Business Essentials Archives

Maintaining good financial control

In any new business, retaining good financial control is vital. Achieving it involves: Deciding which areas you need to monitor and how frequently Generating the numbers quickly and accurately Sharing the results with everyone who needs to know them Interpreting the numbers correctly Taking appropriate and timely action based on your interpretations The starting point

Insolvency and Liquidation

11JunedataplusmngrBusiness Essentials

There are many different ways of dealing with company debt. In most cases, an authorised insolvency practitioner will be appointed to manage a company’s affairs once insolvency proceedings start. If you think your company is in danger of becoming insolvent you should take independent professional advice at the earliest possible stage. A company is insolvent

Salary Sacrifice

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When an employee gives up the right to receive part of the cash pay due under his or her employment contract, this is called a ‘salary sacrifice’ (sometimes known as ‘salary exchange’). It is entirely effective for tax and NIC purposes – the employee is simply taxed on the lower gross pay. Q: Why would

The Value of Outsourcing

11JunedataplusmngrBusiness Essentials

Most business owner-managers find that they spend only a small percentage of their time on important strategic planning. A great deal of their effort is spent on the day-to-day running of the business – the ‘housekeeping’ side of things. But do you really need to do all this work yourself, when it is possible to

Expansion – is your business ready?

11JunedataplusmngrBusiness Essentials

Recent research shows that micro businesses have grown in number by 40% since 2000, but less than a quarter of these businesses have managed to grow in size. However, around 80% of SME owner managers would reportedly like to expand their business, so this low growth rate cannot be blamed on a lack of ambition.

Keeping an Eye on Your Cashflow

11JunedataplusmngrBusiness Essentials

Cash is the lifeblood of a business, but with so much emphasis usually put on profitability, it can be easy to overlook this fact. Of course, the bottom line is important, but poor cash flow management can drive a growing and/or profitable company out of business. The risk is especially great for expanding companies. For

How to Balance your Sales (Debtors) Control Account

11JunedataplusmngrBusiness Essentials

In a sales control account, the total of outstanding invoices at the beginning of the period and invoices raised during the period, less payments received for invoiced income, will give a balancing figure of invoices still outstanding at the end of the period – your debtors. You can then compare this figure with that of

How to Balance your Purchase (Creditors) Ledger

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In a purchase ledger control account, the total outstanding invoices at the beginning of a period and invoices received during that period, less payments made for invoiced supplies, will give a balancing figure of invoices still outstanding at the end of the period – your creditors. You can compare the figure with your listing of

How to Balance your Bank Account

11JunedataplusmngrBusiness Essentials

When you enter records of money paid into and out of your bank account into the cash book, there is often a delay of at least a couple of days until these transactions are cleared through the banking system and appear on your bank statement. Therefore, the bank balance according to the cash book will