Accounting

Every business owner and director should understand key accounting concepts - even if you outsource to the professionals. Our guide to the basics.

Forecasting sales is an essential part of business planning. It's also vital to keep an eye on costs and make cuts where necessary. Our overview.

A good bookkeeping system gives you accurate information to help manage your business. We explain your basic options and what the law requires.

Management accounts give you the information you need to run your business effectively and make informed decisions. Where to start.

If your business runs out of cash to keep trading you could be in big trouble, even if your sales pipeline looks good. Read our overview.

Limited companies need to file statutory annual accounts and provide other information to Companies House by law. Our guide to the basics.

Not every business owner has the skills to do their own accounts - a professional could be worth their weight in gold. How to choose an accountant.

While you can't know exactly what the future holds, budgeting reduces uncertainty and helps you anticipate problems. Here's how to create a budget.

Accountants and lawyers are vital advisers who could save your business a fortune - and rescue you from potential hot water with their expert advice.

Accounting software makes your accounts quicker and easier to process - and you don't need to be a trained accountant. Our guide to choosing software.

Almost every business will experience late payment at some point. This practical checklist will help you recover the money you are owed.

Our helpful checklist will show you the areas to target when you're trying to understand or reduce business costs.

To avoid the risk of late payment - or no payment at all - it's essential to vet the people you offer credit to, and make your terms clear.

Cutting costs is the simplest way to improve your bottom line - but be careful that quality and morale don't suffer. Read our guide to cost control.

Credit control helps you optimise your cash flow and avoid late payment or non-payment. Read our guide to setting up a credit control system.

A helpful checklist on drawing up your business budget, including what to put in it and who to involve in the process.

Understanding the basics of financial management gives you an informed view about the company’s performance, and allows you to play a strategic role.

Our guide to some of the most popular accounting software packages, allowing you to compare features, functionality and prices, all in one place.

Getting paid is crucial for any small business. Whether you invoice, take payments online or in person, make it easy for customers to pay you.

Avoid cash flow problems and encourage your customers to pay on time by charging interest on late payments. Our guide to your rights.

To make good management decisions, you need clear information on how your business is performing. How to identify and monitor key business drivers.

Effective cash flow management is vital so your business has the funding needed to keep trading. Our guide to controlling your cash with confidence.

Read our list of tips for controlling your cash flow, including chasing debts and avoiding the dangers of overtrading.

Being on good terms and having clear policies is vital for working with your suppliers and other creditors. Here's how to manage the relationship.

Every company needs to prepare annual accounts for the tax man. Our guide to the records you need to keep and how to stay organised.

If you've never produced an invoice before, how do you know what to include? Chartered accountant Elaine Clark answers key questions about invoices.

Good accounting software puts you in control of your business, letting you automate regular tasks, prepare forecasts and monitor business performance.

Sound cash flow management is a must, according to credit control expert Martin Bown. He shares his top tips.

Emma Warren of business development services provider Portfolio Directors explains how key performance indicators can help small businesses.

Key performance indicators can help you measure how your business is performing in particular areas, so that you can track and improve this over time.

While you may not be able to influence how much customers spend, you can do is to control your costs and look at variable and fixed costs.

When your business is ticking over nicely, you can keep spending focused on the right areas. Limiting expenditure could keep you in the black.

There are many myths about accounting and taxation, most of them wide of the mark. So what's the reality? Time to dispel these five common myths.

Maintaining your own financial records (doing your books) can seem daunting when you’re new to it. Elaine Clark gives her top five tips.

The old saying 'turnover is vanity, profit sanity and cash reality' remains true. Cash flow really is the blood supply of any business.

Chartered accountant Tim Haggard of Haggards Crowther answers some key questions about finding and choosing an accountant who is right for you.

Sales forecasting is key to cash flow control, but it can be difficult for new businesses, because they don't have any past sales figures to go on.

Bookkeeping need not be complicated if you start off on the right foot. Tim Haggard explains where start-ups often go wrong when doing their books.

The popular image of an accountant is of someone with an encyclopaedic knowledge of tax rules who spends their days tapping figures into a calculator.

Accurate bookkeeping can help you keep your business on track and will make it easier when the time comes to file your tax return.