About Cypher
The people behind your numbers
Accounting, controllership, planning and CFO guidance, connected to the decisions your business needs to make.
Founder & CEO
Salma Hatim
Salma brings a background in public accounting and experience working with enterprise clients at PwC to the businesses she supports at Cypher.
She founded Cypher to make financial expertise more accessible to growing businesses, combining accounting, financial strategy and technology to help founders understand their numbers and make informed decisions.
Salma on LinkedIn ↗One connected finance team
A full finance function, built for growth
Cypher covers the entire finance stack, from day-to-day bookkeeping to CFO-level advisory. Records are kept in your own accounting system by the in-house team, and the close, the controls and the reporting run as one function rather than as three services handed between departments. The senior people who scope your engagement stay accountable for the numbers you report to your board, your auditors and your investors.
The team and the values behind it
Our team works as a long-term, embedded partner. Our values are ambition, generosity, authenticity, curiosity, collaboration and commitment.
What we hold to
Six values that decide how we work
Ambition
We take the goals seriously, including the uncomfortable ones.
Generosity
We give the time and the context, not just the answer.
Authenticity
Plain numbers and straight answers, even when the news is bad.
Curiosity
We ask why the number moved before we report that it moved.
Collaboration
We work inside your team, not alongside it.
Commitment
We stay for the boring months as well as the exciting ones.
How the work runs
What those values look like on a working engagement
Each value has a counterpart in the way the work is run, using the same sequence published on the how-it-works page.
Before anything is touched
Two calls: a 15-minute discovery call to test fit, then a one-hour strategy call where the scope and the proposal are built and adjusted together before you approve anything.
Days 1–3
Logins and current financial data gathered on a secured platform and integrated into your cloud software. Information stays confidential.
Day 7
Onboarding call: logins and processes walked through, systems confirmed, chart of accounts reviewed, first round of questions answered.
Day 8–30
Accounts and systems refined iteratively, with an open line of communication between your team and the people doing the work.
Day 30
Your first report reviewed together: what worked, what to adjust, and the goals for the month ahead.
Where the records had to be rebuilt first, AutoUp is the published story: Xero and Dext implemented, years of records cleaned up, and monthly reporting running afterwards.
What we cover
One team across the whole finance stack
Accounting and financial operations
Bookkeeping, month-end close, controls and the reporting a board can rely on.
FP&A and CFO advisory
Budgeting, forecasting, cash flow and the decisions behind them.
Systems and process improvement
Accounting systems, integrations and the processes that keep them honest.
Capital and transaction support
Raises, board and investor reporting, and support through a transaction.
Your next conversation
Talk to the people who would do the work
A 15-minute call is enough to tell whether we're the right fit for your stage.
Ask about a discovery call