How to Get Ahead in the New Financial Year
Well firstly, as the financial year end comes around, checking your accounts are ready will save you a lot of time in the long run as many businesses begin to think about what to do first. Starting to prepare ahead of time is a great idea.
What does ‘year end’ actually mean?
Your Year-End Report is a statutory requirement and needs to be an accurate review about how your business has performed over the last year. Why? Because any potential lender, investor or purchaser will need to know the exact financial picture of your company before making any decisions.
It’s also a great time to give your business a health-check and look to the future.
It can be stressful at EOFY (End Of Financial Year) as it’s not always straightforward for many business owners to close as many sales as possible, prepare tax returns and update records. However, it’s a great time to take a high-level overview of how you can run your business more efficiently.
Your first job is to prepare for the end of the financial year with a year-end countdown – let’s not beat around the bush, it’s a big job so give yourself plenty of time.
It’s year-end, so let your employees know and ask them to collate their expenses, and request every last purchase order and invoice. It’s vital to make sure all your accounts are up-to-date.
On that note, you are not required to specifically run your year-end accounts on the actual last day of the year! The majority of businesses wait until they can process all their paperwork for the year they are closing, already documenting transactions for the new financial year.
Anyway, make sure all your financial accounts add-up and tally with your bank statements, invoices and purchase orders. Make a note of any invoices that have not been paid along with any sales made before year-end, which also might not have been paid yet. Write a brief explanation for both, including invoice number, date, the amount outstanding/owed etc.
Are your files stored online or as hard copies? If for any reason HMRC needs to ask a question, it’s important that you can get quick and easy access to any paperwork they require. Always make a backup.
Do you use accounting software? If so, run it frequently to identify any potential problems and sort them quickly. Keep making backups so you can easily get back to ‘square one’ if you need to.
On the subject of software, many businesses are often far too busy to consider accounting software – or even to review their business processes. However, to build a strong scalable business, a great idea would be to slowly start introducing technology to streamline any processes you use with small incremental actions. It will certainly be great for stress reduction.
How about integrating your accounting software with your project management software? This will provide a whole host of benefits, not least of all, better financial data but reduced data entry too.
And finally, don’t forget your friendly local accountant – we’re here to help. Whether you want to grow your business and fast-track your way to market domination, or simply need assistance with managing cashflow (or are even at the business planning stage), treat your accountant as a valuable asset you can count on.
A great accountant will work on the parts of your business you don’t enjoy while helping you focus on the parts you do.
Call us today and let us show you how to make your life easier: 01733 265888