Budgeting, Costing & Planning ahead...
Accounting is far from just paying your taxes and staying on the good side of HMRC.
Budgeting, costing, forecasting and planning ahead are key components in any successful business story.
Sales often are not the only factor in profitability if your overheads and tax liabilities are swallowing up the profits.
We also understand that not every business can afford expert staff in house to help them understand their own profitability and create meaningful budgets and forecasts.
We can help you with all of the above. You tell us where you want to be. We will help you to know where you're at, where you're heading and where you could be by making different decisions in your business.
Every business is different, but EVERY business owner wants the same thing - their business to succeed and make money! Our industry accounting experts can help you to analyse the numbers and help you to understand margins, cost controls, budgets and tax planning.
Budgeting
"A plan written down is a million times better than a plan in your head".
Facts.
Setting a budget each financial year is a great way to ensure you have a plan in place for expenditure and goals on sales for the forthcoming year.
There are many methods for budgeting.
It helps to have some historical data to go from and know what your goals are in this area.
A budget will be broken down into your key categories from cost of sales, staff costs, advertising, professional services, rent & utilities, insurance and everything else.
Not only does a budget make it possible to plan for anticipated costs or expensive purchases of assets, they can ensure your income covers any ongoing costs and help you to reach your desired goals.
Without a good budget, businesses can overspend and under-perform which can unfortunately lead to the company's closure.
A good budget in place will also:
Attract Investors as it shows a committed organised business, giving banks more confidence in lending to you.
Paying off debt is a huge benefit if you can factor in repayments to your budget to still leave you with enough for your operations.
Tax planning for VAT and Corporation tax to avoid any shock when the returns fall due.
Making large financial purchases. Whether you're investing in new vehicles, machinery, computer equipment or stocking up, you will find it a lot easier to ensure you can afford it before taking the leap with a well formed budget.
Expanding operations. A budget can really help with growth.
Emergency funding. Plan to put some profit away for the unexpected.
Costing
Do you really know how much your selling price £ or quantity of goods you need to sell based on what you're planning on spending?
Do you know your fixed costs and variable costs?
Are you trying your best to sell your products and services, but baffled by not making as much profit as you had imagined you would?
Is it all just really confusing and frustrating the life and joy out of running a business for you?
Costing will help you to answer all of these questions and help you to see clearer!
Using your costs, expected costs on their way, market trends, tax laws, competition factors and your KPI's (key performance indicators), we can help you to ensure you are charging enough in terms of quantity and price, as well as advise you on your costs to ensure you're making a good margin and therefore, profit.
Forecasting
Like budgeting, forecasting helps you to see where you are going and factoring in what is ahead.
Forecasting is a great process to work on throughout the year and also further ahead to both help with furture budgets and compare against what was originally budgeted.
Forecasts allow you to see that you may be heading in a different direction for any reason that deviates from the budget and take action to make sure you'll still be ok and making a profit.
By using budgeting, monthly management accounts and forecasting for what the end of year or further ahead is actually looking like, you'll be prepared and ready to make the needed decisions for your businesses future success.
At Hi Altitiude, we began in industry so know all the methods needed to keep an eye on your accounts for you and help you to understand why things are up or down and what can be done to improve profitability. We can offer services on adhoc, monthly or quarterly basis, so there will always be guidance on hand for you.
Get in touch with us to see how we can help.