14 Nov 2023
We often hear about technology stealing jobs and making certain industries redundant. However, technology can also greatly enhance and improve your organisation, and drive your profits through the roof. By digitising your small business and using automation to streamline processes, you could see a huge increase in profitability. Here’s how to harness the power of technology and boost those margins.
1. Improve Efficiency
As your business grows, it is necessary to streamline processes in order to increase efficiency and save time. Today’s technology, such as business process management software and customer relations management solutions, allow companies to optimize their business procedures. This makes it easier to restructure and automate repetitive processes, cutting down on both man-hours and mistakes.
2. Better Customer Service
Technology allows you to provide excellent, round-the-clock customer service without breaking the bank. You can use chatbots to answer customer queries or outsource chat support, so that you can be there for your customers 24/7. You can also offer your customers omni-channel support which syncs all communication channels together, creating a seamless and more efficient experience.
3. Remote Working
Technology not only allows you to improve your business, but to save money whilst doing so. One significant way to do this is by offering remote working. Research by Forbes found that staff who work remotely save their employers an average of $22,000 per year. On top of this, a study by Stanford found that remote employees are 13% more productive, take fewer sick days and report higher job satisfaction. Therefore, employing technology to encourage remote working can help you get more out of your staff whilst saving significant money.
4. Reduce Costs
Technology also offers small businesses many money-saving benefits beyond remote working. For example, switching your landline to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), which works via your internet connection, can save you significant money over time, as well as encouraging more efficient communication.
You can also use automation to fulfil menial tasks to save man hours and free up staff time to focus on high priority, profit-generating duties. You can automate many different office tasks, including:
- Filtering applicants when hiring
5. Improve productivity
Productivity is directly related to profitability. As discussed, technology can make employees more productive by facilitating remote working. However, there are many other ways you can harness the power of technology to increase productivity. For example, technology can allow you to gamify your office, which helps to motivate employees. You can also use gamification to increase participation and engagement rates in online training and courses.
You can also use collaborative software and tools to encourage organisation and consistency amongst your workforce. This is particularly valuable when employees are working remotely, as it ensures that everyone is on the same page and feels valued and involved.
6. Smarter Marketing
Technology can really enhance your marketing and help you to get more out of your budget. It can help to create personalised marketing campaigns and allow you to split-test your marketing materials to fine-tune your strategy and find out what works best for your business. It’s also possible to use artificial intelligence to gather data on your target audience and thus create more accurate marketing campaigns that speak directly to them.
Summary
Technology can enable you to build a faster, better and more profitable business, driving your costs down whilst increasing output. On top of this, technology can help you increase sales by helping you create more targeted and impactful marketing campaigns. If you’re serious about driving up your profits, it’s time to take advantage of all that modern technology has to offer.
If you’d like to speak to us about how we can support you with your accounting needs, book a free consultation here.
6 Nov 2023
In recent years we saw the most significant leap in business digitalisation. Companies can resolve disruption paralysis with such a move by implementing correct planning strategies.
It’s no doubt that the modern world is rapidly moving towards digital products and services, with only niche markets being able to profit with traditional operating methods.
When companies attempt to implement new technologies in their workflow, they can get stuck in a state of disruption paralysis. In the face of potentially overwhelming changes, an owner who has yet to be properly acquainted with new workflow tools may not be able to move forward.
Resolving disruption paralysis is a steppingstone for any company looking to implement new technology in its daily operations. While long-term solutions are best, even a short-term resolution can show a way forward and set the company on a clear goal to follow.
Tip 1. Acknowledge the Trial-and-Error Approach
Implementing new models into your existing pipeline might be vital to a company’s existence on the market, provided that they line up with the company’s mission statement.
In this regard, businesses must realise that aggressive testing is the only way to ensure they can survive the onslaught of digitalised offers and competitors. Setting up a testing area, where only a part of the pipeline uses the innovation, can help keep errors to a minimum.
Tip 2. Bring in Thinkers!
Traditional businesses will often get the most benefit by hiring new employees with the expertise and experience in emerging technology that’s needed to make the correct choice. Employing this new blood to spearhead the transition to a digitised environment will align their goals with the company’s mission statement, allowing both to evolve with technology.
It’s hard to let go of past experiences, practices, and thinking, so relying on a future generation moulded in modern technology could reinvigorate productivity and inventiveness. They also don’t require as much training to use new methods and interfaces.
Tip 3. Adjust Goals
Companies rarely come away unscathed from a significant rebuilding effort, such as implementing new technologies in their workflow. Adjusting the mission statement to match current trends might be necessary to allow for more freedom in making bolder claims, products, or services for the time to come.
However, the business vision, or the primary goal behind its origin, must not waver with the introduction of emerging technologies. If the vision is not congruous with modernisation, consider adopting different goals to appeal to a niche market and remain profitable in another way.
Tip 4. Allocate Budget
With the threat of disruption paralysis, putting too many resources (monetary and human) into implementing technologies can lead to devastating results if failure ensues. Taking a step back to properly budget for these changes can be vital in keeping the business afloat during the transition.
Companies can’t afford to be conservative with their capital. Not investing enough to improve and compete in a digitised market can be in vain. Worse, it can drive consumers to a bolder competitor.
Moving With the Tides
In a digitised world, refusing to implement new technologies might backfire spectacularly.
An aggressive and decisive approach to improving current workflow will involve several testing phases and an injection of new people more familiar with the technology.
These investments can pay off in the long run, ensuring the business survives with its vision intact and a mission that reflects society’s current trends.
If you’d like to speak to us about how we can support you with your accounting needs, book a free consultation here.
24 May 2023
Bookkeeping might not be the most exciting part of running your small business, but it is an absolutely essential task that undoubtedly plays a big role in your financial success. Bad bookkeeping can lead to a myriad of problems down the line, such as missing out on tax deductions or having to pay unexpected penalties. Meanwhile, great bookkeeping helps you to maintain control and visibility of your finances, plan for the future, and make accurate decisions.
What is Bookkeeping?
Bookkeeping is the process of tracking and recording all your financial transactions and is the foundation for all your accounting tasks. The end goal of any bookkeeping system is to have accurate financial records that you can use to make informed decisions.
Bookkeeping Terms to Know
Accounts Payable
Accounts payable are the amounts of money that you owe to vendors and suppliers. This typically includes things like the bills from the website hosting service or your office supplies provider.
Accounts Receivable
Accounts receivable are the amounts of money that your customers owe you. This includes things like customer invoices, deposits, and payments towards services or products that you provide.
Assets
Assets are the items that your business owns. This includes physical assets such as computers, furniture, or vehicles, as well as intangible assets like intellectual property or software.
Balance Sheet
A balance sheet is a financial statement that summarizes the assets, liabilities, and equity of your business.
Cost of Goods Sold
The cost of goods sold (COGS) are the direct costs associated with producing goods or services, such as materials and labor.
Expenses
Expenses are the costs incurred in order to run your business, such as rent, office supplies, salary, or advertising.
Equity
Equity is the amount of money that your business has earned through profit or reinvestment.
Liabilities
Liabilities are debt that your business has taken on, such as loans, credit card balances, or lease payments.
General Ledger
The general ledger is the main record of your financial transactions, and it serves as a master account book for your business. It includes all accounts for your income, expenses, assets, liabilities, and equity.
Journals
Journals are used to record financial transactions in chronological order. These include cash disbursement journals, accounts payable journals, and accounts receivable journals.
Reconciliation
Reconciliation is the process of making sure that your financial records are accurate and up-to-date. This involves reviewing transactions, statements, and other documents to verify that they match up.
Revenues
Revenues are the income that your business earns from sales, services, or other activities.
Payroll
Payroll is the process of calculating and distributing wages to your employees.
How to Get Your Bookkeeping Right
Now that we’ve established some basic bookkeeping terms that you need to know, let’s turn our attention to the actual process of getting your bookkeeping right. Here are some tips to help you get started.
1. Choose the Right Bookkeeping Software
There are plenty of great cloud software solutions and apps that make bookkeeping easier. Choosing the right one for your business will depend on a few key factors such as budget, features, and ease of use.
2. Set Up a Separate Business Bank Account
If you’re using the same bank account for your business and personal transactions, or two businesses at once, that’s a surefire way to make your bookkeeping far more complicated and frustrating than it needs to be. Setting up a separate bank account for your business will help you to keep everything organized and make tracking expenses much easier.
3. Automate as Much as Possible
Having chosen the right bookkeeping software, it’s important to take full advantage of its features. Look for ways to automate tasks like recurring bill payments, credit card charges, and customer invoices. Automating these processes can save you a lot of time and effort.
4. Stay on Top of Your Records
Bookkeeping is an ongoing process, so it’s important to stay on top of your records. Make sure to update your accounts regularly, reconcile discrepancies in your bank statements, and review any invoices or receipts.
5. Create a Process for Document Management
Accurate bookkeeping requires that you keep up with all of your incoming and outgoing documents. Creating a process for document management will help you stay organized and make filing your taxes easier.
6. Budget for Taxes
One big mistake that many new business owners in particular tend to make is failing to budget for taxes. Set aside some money each month so that when tax season comes, you won’t be caught by surprise.
7. Daily Records
A little-and-often approach to bookkeeping is the best way to ensure that you stay on top of your records. Make sure to keep a daily record of all transactions and reconcile your accounts weekly.
8. Track Expenses Carefully
Having a clear record of all your expenses can help you to identify any potential problems or areas for improvement in the future. Take some time each month to review and categorize all your expenses.
Conclusion
Bookkeeping is an essential part of running any business, and it’s important to stay on top of it by taking the time to understand the basics and setting up a system that works for you. With the right tools and processes in place, bookkeeping can be manageable and empower you to make smarter decisions, creating a stronger and more financially solid business.
Book a free consultation here, to learn more about how our bookkeeping services can support you.
5 Apr 2023
As a small business owner, you may be used to taking the DIY approach. After all, you’re most likely a marketer, financial director, HR manager and payroll administrator, to name but a few of your many responsibilities. However, although your business may be small, there’s one area that really does call for professional help – and that’s filing your tax return. Let’s take a look at four of the main reasons you shouldn’t do your taxes yourself this season.
1. You’re Not a Numbers Person
We’d all like to believe that we’re good at absolutely everything, but the truth is that not everyone is good with numbers. If you don’t have an affinity for mathematics then doing your taxes yourself is probably not the best idea.
Even if you’re competent enough at everyday calculations, taxes are a whole different ball game. Calculating your taxes is a very complex process; there’s a reason that chartered accountants have to spend so many years in training.
A simple mistake on your tax return can cause you to pay the wrong amount of tax and even result in harsh penalties that can seriously threaten your small business. It really isn’t worth the risk.
2. It’s a Waste of Your Time
Taxes are notoriously time-consuming and as a busy business owner, your time is a precious resource that you can ill-afford to waste. After all, the time that you spend doing your taxes is time you can’t spend growing your business. It’s important to sit down and think about how much your time is actually worth before you squander it all trying to figure out your taxes. Think of time in the same way as you think of money, and learn to invest it wisely.
3. Tax Laws Change Constantly
Tax laws change all the time and it can be incredibly difficult to stay on top of all the latest rules and regulations – especially when you already have a business to run. When tax season rolls around, the chances are you won’t know about all of the latest changes which could lead to you making mistakes on your tax return or missing out on new opportunities to save money.
It’s an accountant’s job to keep up to date on any changes and then take advantage of these opportunities to save you money, so that you pocket as much of your income as possible. Remember that a quality accountant will always save you more than their wages.
4. The Internet is Full of Misinformation
In this day and age, the DIY approach to any task usually involves several Google searches. The problem is that although the internet is a wonderful resource, it’s full of incorrect or outdated information. As discussed, tax laws and deductions change all the time, so the article you’re reading may no longer be accurate. Furthermore, tax rules vary hugely from country to country, so you might end up making a mistake because you read advice that doesn’t apply to your business.
Sifting through all of this information and checking for veracity is a hugely time-consuming task, so you’re far better off working with a tax professional who has relevant experience within your specific industry. That way, you can have your questions immediately answered by someone who knows what they’re talking about and won’t have to waste time falling down Google rabbit holes.
Summary
The needs of every business are different, but if the above issues resonate with you then you should consider hiring an InterTax accountant when tax season rolls around. Consider us an investment in the financial health of your business, who will undoubtedly save you a significant amount of time, money and stress in the long run.
Book a free consultation here, to discuss your needs and how we can help you.
