Do you get your accounts on time?

There are many reasons why receiving your accounts as soon as possible after your accounting period is useful.

Statutory fines
There are very few reasons why a statutory fine for late filing should be incurred in a well run business.

Your accountant should be part of your team and, like other members of staff; you cannot afford to not have a good working relationship. If you feel that your relationship is not as good as it could be then you may wish to think about changing accountants.

I wonder what tax I have to pay
Even if you have your accounting under control, it can still be baffling when you receive your tax bill. Having your accounts or tax return prepared as soon as possible after the year-end will give you the maximum possible planning time for your tax bill.

Understanding how your tax bill is calculated will inform you where the tax has come from and perhaps highlight areas where savings can be made. These can then be discussed further with your accountant.

Can the Company pay a dividend?
This will depend on the results of the Company to date and, to some extent, expectations of the results in the future. Being in a position to have accounts prepared shortly after the year end can enable you to set dividend levels which will be based on real performance figures.

Will my accounts prove my feelings?
It is inevitable that you will have a “feeling” for how the business has performed during the year.

Sometimes however the annual accounts have an uncanny way of showing unexpected results, good and bad. Even if your feelings are borne out by the accounts it is comforting to know that you are close to the key indicators for your business.

Unexpected bad news is bad news! You could have already committed to expenditure, which perhaps you wouldn’t have, if you were in possession of the final facts. Your bank may be concerned if your business is not achieving your own expectations. You may have paid too much tax on account………….all bad news

Unexpected good news is obviously nice but could you have missed out on an investment opportunity? Perhaps if you were aware of the good news earlier, you may have decided to take up an opportunity sooner. The opportunity could have passed if the delay of information is too drawn out.

If you have regular management figures to refer to during the year, these can be an extremely effective way to gauge the performance of your business. Having your accountant involved in the preparation or review of these can give you a useful point for discussion.

I wonder how much the bill will be this year?
Do you live in fear of receiving your next invoice from your accountant? Worse still, are you unsure when this may arrive or how much it may be?

Any invoice is unpleasant if it is unexpected. Cash-flow difficulties can also arise if unexpected payments are needed. Communication of expected fee levels and timing of invoices could help with the planning process.

Any business relationship can suffer if communication breaks down or never existed! Paying your accountant should be no different from buying other services or products. Value for money is key!!

Will I receive more feed back this year?
Your accounts (annual or otherwise) should be a useful opportunity to explore areas of your business that perhaps need addressing. This input should add value to your accounts.

When will I get the draft accounts?
Unless there are particular issues that need time to be addressed, your accounts information shouldn’t be stuck at your accountants for any great length of time.

All businesses need to plan and this includes accountants! Workloads need to be booked and therefore you should be able to obtain an estimated date that your draft accounts should be available. If this is unobtainable for some reason this should be communicated to you with the reasons.