In most UK MSPs the owner decides, because most UK MSPs are small enough that the founder signs off every tool. Once there's a finance director or financial controller, anything that touches cash tends to become their call, with the owner approving the spend. Whoever signs, the choice holds up better when each person who'll live with the tool has tested their part of it first.
In this article
The short version
- Around nine in ten UK MSPs are micro or small businesses, and in most of them the founder decides on new software.
- In firms of 10 to 50 staff the finance manager usually raises the problem, and the directors decide on cost and disruption to clients.
- Once a finance director arrives, cash-related tools tend to become their call, and in a PE-backed group, group finance may already have a standard.
- Run a real month of your own invoices through a trial and give the person who reconciles, the director and the operations lead each their own test.
- Bring your accountant in before go-live to check how payments, fees and VAT will post, since their objection can stop a decision.
Who decides at your size
Around nine in ten UK MSPs are micro or small businesses. A 2025 government market study put 65% of them under ten staff and another 24% under fifty. In most of those firms there's no finance manager to ask: the founder, often also the technical director, spends a Sunday matching payments to invoices and decides on Monday.
As the firm grows, the roles separate, and the person who finds the problem stops being the person who signs.
| MSP size | Who usually signs | Who does the daily work | Who can stall it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 staff | Founder or technical director | Founder, office administrator or part-time bookkeeper | The outside accountant |
| 10 to 50 staff | Managing director or directors' group | Finance manager or accounts assistant | Finance manager, operations lead, a co-founder |
| 50+ staff | Finance director, with owner approval | Billing or credit control lead | Owner on cost, operations on process |
| PE-backed group | Group finance | Local finance team | A group standard |
In the middle band, the finance manager usually brings the problem to the directors. The direct debit feed into Xero has stopped matching, or a group of clients still pays by bank transfer with no reference. The directors then decide on cost and on how much the change will disrupt clients.
Once an FD arrives, evaluations get slower and more written down, and owners rarely overrule them on a payments tool unless fees are high or clients will be asked to change how they pay. Inside a PE-backed group, check first whether group finance already has a standard system, because it can settle the question before you start.
How to run a short evaluation
A short evaluation needs one real billing cycle and the right people looking at it, not a procurement exercise.
- Write the problem down in one sentence, with a number. "We match about 60 payments a month to invoices by hand" gives everyone the same starting point.
- Name one person to own the decision and one director to approve it. In a micro MSP, both are you.
- Run a real month of your own invoices through a trial, because a demo won't show how the tool copes with your clients and invoice sizes.
- Give each role its own test (below) and a date to report back.
- Before anyone signs, find out what clients will be asked to do. If they'll need to sign new mandates or change how they pay, whoever owns those relationships needs to hear it now.
- Book a review a month after go-live with the people doing the daily work.
A founder-led MSP can get through this in a week or two. A firm with an FD will usually want a full month-end close through the new tool, so allow a month or more.
What each role should test
The person who reconciles should look at what arrives in Xero or QuickBooks: whether each payment lands at the invoiced amount or net of fees, and what happens to a part-payment or a transfer with no reference. With Adfin, payouts arrive in full every weekday with the fee invoiced separately, and payments are matched to invoices automatically, including underpayments, overpayments and missing references. Check that against your own month rather than taking it on trust.
The director or FD should price the tool on your actual invoice sizes, such as a £150 add-on, an £800 retainer and a £9,600 annual Microsoft renewal, and ask about fees on failed payments, monthly minimums and contract length. If you're moving direct debits from another provider, they should also ask what clients will see. Adfin moves 10 or more mandates through the Bacs bulk change process without clients signing again; with fewer, clients sign a new mandate.
The operations or service delivery lead should check they can see that a hardware deposit or project invoice has been paid without asking finance.
If chasing is part of what you're buying, the person who chases today should set the rules. Adfin's AI agents choose when to send each reminder and on which channel, email, SMS or WhatsApp, within rules you approve, with someone reviewing what goes out. Whoever knows which clients answer email and which only respond to a phone call is best placed to write those rules.
Where your accountant fits
Your accountant rarely signs anything, but in a small MSP they're effectively your finance function, and an objection to how a tool posts to the ledger can stop a decision. Bring them in before go-live and ask them to check how payments, fees and VAT will appear in your books.
If they recommend a tool, ask which of their clients use it and what those clients bill. A view formed on hospitality clients may not carry across to per-seat billing with annual vendor commitments.
Common questions
Is there research on who makes software decisions inside MSPs? There's no published study of who chooses finance or billing software inside an MSP. Government research covers how many UK MSPs there are and how big they are, and most are small enough that the owner decides.
Who should I involve in choosing billing software at a small MSP? At minimum, the person who signs and the person who'll do the daily invoicing, reconciling and chasing. Your accountant should check how transactions will post before you go live.
Does the finance director or the owner have the final say at a larger MSP? Where there's an FD or financial controller, cash-related tools tend to be their call, with the owner approving the budget. Owners are more likely to step in when fees are high or clients will have to change how they pay.
How long should an evaluation of payments software take? Long enough to run one real billing cycle. That's often a week or two for a founder-led MSP, and a full month-end close for a firm with an FD.
What should the operations lead test? Whether they can see that a client has paid a hardware deposit or project invoice without asking finance, and whether they'll know when a client has fallen behind.
What if our group finance team already has a standard system? Find out early, because a group standard can settle the question before you start. If it doesn't fit your business, make the case with evidence from a trial, framed around the problem you wrote down.
Sources
- GOV.UK (DSIT) - Research on managed service providers 2025 (accurate as of September 2026) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/research-on-managed-service-providers-2025
- Frontier Economics for DSIT - Managed service providers market study (accurate as of September 2026) https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/691331835dec0071ce496374/Research_on_the_managed_service_providers_market_2025.pdf
- Adfin - Pricing (accurate as of September 2026) https://www.adfin.com/pricing
- Adfin - Next-generation direct debit (accurate as of September 2026) https://www.adfin.com/direct-debit-payments
