Business year-end planning

We practice managers constantly juggle the routine demands of our hectic, fun-filled days – including deciphering the latest three-letter acronym that lands on our desks – under ever-increasing pressure and at an ever-increasing rate. Therefore, we need to plan for those other little gems that we somehow need to squeeze into our schedules. One such gem is our practice’s own business year end. This comes around at the same time each year, although often far too quickly!

As we know exactly when our business year end takes place, shouldn’t we treat it with the same level of enthusiasm and strategy as a Christmas Club saver does when it comes to planning for the ‘big day’?

If you’re a highly organised PM, I bet, come your business’s own big day, everything’s in order, albeit not in such a ‘tinselly’ fashion, but importantly without any last-minute requests from your accountants… So, you can sit back with an admiring look at the boxes stacked in your office, all wrapped up neatly for the accountant. Time to break out the sherry!

An all-year-round project

While some of us aren’t quite so organised or smug and we don’t have such a poor choice of tipple, we should all plan for this date to ease the extra workload that includes photocopying, printing, downloading, filing, sorting, boxing and sending to facilitate our accountant’s demands.

Therefore, as each month goes by and we dip into payroll, petty cash, spreadsheets, Open Exeter statements, bank account reconciliations, dispensing monies etc… wouldn’t it be just as easy to print off two copies of any statement, or even to create an ‘End of Year’ folder for electronic versions of any documentation that may be needed?

To help you with this, there’s a new End of year business protocol [PLUS]. In this document, I’ve tried to give pointers by listing all the actions that are needed and what a typical accountant expects from us at our business year end.

Organisation is key, but you know that already as you manage so many things every day; but maybe we can all be a little smarter this next financial year?

Managing other end of year requirements

As we are well aware, there are other year-ends. Firstly, there are the requirements that the NHS stipulates for QOF, Enhanced Services and the Data Security Protection Toolkit, then, of course, there is the HMRC year-end and all that entails!

To help, there we have an End of year planning protocol [PLUS] that details these requirements with cut off dates.

Mat Phillips (Compliance Manager)

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