The relationship between you and your numbers

I attended an online  information session this week and one of the speakers, who regularly works with companies that are in trouble and looking at closing, commented on the lack of good accounting information in most of the companies that he works with.

What is interesting to me is that a lot of these companies have made the investment into accounting software and have engaged the services of a bookkeeper and accountant. So, why has this happened?

Like so many business owners, the temptation to keep your business tax compliant, takes all the energy you have for your numbers and once the VAT return and Tax return have been completed there is often little left over for accounting reviews and controls.  When you do get the opportunity look at your numbers the information is often out of date or incorrect.

The pain is that you are so close to getting the information you want and with a little bit of a tweak, you could get the information you need to make better decisions.

To build a good relationship between you and your numbers you need to make it easy to get information out of your accounting system.

By the 7^th working day (latest) your bookkeeper should have all their transactions in and you should be ready to run your Monthly Management Accounting Pack.

What to include in your Monthly Management Accounts:

1. Bank – has a bank reconciliation been completed – do you know everything in the bank has been dealt with and no surprises.
2. Income Statement – This will be for complete monthly and dated the last day of the previous month
3. Income Statement Analysis and ratios – what movement do you see on your income statement compared to last month, last year?
4. Balance Sheet – shows all of the assets and liabilities in your business.
5. Balance Sheet– what movement do you see on your balance sheet – as the business owner, you need to know what every figure in the accounts means
6. Accounts receivable – do any of your customers owe you money that you had forgotten about?
7. Accounts Payable – do you owe any of your suppliers money that you had forgotten about?

Often setting up your Monthly Management Accounts can seem a bit overwhelming at first, let me help you navigate the process and make life easier to use the knowledge from your business to make the best business decisions.  contact me, I would love to hear about you and your business and how we can make your business work for you.

Chat soon.