There’s one hard truth that we’ve all learned over the past financial year…we can’t plan for everything.
This is true across the entire economic spectrum, from policy makers in Whitehall, to individual taxpayers their decision impact, from directors of PLCs in boardrooms, to sole traders and startups, everyone has been faced with a huge unknown…and more importantly, the huge decision of how to react to that unknown.
So, to plan for everything is unrealistic, and to even try would end in inevitable failure, though to plan for nothing is almost certainly a route to the same destination.
But planning isn’t easy, that’s another hard truth! It requires commitment, time out of the business, and perhaps most importantly, a thorough understanding of the numbers.
And this leads to us to the focal point of the article…the role of your accountant in planning, what you should expect of them, and perhaps most importantly of all, are they adding value?
Just to be clear, a good accountant can take charge of your bookkeeping, submit your tax returns, VAT, and accounts if required, and that’s all hugely important and legally required…but what’s the value? These “compliance” tasks, in our view, should be a “given”, a standard service to keep on the right side of Companies House and HMRC, they shouldn’t be the focal point of discussions with accountants, they should just “happen” in the background and give you peace of mind.
Compliance isn’t value, it’s the bare minimum; and maybe that’s all the input you want from your accountant. But the real value add only starts after this, an “alliance” with a trusted advisor, a business partner to help understand and interpret the numbers, someone to help, support your business and ultimately help you plan.
In the corporate world, the direction of travel for Finance Directors has been to embed their teams in the operations, acting as business partners to the heart of the business, translating financial data into information to help plan for the future, being the right-hand person to the directors, whilst behind the scenes transaction centres deal with compliance requirements.
We believe this philosophy works for any business and indeed is absolutely crucial to ensure sustained success and growth, and we have 20 plus years of expertise in this area across many industries, which sets us apart from other professional service companies.
Do you plan, have budgets, targets and regular information to understand the performance of your business, be it good or bad? Do you manage cash flow, understand your cost base and plan for tax efficiency? We believe you should, and we are on hand to support you. From offering a full Finance director service to specific advice and support, we can help make business simple.
Value added services are core our business and charterhouse have a highly qualified team to support you. Whether you are an existing client and would like further support, a potential new client requiring input or would just like to know more about our services, we would welcome the opportunity to speak with you.
In the first instance, please get in touch and one of the team will be in touch to arrange an appointment.
