Beyond the year-end accounts: what should your accountant be helping you with?

When did you last speak to your accountant about where your business is going?

Perhaps you have regular conversations. Or perhaps most contact happens when a return is due, a document is missing or a set of accounts needs approving.

There is real value in getting those essentials right. But if your business is changing, you may need a relationship that gives you more opportunities to discuss decisions while you can still influence their outcome.

The right support depends on your goals, your team and the services you agree. It starts with being clear about what would actually help you.

Understanding what the figures mean

A report can tell you sales have increased. The more useful conversation is about what that increase means.

Are you earning more from the additional work? Are delivery costs rising faster than prices? Is one profitable area supporting another that absorbs time without contributing enough?

Ask your accountant to help you identify the few measures that matter most to your business. Depending on how you work, those might include margins by service, staff utilisation, recurring income or the time customers take to pay.

You should be able to explain why you are tracking each measure and what you would change if it moves in the wrong direction.

Planning before you commit

Business owners often make decisions quickly. An attractive property becomes available, a good candidate appears or a customer asks for a different payment arrangement.

Involving your accountant before signing can give you time to explore the financial consequences. What will the commitment cost over its full term? How will it affect cash? Which assumptions need testing?

The conversation doesn’t need to turn every decision into a lengthy project. Agree which types of commitment warrant a call, so you know when to bring your adviser in.

That is especially valuable when several individually manageable decisions could create a much larger combined cost.

Keeping tax and cash in view

It is easier to prepare for financial commitments when they appear in your plans early enough.

Discuss how tax estimates will be updated, what information your accountant needs and how you will allow for expected payments in your cash planning. Ask what changes in the business should prompt a review rather than waiting until the year has ended.

This is also a chance to distinguish an estimate from a final liability. Knowing what is provisional helps you understand how much confidence to place in the figure and when it will be revisited.

Improving the way information reaches you

Useful advice depends on useful records.

If purchase invoices are missing, transactions are unreconciled or project costs are recorded inconsistently, even an attractive dashboard can give an incomplete picture.

Your accounting relationship should include a clear understanding of who supplies information, who checks it and when reports will be available. Where responsibilities are split between your team and an external provider, the handovers deserve particular attention.

A practical improvement might be as simple as a consistent document-submission process or a clearer distinction between different types of sales. Start with the issue that most often delays or weakens the information you need.

Connecting the business to your own goals

Success can mean different things at different stages.

You might want to increase personal income, reduce your hours, bring a family member into the business or prepare for an eventual exit. Those ambitions can lead to different financial priorities.

Tell your accountant what you are working towards. A plan built around rapid expansion may be a poor fit if your real aim is a steadier business and more time with your family.

The numbers become more useful when they are connected to a destination you care about.

Agreeing the support you actually need

Extra support should be clearly scoped. Annual compliance work, regular management reporting and help with a significant transaction can involve different responsibilities and fees.

Agree the frequency of meetings, what reports you will receive, who your main contact will be and what falls outside the arrangement. That protects both sides from assuming a service is included when it hasn’t been discussed.

Acconomy’s published services include accounting and financial management support alongside its Virtual Finance Department offering. The starting point is understanding which level of help suits your business now.

If you would like a more useful conversation around your numbers, speak to Nigel and the Acconomy team about what you want to achieve and where you need support.

Related reading: A finance department without the full-time overhead: what could it do for your business?