Managing your end of year accounts is all about planning. Fail to plan and you will certainly be planning to fail, as the saying goes. For the Blog this month and to help you have a successful year end we have put together our 5 Top Tips. Follow them and your end of year will be a much happier place. 1. Review last year How did last year go? What went well? What did not? Learning from past mistakes, especially in this area – is particularly beneficial because you only do this once a year and may have forgotten the problems you hit which could now be avoided. 2. Know your dates If you have one – and you should – when is your stock take date? How about your audit deadline? Understanding all your key deadlines is imperative when putting together your accounts and handy when making plans for the future like sales forecasting. 3. Do a rehearsal Write a mini year end at Month 11. It helps you catch any issues before the added pressure of time is applied. Think of it like a dress rehearsal, end of year is no time for improvisation. 4. Write a forecast In addition to your Month 11 mini year end, prepare a forecast to get a good idea what your full year trading figures will look like. This is important because it highlights any problems which may be lurking around the corner. 5. Keep everyone in the loop Keeping internal and external stakeholders up to date is good practice at the best of times but crucial at this time of year. Good communication can help you allocate resources within the finance team in preparation for the year end, and prepare key files for your auditors which could save them time – and therefore you money. A couple of these may sound obvious at first but generally we have found the best advice is. It really is all about planning in advance. One of the worst things you can do is leave it until the last minute. Incidentally our Business Assistants can provide a multitude of administrative services that can help. They can even chase overdue invoices and have a remarkable success rate on bad debt – must be because they ask so nicely! Until next month Mike.
- Michael Bolt