Top tips for managing your business accounts

A clear picture of your accounts is vital to make the most informed decisions for your business. It can be time-consuming though, taking your attention away from other priorities. To help you run things as efficiently as possible, we spoke to our own Accounts & Payroll Coordinator, Anna Feather, for her top tips for managing business accounts.  

Use book-keeping or accounting software

Bookkeeping is very important as it helps you maintain accurate financial records as well as helping with business analysis and reporting. There are a lot of different accounting tools on the market, so choosing the right one can be a difficult process. You want to make sure that you can record all information easily and accurately. Good software with precise bookkeeping features will allow you to have accessible, up-to-date information whenever you need it, presented in a way that’s much easier to use. By doing some of the typical analysis for you, it’ll free up your time too. Be sure to do your research to find the one that works best for you. 

Use a forecast to reach your goals 

Making a forecast or financial projections can help you plan and track your progress. If you’ve set yourself both short and long term financial goals, a forecast will detail the individual steps you need to make to reach them. If you want to grow 10% over the next year for example, what do you need to do each month to get there? By using past and present data, a forecast can help you with those important decisions to reach your goals.

Make a budget and stick to it

No matter how big or small your company is, budgeting is a crucial part of managing your accounts. Sticking to the budget is not always easy but it helps you stay in control of your costs. Find a budgeting system and method that works for you and your business, and be sure to stick to it. 

Review your outgoings regularly

It’s good practise to review your costs and suppliers every so often. Most markets are very competitive so researching different suppliers can reduce costs. If you’re a growing business, it can be difficult to stay on top of your expenditure. Put time in at regular intervals to review your costs and re-evaluate your spending decisions. Good value in one year might be poor value the following year. 

Think carefully about what you outsource

It’s import to re-evaluate the services that you outsource to other companies. Outsourcing can be very expensive so, depending on the work, it can be more affordable to do it in-house. Consider the costs of hiring/training someone versus using a partner. How much time would it save you having them in-house? Add it all up and see if it could save you time or money in the long run.