Is it time to find a Business Advisor?

 

In today’s market keeping your business going and afloat is the main concern for most business owners. Being a small business owner has always meant you have to cover all aspects of your business and even more so today.

This can lead to having to multi task and stretch your capabilities especially when online sales are now a very important part of everyday life and becoming increasingly so. Learning new skills, diversifying your products to suit the market trends can give you a sense of having to cover all bases and a constant juggle of resources.

The one area that does tend to get pushed to the back of the pile is your accounting. Like most SME’s the bookkeeping can be left until the evening or the weekend before you have time to go through the invoicing, receipts, bank statement etc.

It can be a false economy trying to do this yourself not to mention the impact it has on what should be your downtime, spending a well earned break from your computer, whether that’s exercising, chilling with a book or spending time with your family.

What an Advisor can do for you

Recognising that you need help is the first step. Stress can manifest itself in all manor of ways and asking for help is by no means an admission of weakness rather a realisation that your time is better spent and more productive in the areas of your business that you excel in.

When it comes to accounting what can take an inexperienced person a while to grasp an experienced accountant or bookkeeper can deal with immediately. Bank reconciliations, VAT returns, TAX filing are all part of their remit and the service package they offer can be tailored to your requirements. The areas of compliance, GDPR and Health & Safety can be a minefield for any business to navigate through so having an advisor with a wealth of experience in these fields will give you peace of mind that you business is fully compliant.

Online systems make is possible for business owners to email and upload via mobile phone apps invoices into their accounting system along with receipts and any other documents that can then be processed by their chosen accountant/bookkeeper. This functionality enables you to keep track of all your accounting paperwork and these receipts etc can then be linked to the corresponding entries.

VAT filing in now completely digitised so again this is all dealt with through your online accounting system. By giving your advisor access to your accounting system means you can see real time figures, check reports, submitted vat returns and so much more. This leaves you with valuable time to address and devote to the areas of your business that promote your skills.

With more of us having to work from home, online meetings and zoom calls (which can be quite entertaining in themselves) are now the norm, gone are the days when you had to schedule a day to visit your accountant, what used to take a day can now be covered in a quick online meeting not only saving you time but also money.