Are my finances stopping me growing?
Are you looking to grow?
Are you looking to grow your business but you don’t know how to do this or you don’t know how to measure the growth when it does come? It really is a common problem, you can see your sales increasing and you are winning new customers but you don’t know how this is relating to your profit. You will find out in another year when you have your accounts done, but by that point it will be out of date and you need the information now.
What information do you need?
Well if your sales are growing you need to make sure that it is actually translating more profit for you as the owner. You need to see what you profit is on a monthly basis, you need monthly accounts that show how your business is doing what you are earning and also what you are spending? You need them but you also need them explaining to you and what they mean to your plans to grow your business.
Why do I need my accounts explaining to me?
From a very simple view the accounts are just showing you the expenses and sales that you made and the profit that is left. But they will also show more than that, they will show trends and performance information that your accountant can help you interpret. These can be showing how effective you are at getting paid, if you are spending too much on wages or if you are not earning as much from your staff as other companies in the same type of business.
How does this information help me?
When you start to look at this information you can understand how your business is performing and how you can make improvements. If you are not getting paid quickly enough you can start to spend more time doing this or maybe change how you invoice your clients. If you are not earning as much from your staff as other companies you need to be aware of this, are your staff understanding what you need form them, do they have a process to follow for work or do you have too many?
What do I need to grow?
You need the help of your accountant. More than anyone in your business your accountant can help you. Companies in the past would turn to their bank manager for help, they now turn to their accountant. The accountant can help your understand your finances, can help you get the finance that you need to grow, can meet you on a regular basis to discuss your finances and can give you the information that you need in a format that is easy to understand and explain it to you. You need an accountant that can give you a virtual finance office service to do all of these things.