Happy New Year! A new year is the perfect time to shed a few pounds, but in this case we want to increase the numbers. Use January as a new slate for getting your books in order and in so doing, secure and boost your bottom line.
Stop the Ostrich Look
Our number one tip for businesses heading in to 2018 is to stop burying your head in the sand. We’ve got some tough times ahead with interest rates making us jittery, Brexit looming, and increased prices. If you want to thrive in 2018 you therefore need to make sure you’re facing up to your business finances. Get your records in order, and keep them so. If you haven’t already done so, get cloud-based bookkeeping software like Pandle to do the hard work for you.
Become Pals with the Tax Man
Ok, he’s not going in your virtual address book, but keeping the ‘Tax Man’ sweet should be a primary goal for all businesses. Spend some time browsing the HMRC website, not to cure your insomnia, but to get familiar with everything you need to know. Be prepared, and therefore forearmed.
Keep It Don’t Chuck It
If you want one catchphrase for your finances let it be this. Every receipt and invoice needs to be logged and traceable. In the cyber world you can make short work of this by linking records to scanned versions when there’s no electronic option. Do this for anything and everything. Pair this with updating records frequently and you’ll soon be a whizz at keeping on top of your accounts.
Make Friends With Your Accountant
If the Tax Man is buddy number 1, your accountant needs to be coming in a close second. By having your books in reasonable order for your accountant, you’ll find your costs are lower, your time isn’t wasted, and no nasty fines will come to bite you on the behind. What’s more, this frees up your accountant’s time for giving you advice that pays and saves you money in the long run.
Keep it Simple
It’s amazing how quickly our self-made systems can grow legs and start hindering us rather than helping. If you’re aware that you finished 2017 by having information in a myriad of locations and spending a great deal of effort doubling up, it’s time to make things simple. Use Pandle to get everything in to one centralised location so you only need to do things once and let automation do the rest.
Chase the Baddies
If you’re aware that unpaid invoices have slipped through your fingers because they simply take too much time to chase it’s time to get things in order. Unpaid invoices can be the bane of a small business owner’s life. They needn’t be. Let Pandle take care of the legwork so that you can get on with what you do best.
Make 2018 the year your business means business.