How to gain the most from your accounting records

The team at Thain Wildbur can help businesses in the Norfolk area to get the most from their accounting records...

How to reduce the time taken in accounts preparation

File your invoices and correspondence in order
Record and analyse all your cash, credit card and bank transactions
Sub-total each page of your cash book and day books, providing totals at the end of each month
Reconcile your payment analysis book with your bank and credit card statements
Reconcile PAYE, NIC, and VAT account balances with amounts due to HM Revenue & Customs
List and total your year end creditors
List and total your year end debtors
List your fixed asset additions and disposals made during the year
List and total your year end stock and work in progress
Keep backups of your computer records
Reconcile your principal control accounts including sales, purchases and bank accounts

Are your records accurate and reliable?

Ensure that:

All income is recorded and banked promptly
All recorded expenses are authorised and valid
All recorded debts are recoverable
All your liabilities are identified and recorded when they are incurred

Do your records give you adequate information for taking management decisions?

You should know:

The return you are obtaining from your investment in the business
Whether you will be able to meet your liabilities as and when they are due
The extent to which you could attract or increase outside finance
Your fast and slow moving stock lines
The levels of gross profit from your product lines
The extent to which additional working capital will be required to finance an expansion in trade

Could your accounting systems be improved?

Does the structure of your business minimise our accounting work? It may be more effective and cheaper to structure an expanding business as a company with branches or divisions rather than as a group of separate companies.