Welcome
To the blog for small and medium sized business (SME) owners.
What are the characteristics found in well run businesses?
Some key ones are:
1. Management of the business cash flow is priority
2. The business goals are set
3. An up to date business plan that meets the goals is used to measure actual business performance against
4. The business is controlled
5. Actions to correct/re-align actual performance back to the plan are recognised
6. Actions are TAKEN to correct unfavorable situations
7. Never afraid to ask for outside professional help when necessary
Unfortunately many business fail at step 1 in managing the cashflow and business life quickly moves from crisis to crisis.
Learn more visit the website dedicated to SME Business Owners.
The role of the accountant or finance director will vary between industries and the size of company. As a general rule the smaller the organisation the more general will be the virtual finance director’s work; whereas in larger businesses the different aspects of finance work will each be covered by accounting specialists.
The finance specialist in a SME business will therefore take responsibility for different tasks that may include work associated with the management of the business. This variety of work may not be enjoyed by finance staff in large corporations.
Within the small medium business (SME) sector the typical workload of an accountant or virtual FD may include:
1. Preparation and reporting of monthly management accounts and year end results.
2. Identification of variances from plan and recommendation of corrective actions to recover from any shortfall against profit projections
3. Taking responsibility for preparing business plans, annual budgets and cash flow forecasts
4. Maintaining control of accounting systems to ensure timely, accurate and complete processing of financial data in accordance with internal procedures
5. Overseeing the management of the purchase ledger and credit control functions.
6. Ensuring all Balance Sheet accounts are reconciled regularly and take action on any discrepancies identified
7. Implementing on-going control of cash including regular (weekly, monthly) reconciliations of bank accounts
8. Contributing to the maintenance of business wide systems and procedures to ensure good corporate governance is adhered to
9. Filing all statutory returns
10. Training/coaching others within the business and effectively communicating with all stakeholders
