Good business management advice for small business

Good business management is essential for small business owners.  As a small business owner, there will inevitably be areas of running your business where you will require expert advice or software solutions to help with the business management of your company.

Take the financial side, for instance.  Some of your legal obligations when running a business, such as declaring your earnings if a sole trader or completing accounts if a limited company, are perhaps not the top of your agenda as you focus on establishing or growing your business. 

While you may realise the importance of keeping an eye on your finances, this is in fact a common problem faced by small business founders. Indeed, while more than 660,000 new businesses are formed in the UK every year, over half will fail within their first five years of launching, one of the main reasons being down to poor cash management.

Establishing or growing a small business will be your main focus at the risk of overlooking the fundamentals of good business management.  Thankfully, small businesses owners have the option for software solutions and expert advice to keep business running smoothly, so the focus remains on business objectives.

Southside Accounting have worked closely with small businesses like you to develop and implement long-term growth plans and have seen first-hand what can go wrong when managing finances.  Below we provide good business management advice for small business, which we hope you find a good launching pad to get your business in order and ready to take your company to the next stage of growth.

Managing expenses

With all new clients we take on at Southside Accounting, whether sole trader or limited company, we always recommend that you keep personal and business finances separate, and recommend opening a business bank account.  The main driver for doing so is to ensure that your accountant can carefully and properly analyse your business expenses and ensure that you are claiming the right expenses for tax reduction purposes.  Southside Accounting are advocates of cloud accounting, and we offer access and training to all clients on cloud accounting software, QuickBooks, which allows for business efficiency and good business management. 

Collating and analysing your numbers digitally, also allows  for enhanced review of your business numbers in real time on the go, being able to keep an eye on cash flow, as well as creating forecasting reports to guide you to your desired future state.  Cloud accounting software is an incredibly powerful software solution for your small business, and with the Making Tax Digital  (MTD) initiative by the government rolled out this year, currently running for VAT registered businesses but expected to be rolled out to all businesses in time, all small business owners will need to work digitally and submit data to HMRC via MTD compliant software, such as QuickBooks.

Furthermore, time-consuming tasks like managing invoices, recording expenses, monitoring outgoings and paying employees can all easily be automated by the active use of cloud accounting software, like QuickBooks.  It goes without saying that having all your business expenses on the cloud, you have the capacity to grow with the software and have unlimited online capacity to collate and analyse your business numbers.  Cloud accounting software also has the benefit of being updated automatically with the latest accounting and tax rules that small businesses should be following closely.  

Planning for the future

Besides helping with your cash flow management, using software solutions also makes it easier to plan for the future and make better business decisions. For example, you can build custom forecasting reports at a click of a button, looking ahead medium or long-term, whatever date range fits your business goals and strategies.  You can also be confident that any forecasting you do will be based on your accurate and real time business numbers, with all business activities all collated and updated instantaneously in one place.   Being able to forecast and plan for your business’ future, means you can manage your current revenue streams in line with your future forecasting. The power of software for your small business is boundless if managed well by your business advisers and accountant.

Who are Southside Accounting?

Southside Accounting can provide expert advice on good business management processes for your small business.

We strongly recommend you speak with a tax and accounting specialist, like Southside Accounting, your local accountants in Wimbledon. Please contact us to see how we can help.

Southside Accounting provide sole trader and limited company services, including tax return services, to small businesses in the UK and are advocates of cloud accounting software and QuickBooks.

Written by Shaima Todd.