‘O’ is for organisation and organic growth
The building blocks of accountancy
Independent practitioners’ success in their future business relies on smart and robust organisational skills to ensure that exceptional service is maintained, while also ensuring necessary procedures are in place to make sure practices are Covid-safe, says Julia Burn. Organic growth is also needed to rebuild a practice.
is for organisation
and organic growth
Organisation of the practice
One of the main practical ideas for maximising the efficiency of a business in the current environment is to ensure that the practice has excellent organisational skills in place.
You need to make sure enough time is scheduled for consultations while allowing for the additional procedures and cleaning which will undoubtedly need to be in place in relation to the pandemic.
It is important to have an efficient personal assistant (PA) or practice manager to ensure that the day-to-day parts of the practice are running smoothly, managing calendars for both clients and staff.
The consensus across all businesses is that ‘agile working’ is going to become the new norm in society. Agile working allows the workforce to perform part of their duties in the normal office environment, but there is also an element of working from home and an element of people varying their hours of work from the standard 9am-5pm.
For this to work, it is essential that businesses understand how this will affect day-to-day activities. Ensuring that the right people are in the right place at the right time to service clients.
Often in small practices, the PA also gets involved in the accounting function of the business. Where they may be a fantastic PA, they may not be skilled or trained in book-keeping and this could create issues when it comes to year-end accounting. For example, things may be misallocated in the accounts, which may affect how profits or losses are disclosed – and that could affect future planning.
It may be a good time to contact your accountant to discuss how they could assist with day-to-day book-keeping, cash management techniques and potentially help you with preparing forecasts and budgets.
With the Government measures coming to an end this Autumn, and many deferred liabilities being payable in early 2021, cash flow is critical (See ‘Consultants advised to get advice before seeking Chancellor’s new deal’). Many accountants offer outsourced services that cover some of the day-to-day book-keeping tasks; this would enable key staff to focus on other areas of their role .