If you’re a small or medium-sized business (SME) owner looking to prepare your accounts for an accountant, there are a number of things you can do to ensure our experienced accountants here at TaxAgility can work through them faster and you don’t lose out on anything you may be owed.
Before we move on to the main points below, we can’t overstate enough the importance of you keeping good, user-friendly records. If you’re unsure of exactly what this means for your SME, ask your accountant how they would like your records to look when you hand them over to them.
Needless to say, the better you prepare your SME accounts for your accountant, the less time they will need to go through them, and the lower your bill. This starts with keeping good records.
Communication
Good communication is essential when preparing your accounts, as without it both you and your accountant can find yourselves going around in circles.
Though good communication is important throughout your relationship with your accountant, it’s especially necessary should there be any changes in your business which, you believe, may affect our work. Typical changes of this nature include changes in your product or market (what you’re selling, and who you’re selling to), your bookkeeping system/software, your key employees, and your overarching business approach.
Part of the communication process requires us to jointly agree on a timetable for our accounting processes to tale place. This timetable can be flexible, but it’s good to have it arranged in advance.
Keeping Your Books Organised
There’s nothing that will help your accountant work through your accounts faster than ensuring that your books are kept organised and maintained. And this isn’t just a useful practise for your accountant: keeping your books organised makes it easier for you to see the current state of your business, and understand why that is.
There are many ways to keep your books organised depending on your type of business, but in general we always recommend that the SME’s we work with do the following:
- Balance your books on the regular – this allows you to notice any mistakes (and correct them) sooner rather than later,
- File your invoices in a standard order, such as numerical or by date – doing so will make finding a particular invoice much easier,
- Consistently analyse the payments you receive, and the receipts for these payments, so this information is readily on hand.
Maintaining Good Procedures
Ahead of preparing your SME accounts for your accountant it’s good practise to maintain good procedures so you know what’s going on within your business at all times.
One procedure you’ll wish to perform on a regular basis is reconciling your records to ensure they’re accurate, with your bank accounts, control accounts, and statements from your suppliers all requiring a look-over. If your SME holds physical stock it will need to be counted every twelve months. This can be done by yourself or independently, however if you hold a particularly large amount of stock you may wish for us to undertake our own count.
Part of maintaining good procedures ensures that you produce the relevant schedules to assist in the preparation of your accounts. These schedules include a list containing your debtors at year end (how much they owe, the likelihood of it being paid), additions and disposals of your fixed assets, bank and cash balances at year end, and creditors at year end.
We understand that keeping on top your accounts and practising recquires a decent knowledge of the tax implications involved in certain transactions. For that reason, we have a range of online calculators to help you along the way.
Experienced SME Accountants
To speak with a professional accountant to discuss how to prepare your SME’s accounts, with advice unique to your business, contact us today on 020 8780 2349 or get in touch with us via our contact page to arrange a complimentary, no obligation meeting. In the meantime, feel free to take a look at our services page to get a more indepth look at what we have to offer.