Happy New (Financial) Year Everyone!!
Yes, it’s time to start thinking about getting your records together for your bookkeeper or accountant. I know many people put it off (and realistically a lot of the information you need you won’t have yet; P60s, statements of bank interest etc.), but don’t put it off until January like so many do. It doesn’t make the job any easier and you won’t have any time to budget for a large tax bill.
For many of us a new accounting year is starting and it’s time to look at what happened in the last one and make sure it does / doesn’t happen again. You should always be looking at whether things are working or not whether it’s marketing or processes, suppliers who aren’t measuring up or customers who aren’t worth the name because they want it all, at a silly price and then don’t pay up for ages (or at all). Clearly you wouldn’t work with anyone who didn’t pay ever but equally you don’t want to replace them with the exact same sort of hassle and stress generating (insert expletive of your choice).
Even if all your customers are good ones there will be some that are easier to work with and /or more profitable than others and it’s worth taking the time to look for what makes them like that and then identify how you got them. Armed with this knowledge you can go and find more of the same, perhaps even deliberately targeting a niche. The Americans like to say “There are riches in niches”, (it rhymes over there), but it is true.
So have a great weekend, and best wishes in the new financial year.
Paul