4 Ways To Spring Clean Your Business Finances

4 Ways To Spring Clean Your Business Finances Purple Lime

It’s April, which means lighter evenings, warmer weather and more time to spend outdoors! Traditionally a time for spring cleaning, some of our clients are blowing the cobwebs away and giving their offices a vigorous clean and reset. But at Purple Lime, it’s not the physical spring clean we’re interested in. Instead, we’re looking to do a spring clean of our clients’ finances, going through all that information with a fine-toothed comb, spotting a stray zero here & there and making sure everything is in order. We also suggest improvements where we can for the year ahead. And since we’re doing it, we wanted to share a few tips with you as well, so that you can make the most of your 2019 financial data.

Carry Out A Financial Review

Spring also means the beginning of a new financial year for many businesses, which makes it a great time to take a step back and see where your business stands, what’s coming in, what’s going out, and generally taking a financial inventory. Examine everything with an eagle eye, and you may find ways you can save money, or small issues you hadn’t noticed before. A few things to review might include:

  • Bills – Are you paying them all on time to maintain goodwill with your suppliers?
  • Subscriptions – Are you actually using all the subscriptions you’re paying for?
  • Invoices – Track down all late payers and review any who are serial offenders.
  • Stock – Are you holding old stock you cannot sell or too much stock?
  • Payroll – Make sure your staff records are correct and you have the correct settings on employee tax codes, pension contributions and employer PAYE schemes for the new 2019/20 tax year.
  • VAT – If you’re registered, have you signed up for MTD and got everything ready for online filing?

Organise Your Receipts – go paperless!

Receipts can be a pain to keep track of – especially if you have a mix of digital and physical ones. Make sure you stick to a system of dealing with them. Why not go paperless and use an app such as Receipt Bank, it’s really easy to use This keeps you accountable, helps ensure you’re not spending when you don’t need to, and gives you a firm grasp on your costs. All of which makes a much happier business owner (and accountant)!

Get Ahead With Technology

It might seem unlikely, but there are still a whole lot of businesses out there who are relying on spreadsheets or worse, paper exercise books, to manage their business finances. This is not only inefficient and risky, but it means you won’t be getting the most out of your business financial data.

With a small investment in accounting software – complemented by valuable time-saving apps, small business owners can have control over their finances and their business future. By taking the time to learn the full power of these solutions, you get a much better handle on your business, which can quickly translate into increased profitability.

If you are already using Xero or thinking of switching to Xero we can help.

Make A Date With Yourself

Get your diary out and set yourself a recurring event. Once a month, give yourself a slot to make sure your accounting is up to date and everything is going smoothly. This gives you great visibility into your finances, and helps you catch any issues before they snowball into those big, year-end headaches. It also gives you time to essentially run a mini year-end every month – reconciling the bank accounts, running reports and reviewing your profitability alongside cashflow. This breaks one enormous, daunting task down into 12 small, digestible tasks, and will keep you on track all year round.

At Purple Lime, we believe an accountant isn’t just for year-end. While it’s useful to have an expert to run your year-end accounts by and get them filed, a good accountant can help you stay ahead of your finances throughout the year, and even get you proactively planning them. With a little know-how, you could have access to a wealth of information that could transform your business.

Our range of services can provide you with real-time financial data, reports and advice, putting you in control of your business. We become your finance department, helping you understand the numbers in your business and helping you forecast for the future. To find out more, just get in touch with the team today.