Know your clients' figures beyond tax!
Business Advisory Services Update
Accountants who are offering Business Advisory Services beyond taxation need to know a lot more information on a daily, weekly and monthly basis – beyond what is necessary for the preparation of annual accounts and an income tax return.
You need to set up the systems to ensure that this information is available on a regular basis.
The key numbers are vital for managers to have at their fingertips and, if you are performing a Business Advisory or virtual CFO role, you will need to be aware of the information required by managers and ensure that this information is being prepared accurately and in accordance with managers’ requirements.
This information supplies the manager with “business intelligence”, to help them effectively manage the business unit for which they are responsible.
In a typical business situation the following “figures” will be very important:
- Individual department performance reports – daily – weekly
- Gross profit percentage various product categories and departments
- Average sale price – could be on individual products and departments
- Sales dissection into key product ranges
- Markups achieved on key products
- Waste percentage
- Shrinkage percentage
- Stock turn
- Stock movement percentages compared to targets for “Star products”, “cash cows”, “problem lines”, “disaster products”
- Investment in work in progress
- Debtors days outstanding
- Number of customers – daily – weekly
- Customer postcodes
- Number of new customers – daily – weekly
- Sources of advertising/social media for prospect enquiries
- Number of complaints received
- Number of stock returns
- Accidents
- Team absenteeism
- Team Resignations
- Productivity percentage individual team members
- Team member training hours
- Quotations issued
- Quotations accepted – percentage
- Quotations lost – percentage
- Creditors days outstanding
- Bank balance
- Comparison of bank balance to negotiated limits
- Supplier accounts to be paid
- Major supplier purchases this month compared to previous month
ESS BIZTOOLS presented a webinar recently - Knowing your Client an Inch Wide and a Mile Deep. Click here to watch the recording.
