountant and Chartered Global Management Accountant (CIMA)
- CIMA Member in Practice
- Big Four trained (PwC South Africa)
- Certified Professional Business Advisor
- Xero Partner and L1 Xero Certified Associate
- A2X Certified (A2X Certification for Accountants and Bookkeepers)
- Member of the Portfolio Executive Community
- Member of the AI Finance Club
Background
20+ years across senior finance: Big Four audit at PwC, corporate finance in Johannesburg, pricing leadership at Hogan Lovells, and finance leadership through to Finance Director and Interim CFO at Redington Ltd. The work has spanned finance transformation, board and investor reporting, FP&A, regulatory and FCA reporting, transactions and due diligence, and the design of finance systems and processes that scale. Ross now applies that experience as a Fractional CFO to founder-led UK brands.
Sport and finance, for me, are closer than they look.
I come to this work from both sides: twenty years in senior finance, and a personal life built around endurance sport, previously triathlon and open water swimming, now ultra trail running.
I completed the 2025 Dragon's Back Race in Wales, a multi-day mountain ultra across the spine of the country, and have the Madeira Ultra X and South Africa Ultra X ahead. I'm the customer these brands are trying to reach. I train seriously, I care about what I put in my body, and I think hard about the products I buy. That gives me a useful vantage point alongside the finance work.
"Both reward steady judgement, consistent pacing, preparation, and the discipline to keep doing the right things over a long horizon. The mindset I bring to running is the mindset I bring to founders: calm, structured, resilient, and focused on what drives the next mile."
A few principles I hold to.
- Clear thinking that cuts through the noise
- Practical advice, grounded in the business in front of us
- Calm, credible support when the pressure is on
- Structured progress that keeps the business out of firefighting
- Business performance that supports the life behind the work
- Honesty about scope, including when the answer isn't Phoenix Advisory
The values that shape the practice.
The quiet discipline of excellent work. Details handled properly, harder questions thought through carefully.
Continuous improvement. We approach our craft the way a serious athlete approaches training: new methods tested as they emerge, adopted where they make the work better.
A lifestyle business by design. Phoenix is built to support the lives behind the work, for the team and for clients.
The work serves the client. What matters is that founders get useful answers, whether from us, from their existing team, or from a referral we make.
A sustainable pace. The work is built to last, with long-horizon thinking, for the practice and for the businesses we serve.
A structured advisory framework that runs inside engagements.
Inside engagements I work to a structured advisory framework called Reignite, a 3×3 grid of nine strategies across Clarity, Stability and Momentum, working through the Foundations, Performance and Direction layers of the business. It is a way of making sure the work compounds rather than scatters.
Profit and purpose, in balance.
Phoenix Advisory is a member of B1G1: Business For Good, a B Corp-certified giving movement. New clients, milestones and completed engagements become contributions to vetted projects around the world, focused on eight of the UN Sustainable Development Goals with an emphasis on health and the environments that support it.
Ready to start a conversation?
A free 30-minute Discovery Call. No obligation, no sales pressure.
Prefer email? hello@phoenixadvisory.co.uk