management accountant / 45 posts found
Business tips: Getting in control of your spending
Keeping the business in a positive cashflow position is vital. But you can only do this if your cash inflows (sales revenues and other income) outweigh your cash outflows (overheads, supplier costs and other liabilities like tax costs or loan repayments). One way to re-balance the cashflow scales is to get in better control of your spending. This process of ‘spend management’ is all about reviewing your expenses, negotiating better deals with suppliers and getting a razor-sharp focus on reducing your cash outflows. Review your current suppliers Once you have a reliable supply chain set up, it’s very easy to [...]
Could your business survive without you?
Would your business still thrive, or would it suffer a catastrophic failure if you suddenly stepped away? It’s tough to remove yourself from the day-to-day operations when you’re passionate and busy. However sudden accidents, illnesses, or family emergencies can – and will – happen and you need to be able to step back knowing your systems are robust enough to cope. For your business to work for you, you need to make yourself replaceable. Large corporations have plans in place to mitigate what’s known as ‘Key Person Risk’. But when you run a small entrepreneurial venture, who is the backup? [...]
Business tips: Making it easier to get paid
Making sure you get paid on time is crucial to your success. The process of making sales and generating revenue lies at the heart of any business model. But you can't manage your cashflow effectively or raise any profits if customers don't actually pay their invoices. The easier you can make it for customers to pay you, the faster you'll see cash coming into the business. That’s good news for your financial position, your ability to cover your operational costs and your capacity to fund the growth and expansion of your business. So, how do you speed up those payments [...]
Business tips: Budgeting and managing cashflow
If you want to stabilise your finances and grow the business, working to strict budgets becomes a necessity. Managing the cashflow twists and turns of a project can be hard work. But it’s easier to do when you have an agreed budget and can track your spending and performance. So, what’s the best way to stay in control of the budgets you’ve set? And how can you manage your cashflow position to make sure there’s always enough cash to fund the project? Understand the costs of each project Starting a project without fully understanding how much it will cost is [...]
Business Tips: Setting KPIs and measuring performance
Once you begin trading, you’re faced with a new challenge – successfully managing the course of your brand-new business and making sure it’s a profitable enterprise. It’s easier to manage your startup’s sales and finances when you have access to the best possible information and data about your performance. Tracking specific metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) allows you to see how you're performing against your targets – so you can take action to improve performance, sales, growth and profitability. But which KPIs should you be tracking? Sales and conversion rates An obvious metric to track is the number of [...]
Should you choose a company van over a company car?
Having a vehicle to use for business purposes adds to the efficiency of your business. But should you opt for a company car or a company van? Company vans are taxed in a far more favourable way than passenger cars, in most cases. Both company tax relief and personal benefit-in-kind tax charges are more tax efficient for vans and, partly because of this, many business owners choose a van over a car. What personal tax do you pay on a van compared to a car? Personal tax for use of a company car is charged on an annual amount of [...]
How the increased minimum wage will affect your business costs
Business costs are on the rise as we near the second quarter of 2022. Supply chain costs are increasing, energy prices are rising and labour costs are getting more expensive. These soaring costs mean higher expenditure and lower margins on your products and/or services. If left unchecked, that could mean a dip in your predicted profits for the quarter. The good news is that by acting now to manage these increases you can stay on top of these costs. And with a proper financial plan, you can keep your business turning a profit. A rise in the National Living Wage [...]
High inflation: What does it mean for your business?
High inflation is hitting businesses and households hard in 2022. Across the world, inflation is running high, thanks to factors like pandemic disruptions, monetary stimulus and supply-chain issues. You’ll see the effects of inflation at the supermarket and the fuel pump – and in your business. Eroding the power of your pound Inflation increases prices, which eats away at the buying power of your pounds. For business owners, that means you’ll encounter higher costs from your suppliers. Materials are more expensive, transport has become far more costly, and basics from office supplies to utilities are all rising in price. In [...]
Bring your A game (not your O game)
Success in sport is all about playing your 'A game'. Being the best you can be through preparation and training leading up to the game, as well as through your actions during and after the game - showing modesty and humility in success and graciousness in defeat. If everyone on the team plays their 'A game' the results are impressive. So, how do we apply the 'A game' mindset from sport to the workplace? Three A’s that bring it: Appraise: work out who will make up your dream team. Consider individual strengths and determine what your players want to achieve. Allow: empower your [...]
6 Reasons To Look at Your Financial Reports
Making time to look over your financial reports each month is an important task for any business owner. If you are not taking the time to do this, either because you’re too busy, or perhaps you don’t really understand what you’re looking at and it doesn’t make sense to you, then here are 6 reasons we recommend that you should start to. But before we get our 6 reasons, let’s talk very quickly about which reports to look at. At a bare minimum, and depending on the complexity of your business, you should be looking at the following: The Profit [...]