Well, you need look no further…

Running a business is never easy and to have someone by your side who is on-the-ball, genuinely interested in the success of your business and who can point you in the right financial direction is essential to the success of your venture.

Here are our top 5 reasons why you should be working with equation, the financial experts.

1. Cash flow is king!
Don’t listen to anyone who tells you otherwise. Many great ideas have died a sudden death owing to poor cash management. We try to ensure that more money is coming in than going out, and if profits are not high enough, we can identify how to get your business back on track. After all, we are sufficiently distant from your business to not let anything other than the bottom line affect our judgement and decisions. When your cash flow demands it, we will also be able to advise you on the best methods of attaining small business funding.

2. We can keep you organised.

Being in business creates a mountain of paperwork, and tracking receipts on top of orders, Companies House submissions and those HM Revenue & Customs brown envelopes that just keep popping through the door can be a daunting task.

We can organise and complete much of this paperwork for you, lining up who owes you and who you owe. Keeping up to date with your finances can help you to tell whether you’re following the schedule that you laid out in your business plan. It will tell you how your venture is really doing and whether you have the funds to move your business forward.

3. It’s more than just the balance sheet.
Whist we are not the experts in all areas, we do have more than a passing knowledge of tax codes, rules and regulations, small business funding and many other financial matters that you may not be aware of. We can keep the numbers straight and keep our business owners from accidentally getting into trouble.
We can also identify potential financial stumbling blocks on the horizon and work with you to create a plan to overcome those hurdles. If a business owner wants to expand a product line, but cash flow is such that it won’t allow it, we can work with the owner to make adjustments to meet that goal. Sometimes this means adjusting the business plan; other times it involves seeking additional finances from small business funding sources such as banks, venture capitalists or Angel investors.

4. We can guide you through the trees
The majority of small businesses are one-man (or one-woman) operations, wearing multiple hats and often doing the work of many people. You may sometimes struggle for time to analyse your business performance or be too involved with the project to have an unbiased clarity.
We can offer advice on the condition of your company’s finances and ways to improve profits, and we can identify where decisions may be affecting the profitability of a venture. So rather than just controlling cash flow and crunching numbers, we can take some of the strain off your one-man/woman band.

5. We can present you in the best light
Finally, if you do decide to seek some form of small business finance, we can help you to prepare your business to present it in the best light and so increase your likelihood of attracting the interest of small investors or banks.

Time and time again we see good ideas failing to achieve the small business finances that they need because of poor financial planning and presentation. A good presentation of the figures is essential right from the earliest stages of a business to help you to create and stick to your financial plans, to gain small business funding and to develop your venture into a growing business.

If you’re interested in finding out more about Equation, come to our website at www.equationaccounting.co.uk. We will be able to show you how to present your finances for greatest impact to achieve your dreams.
]]> http://equationaccounting.wordpress.com/2009/06/15/the-top-5-reasons-why-you-need-a-savvy-accountant/feed/ 0 equationaccounting http://equationaccounting.wordpress.com/2009/06/14/top-20-role-models-for-todays-female-entrepreneurs/ http://equationaccounting.wordpress.com/2009/06/14/top-20-role-models-for-todays-female-entrepreneurs/#comments Sun, 14 Jun 2009 12:27:51 +0000 equationaccounting http://equationaccounting.wordpress.com/?p=105 ]]> Celebrities including Victoria Beckham and Katie Price along with supermodel, Elle Macpherson, have featured on a list of the most inspiring celebrity entrepreneurs.

The late Anita Roddick and JK Rowling topped the recent poll, closely followed by Margaret Thatcher, Jacqueline Gold of Ann Summers fame and Martha Lane Fox. The research, by everywoman, asked successful female entrepreneurs about role models and influences for women who want to run their own business.

Over 1,000 business women overseeing an average turnover of £1.3m took part in the survey. The research explores the motivating factors for female entrepreneurs and whilst flexibility, work-life balance and being one’s own boss were all cited, 86% of participants agreed that celebrity entrepreneurs play a positive role in encouraging women to set up businesses.

According to the everywoman research, the top 10 reasons for venturing it alone are:

1. Wanting to be my own boss – 58%

2. To have more flexibility – 57%

3. Achieve a better work-life balance – 46%

4. To give a sense of self worth – 37%

5. To prove I could do it – 36%

6. Lack of job satisfaction – 35%

7. To escape corporate life – 34%

8. Timing was right – 33%

9. Financial security – 23%

10. Make a different to others – 23%

The under 25s were three times more likely to be influenced by celebrity entrepreneurs over traditional role models (38% v 11%) demonstrating that their influence is shaping the next generation of business owners.

It seems the rise of the female celebrity entrepreneur is a welcome phenomenon, playing a vital role in encouraging more women to run their own business.

Whilst 76% of women agreed that celebrity entrepreneurs make the idea of starting out in business more accessible, 70% still believe that there remains a lack of inspiring role models for women in business.

Top 20 Female Entrepreneurial Role Models

1. JK Rowling – author

2. Anita Roddick – founder of The Body Shop

3. Margaret Thatcher – first female Prime Minister

4. Jacqueline Gold – CEO Ann Summers

5. Martha Lane Fox – co-founder of lastminute.com

6. Karren Brady – managing director of Birmingham City Football Club (youngest MD of UK plc)

7. Delia Smith – cook, author, broadcaster,

8. Michelle Mone – founder of Ultimo lingerie

9. Nicola Horlick – founder of Bramdean Asset Management

10. Dame Stella Rimington – first female director of MI5

11. Katie Price (aka Jordan) – model, author and business woman

12. Deborah Meaden – Dragon’s Den panelist and business investor

13. Chrissie Rucker – founder of The White Company

14. Stella McCartney – fashion designer

15. Tamara Mellon – founder of Jimmy Choo shoes

16. Clara Furse – first female CEO, London Stock Exchange

17. Victoria Beckham – performing artist, author and designer

18. Elle Macpherson – model and business woman

19. Kelly Hoppen – interior designer

20. Rebekah Wade – editor of The Sun

Article resoures from Everywoman  http://www.everywoman.com/

Join Everywoman and be inspired!

The everywoman community is about female entrepreneurs helping each other to excel. You can take part in discussions, share your objectives, contribute articles and connect with our members. If you’re not yet a member, join now. It’s easy and it’s free.

The other week, one of our clients paid a cheque to one of their suppliers, which bounced. This was unusual for them and being on holiday, they paid the supplier by BACS.

When it came to doing the bank reconciliation that month, we discovered the returned cheque had gone through the bank a few days later; therefore the client had paid twice. The cheque was for £2714.56.

Now most suppliers would be honest enough to return the money or off-set it against next month’s invoices but do you really want to be giving them that choice?

Another client had over £3500 taken by a rather well known gas / electricity supplier. An estimated read (for which no invoice came through). The money was taken from the account by direct debit. This may go unnoticed by a busy business owner if no invoice was sent, which could severely affect cash flow.

No accounting system has been invented that can prevent errors or fraud, but the reconciliation process of reviewing and checking the bank statement to the accounts reconciliation report each month is one of the best ways of finding errors — both innocent and intentional.

Reconciling the bank is fundamentally important to the security and accuracy of an accounting system. If done regularly, reconciling the bank account is a quick and easy task that reveals more about the state of your accounting system than any other single task performed.

Of course, reconciliations can be done annually, but is much harder later down the line to remember incidences which have occurred earlier during the year.

The best way to keep any accounting system is bang -up-to-date with fail-safes such as reconciliations to prevent financial ‘black-holes’.

Equation have just introduced the Fast-Track system which processes records, analyses and returns records to clients within 7-10 days.

For more information please visit: http://equationaccounting.wordpress.com/2009/06/07/fast-track-service-for-fast-moving-companies/

A service which processes, reports on and returns accounting records to clients within 7-10 days.

We have just introduced the Fast-Track record keeping and business analytics service for customers who want their business accounts bang-up-to-date.

The service processes and turns around the books within 7-10 days  and includes:

• Processing the records on to your preferred accounting system

• Reconciling the bank

• Highlighting any problems

• An analysis graph – a visual chart of how your business is performing.

• A short report on your monthly business performance

• Recommendations about how you can save money and make your business more effective and profitable.

• Bringing the VAT account up to date (so no big surprises at the end of the quarter)

We have found this service is particularly beneficial to clients in the current economic climate whose sales are volatile and cash flow tight. It enables them to be aware of the up-to-the-minute status of their businesses with which they can make fast, informed decisions.

If you feel your business could benefit from this service, please call Stephanie on 01305 769739

Welcome to my WordPress.com blog.  This is my first post and I would like to say a big “Welcome to my world!”.