Management accounts and financial forecasting

To be able to meet those challenges you need to be informed and, where appropriate, to take your business partners (e.g. bank) along with you.

We have therefore found that helping in two main ways can make an enormous difference:

Management accounts

Clients often operate relatively comprehensive bookkeeping systems but don’t know where to look or what to do to make the raw data show how their business is doing. It can sometimes take only a light involvement for them to be looking at detailed business reports – profit and loss, cashflow, balance sheet – that can inform and direct their decisions. These reports can compare the current year to previous or to budget, with variances. With the advent of cloud accounting it’s become even easier to support clients, as we can make the necessary entries or help teach the bookkeeper a few new methods, from our own desks; our intervention is quicker and cheaper. The information can include an idea of the tax the business will need to pay and how much tax you will need to pay on your drawings.

Financial forecasting

We must all try to avoid the assumption that the past is a guide to the future and recognise that we should make the effort to forecast our business going forward. This is critical where we are seeing moving profits or difficult cashflow positions and especially if we rely on a third-party funder (e.g. bank) for support. Good practice is to forecast at least annually and not only when obliged to do so by an external request! We can sit with you to build the budget or help you understand how to approach it, what tools to use and where to find the necessary information.

Help is available now; please contact us today.