A client rang to say they’d like to establish and Accounts Calendar. A series of reviews scheduled throughout each month that ensure the important elements of financial management are being looked at consistently by the right people across the business.
Some areas of accounting have their own timetable, such as payroll and VAT, but the Accounts Calendar is specific to each business because your business is not the same as the next guy’s.
Debtors, Creditors and Bank
Every week we have a “Debtors, Creditors and Bank” review. We look at how much money is in the bank, which customers should be paying us soon and which suppliers need to be paid.
Not only can we see how much money we expect to have in the bank going forward, we can identify any issues with getting paid or disputes with suppliers and call in other people around the company to resolve any problems.
Pipeline Profitability
Once a month we have a “Pipeline Profitability” review. The client is project-based so looking at the gross profit expected from projects in the sales pipeline and weighting each project with the probability of winning it gives us an insight into short-term profitability.
Project Profitability
Finally, we have a monthly “Project Profitability” review. Here we look at the progress of live projects and what the likely profit is going to be compared to the expected profit. Any issues on a project are identified as are the people across the company who should sort them out.
The normal accounting environment also exists. We have monthly management accounts and a cashflow model and, of course, none of this could happen if the bookkeeping wasn’t consistently up to date.
But introducing the Accounts Calendar to your workflow adds a regular layer of financial management that’s re-enforcing the twin pillars of financial success – profitability and cashflow.
Your Accounts Calendar might look a bit different depending on what your business does. The key quesion is: does your business have an Accounts Calendar?
Michael
Related blogs:
Does your business need a Gross Profit Officer?
Getting paid on time – your company is NOT a source of alternative finance!
3 key actions to increase profitable sales
