Michael Austin, Author at Blue Dot Consulting

In-house accounting for a growing business – often the right answer but how do you get there?

Sooner or later, largely as a function of business growth, the time comes to bring your finance function in-house.

“We need to take our accounting work by the scruff of the neck and bring it in-house, away from our accountants!”

The situation above was a little extreme but it’s the right direction of travel for many businesses as they grow.

Bookkeeping and accounting is a role that lends itself well to outsourcing (it’s a service we offer) but sooner or later, largely as a function of business growth, the time comes to bring your finance function in-house.

The building blocks of in-house accounting

You need to give some thought to:

staffing
training
software and workflows
management
integration with the rest of the business

Building an in-house accounting team begins with choosing the right people.

I’d look for someone with experience of running a finance team who knows what it takes to establish a financial footprint within a business where there hasn’t been one previously. It’s a great opportunity for someone.

➡️ Hold out for the right person. And take good care of them, they’ll need a lot of support.

Workflows will change – for the better!

If you’re no longer outsourcing then your workflows, systems and process are going to change.

Expect a feeding-frenzy of getting hold of passwords for software and for your HMRC portal but take some time to figure out the best way of gathering the transactional data that needs to be entered into your accounts.

Everything can be done sooner than it was before and you now have the opportunity to share financial information with non-finance colleagues as it’s being generated.

➡️ Seize that opportunity – sunlight is the best disinfectant!

Finance should fit your business like a glove

This is the game-changer!

When you bring your accounting in-house you can mould it to fit your business as it grows.

Bear in mind that your accountants who have been doing the work for a long time will have their own, internal ways of doing their work. They’ll be doing it in a way that fits their business and this might not suit you.

There are four areas to take a good look at:

data entry – bookkeeping in-house looks very different
software – accountants have their favourites but you can change!
chart of accounts – this is the DNA of your bookkeeping so make it bespoke
financial reports – customise the ones your business needs, share them and use them

➡️ Take your time and build a framework that will evolve with your business

Can we help you bring your accounting in-house?

If switching to in-house is the right move then you need to get it right.

All of our people have worked in or run in-house finance teams so we know very well what they look like, how they work and what it takes to create a finance function that’s a well-oiled machine!

Our part-time / fractional CFO service might also offer some higher-level guidance and give you extra peace of mind as you navigate the transition.

So, if you know you’re in the wrong place at the moment, know you need to make a change and just need someone to show you the way then let’s meet and talk about what you want to do.

It’s free, it’s confidential and it’s a fresh pair of eyes and ears.

Give Michael Austin a call on 020 7125 0270 or email info@bluedotconsulting.co.uk

Michael

Build a useful Xero chart of accounts

Upskilling for accountants

Blue Dot Consulting provides accounting and business advisory services to clients across Central London, West London and South West London, with particular focus on Fulham, Hammersmith, Richmond, Wandsworth, Kensington and Chelsea. We help local business owners make better financial decisions and plan confidently for the future.

© Blue Dot Consulting Limited, Chartered Accountants, Bedford House, Fulham Green, London, SW6 3JW

Blue Dot Consulting supports Grow London Local

We’re very pleased to be a business support provider for Grow London Local specialising in all things financial from bookkeeping and cashflow to year-end accounts.

We’re very pleased to be a business support provider for Grow London Local, helping London businesses to fulfil and surpass their potential.

London’s a great city to do business in

London’s an economic powerhouse. Could you choose a better place to run your business?

Sometimes it doesn’t feel like it but London really does have everything you need to support a growing business. We’ve got:

amazing public transport
local and global reach
schools and universities that consistently rank among the best in the UK
thriving local business communities, Chambers of Commerce and business hubs
nine million people and who knows how many businesses on your doorstep

Grow London Local is part of an ambitious growth plan run by London & Partners to build on where we are and take London forwards into the future.

Running your own business – there’s nothing quite like it

There really is nothing quite like running your own business – it’s not easy but it’s so worthwhile.

As a business owner, you have to juggle and balance:

sales and marketing
pricing
cashflow & funding
accounting & tax
HR
business operations and ever-changing technology

We can’t all be experts in all these areas and everyone can use a little help along the way.

And Grow London Local is a big part of London’s SME support network.

How can Blue Dot Consulting and Grow London Local help me and my business?

We’re Chartered Accountants and we’ve been helping London businesses with their bookkeeping, accounting, cashflow and tax for over twenty years.

Our clients are just like you!

Owner-managed businesses with great ideas, loads of energy and the insight to know that a successful business has to be built on a solid financial foundation.

From start-ups to multi-million turnover companies, we continue to offer practical financial help and advice across all these areas:

As a business support provider for Grow London Local, how can we help you?

Maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner

It’s true. I’m a Londoner born and bred.

I’ve seen boom times and hard times, change as a constant, diversity that builds bridges and an epic Olympic Games.

I want London to succeed and I want London businesses, like yours and mine, to be a big part of the success story.

Let’s move forwards and have a chat about you and your business.

Call Michael Austin on 020 7125 0270 or email info@bluedotconsulting.co.uk

Grow London Local – here to help.

Michael

Our accounting services for your business

How do we solve a problem like Maria’s?

^{_{© Blue Dot Consulting Limited}}

Blue Dot Consulting Limited, Chartered Accountants – Bedford House, Fulham Green, London, SW6 3JW

Overhaul and rebuild your finance function

An optimised finance function is not just about crunching numbers, it’s about providing useful financial information and insight into business performance that people take action on.

From time to time a business has to overhaul and rebuild its finance function.

Don’t put it off for a rainy day – you’re fighting with one arm tied behind your back if your finance function isn’t fit for purpose.

It’s going to be a game-changer – so, what do you need to think about?

Why overhaul your finance function?

Information and insight

Accurate and timely financial reporting is essential and an optimised finance function is not just about crunching numbers, it’s about providing useful financial information and insight into business performance that people take action on.

Enhance efficiency and productivity

Inefficient financial processes and outdated systems can slow down operations and increase costs.

By overhauling your finance function, you can automate routine tasks, reduce manual errors, and free up your team to focus on other business initiatives. This boost in efficiency can lead to significant cost savings and improved productivity.

Reduce risks and improve compliance

In today’s regulatory environment, compliance is critical.

A fit-for-purpose finance function can help ensure that your organisation stays compliant with all relevant regulations, reducing the risk of penalties and reputational damage.

Additionally, robust financial controls and risk management processes can safeguard your company against fraud and financial mismanagement.

Steps to overhaul and rebuild your finance function

Define your objectives

Your objectives might include:

Quicker and more accurate financial reporting
Closer ties with all the other areas of the business
Improved efficiency in processing transactions
More effective credit control
Improved cashflow
Fewer queries from customers, suppliers and colleagues

By defining what you want to achieve, everyone will know where they’re heading and you can easily see if the objectives have been met.

Assess where you are at the moment

You know where you’re heading but where do you start from?

Look at:

The skills and experience of the current team
Workflows
Technology being deployed
Current pain points across your business
Whether and how other parts of your business don’t help the finance team

Now you have a starting point and a destination. All you have to do is get there!

Invest in technology and training

Technology is the backbone of every finance function and cloud-based platforms offer accessibility, scalability and flexibility..

At the centre is cloud-based accounting software such as QuickBooks, FreeAgent or Xero. But make sure you choose software that produces the reports you need and make sure all users are trained properly to use the software.

Look at which tasks can be sensibly automated. Adopt document management software, such as Dext or Autoentry for data entry.

If your sales invoices are produced in CRM software then invest in software that will import the sales invoices into your accounting software.

Much of the software you introduce will contain machine-learning code that will speed up data processing as you do more of it.

But right at the moment – be a little wary of the promises made about AI in accounting.

Streamline processes and workflows

Review and streamline your financial processes and workflows. Identify redundant tasks, eliminate bottlenecks, and standardise procedures across the organisation. Implementing better practices will improve efficiency and reduce costs.

Set a target for producing a monthly reporting pack within, say, five working days of every month-end and organise workflows to do so.

Reporting, data management and analytics

Information is everything so ensure the right financial reports are coming from your finance function in good time, going to the right people and being acted on to improve business performance.

If your financial data set is large enough to make the investment worthwhile then investigate analytics tools which can provide insight above and beyond what your accounting software can provide.

And from time to time, because businesses evolve, loop back to data entry and make sure it remains complete, accurate and up-to-date.

Can we help you overhaul and rebuild your finance function?

We help many business to bring their finance functions up to scratch and this is what they say when we do it:

Blue Dot Consulting went above and beyond in helping us navigate not only the transition to cloud-based accounting but also in leading our accounts team through a broader period of transformation.

Their deep understanding of our unique needs and challenges was evident from the outset. They provided unwavering support to our team, ensuring they felt confident and well-prepared for the changes ahead.
Senior finance manager

Projects range from:

implementing QuickBooks, FreeAgent or Xero properly
becoming the finance team of a £15m business, helping them to develop an in-house finance department
installing cloud accounting software for a global business, making sure the top team receives the management information it needs to grow profitably

We’ve helped a wide range of organisations – can we help you?

Call Michael Austin on 020 7125 0270, email info@bluedotconsulting.co.uk or simply pop in for a chat – we’re at Bedford House, Fulham Green, London, SW6 3JW.

Michael

Related links:

Part time finance director

Measure business performance and make more money

Gross Profit Officer – appoint one today!

^{_{© Blue Dot Consulting Limited}}

Chartered Accountants – Bedford House, Fulham Green, London, SW6 3JW

Why don’t businesses make better use of accounting software?

You won’t be a spreadsheet-free zone but use spreadsheets to give additional insight rather than to do the work that your accounting software can do better.

Why don’t businesses make better use of their accounting software?

I recently visited three different companies, all different sizes, doing very different things and they each had cloud accounting software. One Xero and two QuickBooks.

They all had one thing in common – they aren’t allowing themselves to get what their businesses need from their chosen software.

Here are some of the stumbling blocks.

Be committed to your accounting software

Your accounting software must be your go-to place for financial information – so kick out all those spreadsheets that people are relying on to manage sales invoices, who you owe money to and whatever else.

Create useful reports in your software that produce the necessary financial information and make sure everyone who needs access has access.

Create your management accounts in your accounting software and every twelfth set will become your year-end accounts.

You won’t be a spreadsheet-free zone but use spreadsheets to give additional insight rather than to do the work that your accounting software can do better.

➡️ Your accounting software needs to be the font of all knowledge.

What numbers would be useful?

One way to make better use of accounting software is to be aware of and use the various tools that help you produce more useful numbers and shed new light on business performance.

Let’s look at Profit Centres

If you have several different business streams / divisions then introduce profit centres to your bookkeeping so you can see profit or loss by business stream.

Use “classes” in QB and “tracking categories” in Xero to establish profit centres.

Ensure you include the relevant profit centre in the bookkeeping transaction for each sale and expense.

Hey presto! You can measure profit and loss by business stream / division / profit centre.

Profit centres are just one example – more tools such as projects and locations are available.

Bookkeeping is a continuous stream of activity

Financial transactions happen every day – so, to remain up-to-date, bookkeeping should be continuous.

In a larger business daily bookkeeping is imperative.

In a smaller business you can get away with bookkeeping happening less often – but ditch the idea of giving everything to your bookkeeper / accountant once a month.

➡️ Be regular – but not like Halley’s comet

Invest in training

Make sure everyone knows how to use your chosen software properly. This isn’t just to do with data entry, it’s also:

making sure that functionality such as profit-centres is being used
setting up a chart of accounts that will drive accurate, granular reports
using available data-entry fields with a view to reporting on them
using tools such repeating / recurring transactions so the computers do more of the routine work
using apps, such as Dext or AutoEntry to make bookkeeping more efficient
ensuring there is strong accounting knowledge in your team so that accruals, prepayments and tax provisions can be accounted for

➡️ Make sure everyone knows what they’re doing and how best to do it

Make better use of your accounting software

The businesses I visited had one other thing in common – they all wanted to start making the most out of their software.

Good for them.

How about you?

We provide in-house training for FreeAgent, Xero and QB users and we do a lot of work with businesses of all shapes and sizes to help get their financial processes and reporting running like a well-oiled machine.

Call Michael Austin on 020 7125 0270 or email info@bluedotconsulting.co.uk and let’s have a free-of-charge chat about your business.

Michael

In-house accounting for a growing business – often the right answer but how do you get there?

Complete your team with our Fractional CFO service in London

Blue Dot Consulting provides accounting and business advisory services to clients across Central London, West London and South West London, with particular focus on Fulham, Hammersmith, Richmond, Putney, Wandsworth, Kensington and Chelsea. We help local business owners make better financial decisions and plan confidently for the future.

^{_{© Blue Dot Consulting Limited, Chartered Accountants, Bedford House, Fulham Green, London, SW6 3JW}}

Xero – five simple tweaks that can save you hours each month

You don’t use Xero for the love of bookkeeping, you use it to produce financial information that you can use to measure and improve the performance of your business.

Xero is great software – provided you know how to use it properly.

Here are five simple tweaks you could make to the way you use Xero which will make a big difference to the time it takes to do your bookkeeping and to the financial information you can generate from Xero.

1. Workflows

The bank feed is one of the most useful tools in Xero but it works best and takes the least amount of time if it’s matching incoming and outgoing transactions against sales invoices and suppliers’ bills that are already accounted for.

In any event, sales invoices should be sent as soon as possible and suppliers’ invoices should be accounted for when you get them so you know your costs and how much you need to pay out.

Your bookkeeping is only useful if it’s up to date so make sure all your sales and purchases are accounted for as soon as they can be.

And speed up that bank feed work.

2. Set up bank rules

Not for the faint-hearted in case you get one of your rules wrong but if you have regular, repeating receipts and payments going through your bank account then set up some rules so Xero does the heavy lifting for you and gets it right every time.

Start with transactions without VAT (easy enough if you’re not registered for VAT) such as:

bank charges and interest
train fares
transfers between accounts or to / from the business owner
PAYE and net pay payments

Bank rules run automatically and if you’re reclaiming VAT on a payment you need to ensure you have the VAT invoice and the best action you can take is always to attach the VAT invoice to the payment in Xero.

Which slightly defeats the point of automatic, time-saving rules

Here’s the Xero guide to setting up bank rules

Give it a go – but check your work!

3. Customise reports so they tell you more

You don’t use Xero for the love of bookkeeping, you use it to produce financial information that you can use to measure and improve the performance of your business.

Get to know the basic reports in Xero and if you click on the star next to a report then it appears in the Accounts drop-down menu.

You can also customise reports to make them more helpful and so they better reflect YOUR business. Here are a couple of examples:

4. Setting up repeating invoices and transactions

If you repeatedly send invoices of the same value, for the same product or service to the same customer then automate the process using a repeating invoice template.

Xero won’t forget the task and when the customer pays, the bank feed should match the money to the invoice.

Here’s the Xero guide to setting up repeating sales invoices

You can also set up repeating transactions for other items that will save you time such as:

monthly insurance or business rates charges through your P&L
a monthly estimate of your corporation tax charge so tax doesn’t come as a surprise

5. Use expense apps

Expense apps or document management apps, such as Dext, AutoEntry or Xero’s own – HubDoc – all save time and improve the accuracy of your bookkeeping.

You forward suppliers’ invoices and out of pocket receipts to the app and select the correct accounting classification for the cost and then publish the transaction to Xero, along with the PDF of the invoice.

These apps learn and can also be programmed to do the correct accounting whenever they recognise an invoice from a particular supplier.

I hope you find these five Xero tweaks useful and you get more out of Xero as a result.

If you’d like to learn a lot more and make sure Xero is functioning as your business needs it to then our bespoke Xero training might be just what you need.

We work with you and your finance team on YOUR Xero file using YOUR business transactions.

Follow the Xero Training link to find out more and then give Michael Austin a call on 020 7125 0270 or email info@bluedotconsulting.co.uk

Michael

Xero accountants in London

Accounting and tax services for your business

© Blue Dot Consulting Limited, Chartered Accountants, Bedford House, Fulham Green, London, SW6 3JW

Bookkeeping, accounts and tax for a one-person company

The hard part about running your own one-person company is not the bookkeeping, accounts and tax – it’s making a profit!

The hard part about running your own one-person company is not the bookkeeping, accounts and tax – it’s making a profit!

But you do need to give some thought to the financials and here’s a one-minute explainer covering many of the important points you should consider.

Just press play but pause it if you need to.

Bookkeeping, accounts and tax for a one-person company

So there’s plenty to think about but don’t hide your head in the sand.

It’s a bit of a feeding-frenzy when you get going but bookkeeping soon settles down and should tick along in the background without too many dramas.

And if you need inspiration, click on this link because we helped Maria go from “raising my invoices” to “doing most of my bookkeeping” in a matter of months.

Some people do all of their accounting and tax themselves but it isn’t for everyone. So, if you need help – there’s plenty of help about.

Help might include some software training so you know how to use your accounting software properly. We can help you here if your business is using FreeAgent, QuickBooks or Xero.

If you’re in our South West London neighbourhood – Fulham, Putney, Hammersmith, Chelsea – then give me a call on 020 7125 0270 or email info@bluedotconsulting.co.uk or pop in and see us at Fulham Green.

Michael

Related links:

Bookkeeping for your business

Annual accounts

The loneliness of the small business price increase

© Blue Dot Consulting Limited, Chartered Accountants, Bedford House, Fulham Green, London, SW6 3JW

Cashflow – sit down, have a cup of tea and let’s mend your business

It matters less what happens to sales, so long as profits are increasing and the objective is to earn good gross profits from the best-selling products.

I got a tap on the shoulder recently when I was walking to the office; it was the MD of a local retail business I know. We got chatting and it emerged she has a number of business problems caused by recent losses and faltering cashflow.

We were next to a cafe, so I said let’s have a cup of tea and see if we can’t fix your business.

1. Is each shop making money?

Look at the margin being made from the sales, can you have a conversation with the landlord about a rent-free period, can you only open for a few days a week?

If you can’t make a shop make money then if it’s cheaper to close it, close it.

2. Put your cashflow model front and centre in your business

Amazingly, they weren’t using a cashflow model. I bet they are now!

Once the cashflow model is in place, go to the bank and have a grown-up discussion.

3. Review the prices of your best-selling lines

Even when times are hard, customers who will spend, say, £1,000 on a particular item will probably spend £1,100 on it rather than drop down to a much lower price / quality point.

The MD has many product lines and can test very easily whether raising prices increases profits or reducing prices loses profits. It matters less what happens to sales, so long as profits are increasing and the objective is to earn good gross profits from the best-selling products.

Test, test, learn, change, test……….you’d be surprised the effect a change in margins has on a change in profits.

4. Cut your costs of sale and overheads

In her market many competitors have gone to the wall, so she is relatively successful and you can bet her suppliers will want her to succeed. So ask for price reductions and share the pain down through the supply chain.

The main suppliers should be happy to make 90 – 95% of what they used to make instead of 0%!. Again, think of the effect of gross profit margin on the bottom line.

Will the staff share a 5 or 10% pay cut or swap some part of fixed salary for a sales-based commission? Put pressure on your landlord (them again).

5. Use your own time sensibly

I was surprised she said that she was dragged down by all the stuff that comes across the desk every day. Focus on the important things. In this case:

cashflow
reducing costs of sale and overheads
viability of shops
testing sales and margins

Give the rest of the work to other people, do it later, ignore it altogether but DON’T let it get in the way of the important stuff.

And don’t forget the therapeutic effect of a nice cup of tea!

Michael

Related links:

Cashflow

Clients – are they profitable and will I be paid in good time?

The 3 Cs of pricing

What are management accounts and do you need a makeover?

Setting a five day deadline will throw up issues in your business about people and processes.

Both need to be fit for purpose.

What are management accounts and why are they vitally important for every business?

Management accounts, ideally produced monthly, are the reports that tell you how your business is performing.

Typically they include:

P&L for last month and for the year to date, compared with budget and with last year
Month by month P&L for the last 12 months
Balance sheet
Aged debtors and aged creditors

These are basic reports that will fall out of your accounting software, such as FreeAgent, Xero or QuickBooks.

What are management accounts going to tell me?

The first two reports are telling you if you’re making a profit or a loss. They offer comparisons with last year and against your budget if have one.

Looking month by month tells you about growth and seasonality.

They both tell you if you’re missing something.

The balance sheet speaks to financial strength. It’s a list of assets (e.g. cash, debtors, stock) and liabilities (e.g. creditors, loans, taxes) and you need your assets to be greater than your liabilities to be a solvent business.

Aged debtors is a list of who owes you money and since when – vital for credit control

Aged creditors is a list of who you owe money to and how old these liabilities are.

Not having management accounts is simply not an option and yet we continue to see companies, some with multi-million turnovers, that have nothing like the management information they need to run their businesses.

Sounds familiar?

Organise a management accounts makeover.

Management accounts makeover

Your MONTHLY management accounts should include as a bare minimum:

P&L for last month and for the year to date, compared with budget and with last year
Month by month P&L for the last 12 months
Balance sheet
Aged debtors and aged creditors

Plus any further analysis, such as profit by client, profit by service / product that is relevant to your business.

And, if you are concerned about cashflow – you need to be reviewing a cashflow model!

Your management accounts need to be correct to be useful

If you have the wrong information you will make the wrong decisions and probably think you are richer than you really are.

So make sure your bookkeeping is complete and accurate.

Some numbers in the management accounts are estimates, that is inevitable, but they should be accurate estimates.

Other numbers, such as your bank balances, can be exact because they can be agreed to your bank statements.

If you have stock – count it and value it at least every quarter.

And make sure you are recognising the cost of depreciation of fixed assets each month and, assuming you are making a profit, make a provision for the tax you will have to pay.

Get your management accounts out quickly

Aim for no more than five working days as a deadline. Information is better fresh and waiting a month to know what happened last month is pretty pointless.

Setting a five day deadline will throw up issues in your business about people and processes. Both need to be fit for purpose.

The aim with management accounts is to make their production a routine, quick process and then to use them, along with other data, to monitor and improve business performance.

If it feels like pushing a very heavy boulder up a very steep hill – ask for help. It’s a false economy not to.

Michael

Management accounts – five steps to useful numbers

Profit improvement – make profit your first cost

_{Blue Dot Consulting}_Limited

Xero Accountants in South West London – let’s unlock your numbers

No one buys accounting software because they need accounting software. They buy it so they can generate the financial information they need to run and improve their business.

Xero Accountants in South West London – sounds like us.

Xero user who’s a little frustrated that you’re not quite getting what you want and need from Xero – sounds like you?

Read on.

A Xero Accountant in London – good enough?

Quite simply, it makes sense to get help from local people who know Xero!

But no one buys accounting software because they need accounting software. They buy it so they can generate the financial information they need to run and improve their business.

Which is why simply being another Xero accountant from central casting isn’t good enough. You need support from people who can make Xero work for your business, not for any business.

The Blue Dot Consulting advantage

We have extensive experience of Xero, it’s true.

But we also have extensive experience of how to run a finance function! So when we help you with Xero we do it in a practical way that fits your business.

We’ll work with you to:

Choose and use the right apps to streamline data entry
Automate recurring transactions
Build the suite of financial reports that’s right for you
Keep everything running as your business scales

And when we work with businesses, this is what they say:

Michael is very knowledgeable on all things Xero and as an accountant and business owner he also is extremely practical and “real world” focused.
Nick – business manager

What next?

If our approach resonates and sounds like what you’re looking for then let’s have a chat and set up a free first meeting.

You can email me at info@bluedotconsulting.co.uk or give me a call on 020 7125 0270.

Michael

Related links:

Xero training

Create a useful chart of accounts in Xero

As businesses grow, their financial management evolves

This must be my profit, it says so on my phone!

Cloud accounting software is often sold as being everything you need, easy to use, do it yourself etc.

Well so is a Delia Smith cookery book – and you really don’t want to see my attempt at a soufflé!

“It’s on my phone so it must be right!” said a client of ours recently.

And it struck me that because we use our phones for pretty much everything, we tend to assume they tell us the right answer all the time.

But perhaps your smart phone is not so smart after all – or perhaps the users aren’t!

I’m talking here about the phone apps that accompany cloud accounting software packages such as QuickBooks and Xero.

They’re an extension of the software you can also access from a laptop, PC or tablet.

They let you carry out data entry on the go, such as new purchases and sales invoices, and access some reports, such as the Profit & Loss report my client was looking at.

Apps are the way of the world and it’s Canute-like to think this technology is going to disappear. It isn’t.

So the trick is to understand and use cloud accounting apps properly.

Is data entry on the go really a good use of your time?

It is if you use an app such as AutoEntry which allows you to take a photo of your receipt and will code it ready to be imported into your accounting software, along with the PDF of the receipt. You have to keep the receipts as proof of business expenditure and to reclaim any allowable VAT and AutoEntry will make this record-keeping very easy.

Also, use your business debit card (don’t leave home without it) to pay for everything and then the transactions appear on your bank statement. So even if you don’t get a receipt or can’t get one (TFL) you still don’t miss the expense because it appears in your bank account.

Visit our bookkeeping for your business page to learn more about how we can work on reducing your data entry time.

Creating sales invoices on the move

Yes, you can create sales invoices on the move. But you don’t want to get them wrong because that will delay payment and may damage your reputation with your client.

And think of the client – do they want or need your invoice right here, right now?

Not always.

Has everything been accounted for correctly?

Two aspects to this – “everything” and “correctly”.

Miss something and your profit is wrong, whatever your phone tells you.

Our experience is that users of cloud accounting apps and cloud accounting software, such as Xero and QuickBooks, need some help and training to get things right.

Cloud accounting software continues to be marketed as being everything you need, easy to use, do it yourself etc.

Well so is a Delia Smith cookery book – and you really don’t want to see my attempt at a soufflé!

Every transaction has to have been accounted for correctly (including transactions such as depreciation and corporation tax) for the profit to be correct.

Otherwise, it’s wrong.

Can Blue Dot Consulting help your businesses with its accounting?

Our client’s profit was not what his smart phone told him it was. It turned out the profit was a little higher, but it isn’t always like that.

We run practical Xero and QuickBooks training sessions help many businesses get just what they need out of their cloud accounting software. We use your live transactions to show you / your team how to use your chosen software more efficiently and how to get useful financial reports from it to help improve business performance.

Embrace cloud accounting software and cloud accounting apps but just take the time to really understand how to use them in the best way so you don’t mistakenly end up thinking you’re richer than you are.

Until then, don’t believe everything your phone tells you.

You’re reading this on your phone, right?

Michael

Related links:

Management information

Part Time CFO – if this is the solution, what’s the problem?

Outsource your financial management

^{_{Blue Dot Consulting Limited}}

_{Chartered Accountants – Bedford House, Fulham Green, London, SW6 3JW}