Having built a business on your skills and knowledge in one particular field you now find you have to become an expert in customer service, employing staff and especially financial management.
When it comes to the success of your business YOU can take control and focus on MONEY: making it in your business, managing how and when it’s used, getting more of it when you need it and, perhaps most importantly, how you can keep more of it personally.
To do this you need to focus on only a handful of key areas:
- Interpret the numbers in your business – that means things like getting to grips with what the profit and loss report is really telling you and how to read and interpret the figures on your balance sheet.
- Timely management reports and financial information – that’s things like cash flow forecasts and monthly management accounts so that you know how your business is doing at any moment in time and can make appropriate management decisions.
- Protect business assets – ensuring that the main business assets (such as property or loans introduced) are ring fenced from business risk. You don’t want to lose everything if your business gets into financial difficulty.
- Saving tax – this includes the challenge of how to stay a basic rate tax payer whilst maintaining your current lifestyle
Most business owners aren’t financial experts so they need help with these four key areas, that’s where a qualified and experienced accountant can be worth their weight in gold.
Andy Parker
Chartered Accountant Birmingham