management accountant / 18 posts found
Are you lonely?
Running a business can be a very lonely lifestyle. You probably went into business for a whole host of good reasons, and with a clear understanding of the problems that running your own business can bring you. But you might not have considered the loneliness. Endlessly making decisions by yourself, holding the sole responsibility for the consequences of those decisions can wear people down. This is not a sign of weakness, it is merely a reflection of the difficult nature of running a business. Every decision that you make will have a ripple effect of consequences. For example, the pound [...]
Are you on the cloud?
Making Tax Digital (MTD) comes into force on the 1st April 2019 (no – it’s not an April Fools!) If you are VAT registered and, your turnover exceeds £85000 you will need to follow the rules for MTD as laid out by HMRC. Essentially MTD means that you will need to keep and file your VAT records and returns electronically; you can no longer just use spreadsheets and manually upload the information. In practice this means you will have to be using some form of cloud accounting. Regardless of whether you want to or not, you will have to do [...]
Genuine confidence
There are countless blogs on confidence in business. How to stand, what colour suit to wear, how to speak, what tone and pitch of voice to use. Lots of these tips are brilliant and can really help you to present yourself in a better manner, with improved results. However, genuine confidence comes from knowing and understanding your business inside out. You can pull off the good outward presentation and gain clients that way, but true confidence comes from within. Knowing exactly what is happening in your business will give you an edge over your competitors. If you understand the mechanics [...]
Making the best of it
Many people regard paying their accountant as a necessary evil. Simply as something that has to be done, in order to tick the boxes laid out for us by the Government. But what if we change our thinking toward accountancy, what if we embrace something we have to do anyway, and turn it into a benefit, not simply a drain? We have to, by law, file our end of year accounts with HMRC. Most businesses pay an accountant to do this for them, in order to firstly ensure that it is correct, and also to optimise our tax position. This [...]
What are you basing your planning on?
One of the difficult things about being a parent is the constant changing. Sometimes it seems as though no sooner have you got yourself sorted, than your child changes. So, the tricks that worked last year no longer seem to work, and the activities that were perfect and enjoyable 6 months ago are suddenly no longer relevant. Planning ahead includes factoring in how your child may change in the intervening period of time. You can’t work out how to entertain a 6-year-old through the holidays based on what you did with a 4-year-old; it simply won’t work. Businesses are similar [...]
Why do I need a management accountant?
Firstly, it is important to understand what a management accountant is and how this differs from the more traditional financial accountant. A management accountant will provide on-going reports into the operation of your business, enabling you to make strategic decisions. A financial accountant provides you with end of year reporting, showing you what has happened over the previous year. A management accountant can generally produce the financial reporting as required by HMRC, but a financial accountant will not necessarily offer the services of a management accountant. While there are many great reasons to use a management accountant, we have picked [...]
How fast can you react?
Are your reactions lighting fast? Or are you struggling to keep up? Fast reactions are useful in a variety of situations; accidents, emergencies, but also in business. The ability to react to changes in the marketplace is one of the main areas where small businesses can beat big businesses. Being able to judge the trends and changes in a marketplace and ensure that you are in a good position quickly can be an indicator of success. But what has this got to do with accountants? Imagine you have a small company that sells blue widgets, and the big company that [...]
What’s the difference?
Choosing an accountant is an important business decision to make. Surrounding yourself with a good team involves picking people that you trust to work with you and help you to achieve the goals that you want from your business. Understanding the type of accountant that you need is an element of the decision. Generally, there are two types of accountants: financial accountants and management accountants. So, what’s the difference? Financial accountants produce quarterly and annual statements showing what has been happening in your business. These reports are viewed by external personnel such as shareholders, and the tax office. They tend [...]