CFO and Growth Support That Scales With Your Practice
As your dental practice grows, the financial decisions get more complex.
We provide ongoing CFO services and growth advice to help you make better decisions around profitability, acquisitions, funding, group structure, long-term strategy and exit planning.
The level of support grows as your business does, from focused strategic advice for smaller practices to ongoing CFO and board-level support for larger dental groups and DSOs. Simply choose the tier that suits your situation and needs.
Choose the Right Level of CFO Support
Each tier below is the right answer for a different scale of business and a different stage of growth. The free 30-minute consultation is the scoping call that tells you which one fits.
Tier 1 – Entry
Strategic Review
From £500 + VAT plus ad-hoc specialist work
Best for: 1-3 practices
For owners who want expert input on where the business is now, what needs to change and where to focus next.
Shape
One-off diagnostic and strategic support, with specialist advice available when needed. No monthly retainer.
What you get
- Growth Strategy Session with Arun Mehra FCA
- Review of your business and growth priorities
- Clear recommendations and next steps
- Access to specialist advice as required
- Quarterly strategic check-ins available
Why this tier
You need experienced strategic input, but your business does not yet require ongoing CFO support every month.
Exempt
Tier 1 does NOT require Samera to manage your accounting. You can stay with your existing accountant and use Samera for the strategy work only.
Tier 2 – Foundation
Financial Oversight
£1,500/month + VAT
Best for: 2-5 practices
Ongoing CFO support to help you understand performance, improve financial decision-making and keep the business moving in the right direction.
Shape
Monthly retainer led by Arun Mehra FCA and the Samera team, with quarterly CFO meetings.
What you get
- Quarterly CFO review
- Financial performance and profitability advice
- Cash flow and forward planning
- Support with key financial and business decisions
- Annual tax planning
- Ongoing advisory support between meetings
Why this tier
Your business has become more complex and you need regular financial oversight, forward planning and CFO input rather than relying on year-end accounts alone.
Tier 4 – Strategic / DSO advisory
DSO & Group Advisory
From £6,000/month + VAT
Best for: Larger groups, DSOs and PE-backed businesses
Board-level CFO and strategic support for larger groups and DSOs managing investment, M&A, performance and long-term growth.
Shape
Monthly retainer with Arun involved throughout, including every strategic meeting and support between meetings, alongside the wider Samera team.
What you get (everything in Growth, plus)
- EBITDA improvement and normalisation
- KPI and performance frameworks
- M&A pipeline and acquisition strategy
- Investor and lender support
- Due diligence and transaction readiness
- Operating model development
- Succession and founder de-risking
- Priority support
Delivered by
Arun throughout, with senior delivery from Natasha and Uros and access to the wider Samera group.
Why this tier
At this scale, financial leadership goes beyond running the numbers. You need board-level support across M&A, investors, lenders, EBITDA, governance and long-term value creation.
All retainer tiers require Samera to manage your accounting. Tiers 2, 3 and 4 require Samera to run the day-to-day accounts. This gives our advisory team consistent, up-to-date financial data to base decisions on. Tier 1 is exempt; you can keep your existing accountant if you want strategic input only.
Tier 3 and Tier 4 are capacity-limited: Arun is personally involved in both tiers, so we limit the number of clients we take on to maintain the quality of the advisory work. We’ll confirm current availability during your consultation.
What Your CFO & Growth Advisory Tiers Covers
The level of support increases as you move through the tiers, but the core areas we work on remain the same.
These five workstreams form the foundation of our ongoing CFO and growth advisory support.
CFO & Strategic Decision Support
Regular CFO meetings give you dedicated time to step back from the day-to-day business, review performance and make better-informed decisions.
We review the numbers, identify issues and opportunities, challenge assumptions and help you decide what should happen next.
Tier 2 includes quarterly CFO reviews, while Tiers 3 and 4 provide more frequent and direct involvement from Arun.
Acquisitions, Funding & Capital Structure
If you are buying practices, refinancing or raising capital, we help you understand what the deal means for the wider business before you commit.
This can include:
- Acquisition modelling and deal assessment
- Funding requirements
- Debt capacity and structure
- Refinancing options
- Cash requirements following completion
- Stress-testing different scenarios
For Tier 3 and Tier 4 clients, this works alongside the Samera Finance team where funding is required.
Performance, Forecasting & Reporting
Good reporting should help you make decisions, not simply tell you what happened last month.
We help you identify the numbers that matter, understand what is driving performance and use forecasts to see where the business is heading.
As groups become larger, this develops into board, lender and investor-ready reporting, including group-wide KPIs and covenant reporting where required.
Tax & Group Structure
Growth can quickly make an existing company and tax structure inefficient or unnecessarily complicated.
We review the financial implications of how your practices and companies are structured and help you plan ahead as the group evolves.
This can include:
- Group and company structure
- Corporate and personal tax planning
- Remuneration and dividends
- Tax implications of acquisitions
- Preparing the structure for future investment or sale
The depth and frequency of this work increases as you move through the tiers.
Growth, Value & Exit Planning
Every major growth decision should ultimately improve the value and resilience of the business.
We help you model different growth paths, assess investment decisions and understand how today’s choices could affect the future value of your group.
For larger groups, this can include:
- M&A pipeline planning
- EBITDA improvement and normalisation
- Founder dependency and succession
- Investor readiness
- Exit scenario modelling
- Preparing the business for future due diligence
When a sale becomes a defined objective, our dedicated Practice Exit Planning service takes over the transaction-specific preparation.
Meet your advisory team
CEO & Founder, Samera
Arun leads Tier 3 and Tier 4 advisory engagements and personally conducts our Growth Strategy Sessions.
- Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW)
- Former Vice President, Bank of America, with prior senior roles at PwC and Credit Suisse
- Dental practice owner and co-founder of The Neem Tree Dental Group
- 25+ years in dental specialist accountancy
Director of Operations – Accountancy and Tax
Natasha leads the financial and accountancy delivery behind the advisory relationship, including Tier 2 support and the underlying financial reporting for larger group engagements.
She has been with Samera since 2014 and works closely with dental practice owners and groups on financial performance, reporting and tax planning.
Commercial Finance Broker
Uros supports Tier 3 and Tier 4 clients where acquisitions, refinancing or capital structure form part of the growth strategy.
He specialises in:
- Dental practice acquisition finance
- Debt structuring
- Refinancing
- Growth capital
Commercial finance is provided separately through Samera Finance Ltd, which is FCA authorised.
What our clients say
Been with Samera since 2008 when we bought our first dental practice, their knowledge and expertise is second to none not least because they also own their own dental practices, putting them a unique position in terms of their knowledge and advice for the Dental Industry. Whether you’re setting up from scratch or acquiring an existing practice, Samera have been there to offer advice on raising finance, staff and team issues, tax knowledge, leadership and having a strong vision, marketing, getting into purchasing groups and also purchasing equipment. It’s been a pleasure to work with them.
Saijel – 5 Stars
Arun Mehra and his friendly team helped and advised me in all matters of accountancy, raising finance, payroll, furlough support and general business advice. The whole teams collective vast experience and knowledge in all business matters and dentistry is invaluable when you are running any type or size of business.
Antimos – 5 Stars
Huge thanks to Natasha, Aditi, Arun, Karyn, and the entire Samera team for their outstanding support and guidance. Their professionalism, responsiveness, and deep expertise is a great support for our business. I truly felt supported every step of the way. Highly recommended!
Rajvansh – 5 Stars
Arun, Natasha and all the team at Samera have provided outstanding service to me over a number of years – they are experts and are friendly and easy to deal with – would thoroughly recommend.
Peter – 5 Stars
Four things that pair with the retainer at institutional scale
Tier 3 and Tier 4 retainer clients often engage one or more of these alongside the advisory work. They’re priced and delivered separately – the retainer doesn’t include them and they don’t include the retainer. The Growth Advisory team coordinates the relationships so you’re not running four vendor conversations.
Financial Infrastructure build
A project-priced piece of work that builds the financial reporting and control set-up a PE buyer or institutional lender wants to see. Seven distinct deliverables (reporting blueprint, KPI architecture, normalised EBITDA framework, month-end close checklist, forecast model, due diligence folder, dashboard requirements). 3-6 months from kick-off to handover. UK + India delivery team. Read more.
Bespoke AI (samera.ai)
Custom dashboards, automation and software built around how your group actually runs. The data and visibility layer that surfaces what the FI build defines. Priced and delivered on the samera.ai product domain. Visit samera.ai.
Offshore accountants and GCC setup (sameraglobal.com)
For groups large enough to justify offshore work. Either UK-trained accountants embedded inside your team (Hire offshore accountants) or your own 100%-owned India entity (GCC setup). Both live on sameraglobal.com. Visit sameraglobal.com.
Practice Exit Accelerator
The 18-month exit programme. When the exit timeline tightens (typically 12-36 months before sale), the Accelerator becomes the dedicated execution product. Tier 3-4 retainer often runs alongside the Accelerator in the final 18 months. Read more.
Sibling products, not retainer add-ons. These four are sometimes mistaken for a “Tier 5” or “premium add-on” on the retainer. They’re not. Each is a separately scoped product with its own price and delivery. The Growth Advisory retainer is the ongoing relationship; these are the discrete pieces of work that sit alongside it when the group is at the size to need them.
Common questions about Samera Growth Advisory
I’m not sure which tier fits. How do I work that out?
Book the free 30-minute consultation. Arun will ask about your scale (number of sites, multi-entity structure if any), what you’re trying to achieve over the next 12-24 months, and where you currently feel stuck. Most 1-3 site owners start at Tier 1. Most 2-5 site groups start at Tier 2 or Tier 3. Most 5-15 site groups start at Tier 3. PE-backed or 15+ site groups start at Tier 4. The consultation is a scoping call, not a sales call – if Tier 2 is the honest answer rather than Tier 3, that’s what we’ll say.
Do I have to use Samera as my accountant?
Tier 1 doesn’t require it – you can use the Growth Strategy Session and ad-hoc specialist work while staying with your existing accountant. Tiers 2, 3 and 4 do require Samera to manage your accountancy. This is a quality requirement, not commercial: we need live, accurate data each month to do the advisory work properly. Trying to advise on numbers from a different firm with different timing rarely works.
Can I move between tiers?
Yes – and this is how most engagements evolve. A Tier 1 client often moves into Tier 2 after 6-12 months when the accountancy work has grown. A Tier 2 client moves into Tier 3 when they go from clean accounts mode into active acquisition mode. A Tier 3 client moves into Tier 4 when PE comes onto the cap table or the group passes ~15 sites. You don’t restart the relationship – the team and the framework continue, the depth and cadence shift.
What does the £500 Growth Strategy Session get me, and how is it different from the free 30-minute consultation?
The free 30-minute consultation is scoping – we’re working out which tier (if any) fits, no analysis, no recommendations. The Growth Strategy Session is paid diagnostic work – £500 + VAT for a 60-minute session with Arun, four-area pre-review of your business, written follow-up. If you become a Samera client within 90 days of the session, the £500 is credited in full against your first invoice. The GSS sits inside Tier 1 of the ladder.
How does Tier 4 relate to the Financial Infrastructure build?
They’re separate products. Tier 4 is the ongoing monthly retainer – the advisory relationship that runs continuously. The Financial Infrastructure build is a finite project (typically 3-6 months) that delivers the financial control function as a discrete deliverable. Most institutional groups that commission an FI build are also Tier 3 or Tier 4 retainer clients – the build creates the infrastructure, the retainer is the ongoing relationship that uses it. The pricing is independent: retainer monthly, FI project-priced.
What’s the relationship between Tier 4 and DSO advisory?
Tier 4 is DSO advisory. The Strategic / DSO advisory tier sits at the top of the retainer ladder and is purpose-built for groups at 15-30 sites or with PE on the cap table. The previous “DSO Advisory” page at samera.co.uk has been folded into this Tier 4 framing – same audience, same delivery, named clearly as the top tier of the ladder rather than as a separate product.
What does Uros Turcic at Samera Finance actually do inside a retainer?
When the advisory work involves capital structure – an acquisition, a refinance, a debt restructure – Uros sits inside the conversation rather than being introduced as a separate broker downstream. At Tier 3 and Tier 4 this is integrated by default; at Tier 2 it’s available ad-hoc when an acquisition or refinance comes up. Brokerage on every product except squat fit-out loans is free to the client; lender commission is paid to Samera Finance on completion, disclosed in writing upfront. Full detail on the Samera Finance broker page.
Is Growth Advisory the same thing as what Samera used to call Growth Consultancy or CFO Services?
Yes, with restructuring. Growth Consultancy was the original name; it was renamed to Growth Advisory in May 2026 to distinguish it from the separate Financial Infrastructure build product. CFO Services and DSO Advisory were earlier separate pages on the Samera site – they’ve been folded into this single Growth Advisory page as Tiers 2-3 (CFO) and Tier 4 (DSO). The work is the same; the page architecture is cleaner.
What happens after a Tier 4 client decides to sell?
Typically the engagement evolves into Tier 4 retainer plus the Practice Exit Accelerator running alongside in the final 18 months. The retainer continues to handle the ongoing financial leadership; the Accelerator runs the exit-specific workstreams (EBITDA enhancement, owner-add-back normalisation, governance prep, buyer-ready financial pack). When the sale runs, Samera as a sales agent handles execution at 2.5% commission.
Related Services
Grow a dental practice
All the ways we help you grow your dental practice. The £500 strategy session, CFO services, the Financial Infrastructure build and the 18-month Exit programme – plus specialist services and where to start
Financial Infrastructure build
We build your group a proper finance function. Group accounting, monthly management accounts, defensible EBITDA and lender-ready reporting. Seven deliverables, 3-6 months.
Practice Exit Accelerator
We get your practice ready to sell for its best price. An 18-month exit and M&A programme run by your accountants, not a broker – improving EBITDA and clearing buyer objections early.
Dental accountants
Specialist accounts and tax for associates, owners and groups. Annual accounts, payroll, associate pay and tax planning. Packages from £750/year for associates, £500/month for owners.
Dental practice finance broker
We raise the finance for your practice. FCA-authorised, whole-of-market brokerage – acquisition, start-up, refinancing, asset, property and tax finance. Usually free to you, the lender pays on completion.
Growth Strategy Session
A 60-minute strategy call with Arun Mehra, with a written action plan within 48 hours. £500 + VAT, credited in full against your first invoice if you become a client.