Your Numbers Matter

Now you know I’m an accountant and as you expect I quite like numbers. Give me a good set of accounts or a Profit and Loss and I can pore over it for ages. Now I can hear some of you say – ‘Gloria you need to get out more’!! But the reason I find them fascinating is because of the information it gives me – NOT for the numbers, it’s a means to an end.

Let me explain. When I look at a client’s Profit and Loss I’m looking for what this tells me. Is the gross profit margin higher or lower than the industry standard? Has it increased or decreased since last year? Are they spending too much on wages compared to their turnover? What percentage of turnover do they spend on advertising/marketing? Is this higher or lower than last year? 

Is there anything else significantly different from last year?

Now these questions (and the P&L) won’t actually tell me ‘why’ things are different. But it’s a bit like being a detective, it tells me where I should concentrate my attention. If the client has an electronic bookkeeping system then I can delve deeper to find answers – like what’s the average spend per customer? Has this increased or decreased since last year? Is this a strategic decision by the client or has it just happened by accident?

If you don’t look at the important numbers in your business regularly it could be too late by the time you notice something is wrong. And if you don’t keep your numbers organised then it’s going to be difficult for you to find out the information in the first place.

In this day and age it’s not good enough to keep your financial information on spreadsheets or paper. You’re missing out on a lot of useful information that could really help your business grow and a lot of this is available at the touch of a button if it’s put in the right place.

That’s why we’ve teamed up with Quickbooks Online to offer you a free trial. I’ve used Quickbooks ever since I started my practice nearly 20 years ago and I recommend it because, unlike Sage, it’s really easy to use. 

If you want to give it a try email denise@murrayassoc.co.uk or call Denise on 0141 889 4247. We’ll even throw in a couple of hours of training for you.

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