Practical CFO Ltd

🚀 Looking to accelerate your growth as a SME? Find out our top tips and advice...



https://pcfo.co.uk/post/accelerating-growth-proven-tactics-for-uk-smes-to-supercharge-success/

We are hiring! A great opportunity to join our friendly team...

Job description
Assistant Manager - Finance
Salary: £35,000 - £40,000 D.O.E
Full Time.
Hybrid.
Ideally Crawley, or surrounding areas. Alternatively, willing to travel.

You will be responsible for ensuring that our clients have high quality, compliant financial information. You will be key in ensuring that our client’s financial operations are organised and drama free.

You will be AAT qualified, and part ACCA qualified. You'll probably have 3 or 4 years of experience in accounting, ideally within a practice setting, with a focus on small clients with experience in preparing statutory accounts, tax returns and client management accounts.


Responsibilities

As an Assistant Manager, your daily responsibilities will include:

· Reconciling month end balance sheet items to maintain working papers.
· Preparing month end journals (payroll, revenue recognition, accruals, depreciation).
· Producing monthly management accounts to issue to clients.
· Reviewing general ledger transactions to ensure costs have been coded correctly.
· Answering emails and phone call queries.
· Preparation of statutory accounts and CT600 and VAT returns.


The perfect candidate for this role should hold the following attributes:
· Excellent organisation skills.
· IT literate.
· Thrives under pressure in a fast-paced working environment.
· Strong eye for detail.
· Excellent communication skills.
· Experience with Xero accounting or similar accounts software.
· Practice experience.

😕 M A N A G E M E N T A C C O U N T S 😕 Preparing your management accounts shouldn't be a chore or a bore! There are a few simple things you can do to help with the process that will help you get the most out of them!

🥅 Ensure that you have a clear understanding of the financial goals and objectives of your business. This will help guide your decision-making and ensure that your management accounts align with these goals.

📃 Establish a regular reporting schedule to keep your management accounts up to date. This could be weekly, monthly, or quarterly, depending on the needs of your business. Consistency is key to maintaining accurate financial data.

💻 Utilise accounting software or tools to streamline the process. These tools can help automate calculations and generate reports, saving you time and reducing the risk of errors.

If you still need help, send the Practical CFO team a message and we can offer some advice on how best to get through it...

🏖 CATCHING UP! Last week a few of us travelled down to Hove for a special seaside edition of our team days... it's always good to get together face to face, to discuss ideas, thoughts and to make plans for the rest of the year ahead. 😎

As we LEAP into March, we have an important update!

The Practical CFO team are embarking on a challenge! As a group, we are setting ourselves the target of running, swimming or walking 1000 km between 1st March & 31st May 2024 to raise money for Children with Cancer UK.

PCFO is a predominately remote company, so it’s important we collaborate in whatever way we can – the 1000k challenge seemed like the perfect reason to do something different and worthwhile as a group. Getting outdoors and exercising is also so important for remote working as it improves both our physical and mental health.

Whilst improving our overall health we wanted to try and raise money to help improve other people’s which is why we are raising money for charity.

If you'd like to support us visit our JustGiving Page... https://www.justgiving.com/page/pcfo1k

Keep up to date on our progress via our LinkedIn feed – wish us luck!

We did have an article to publish on the new guidance that classed double-cab pick-ups as cars rather than vans… BUT in a surprise U-turn, HMRC reversed the decision.

A lesson in flexibility and planning for us all… 🤓

The cancelled update was to impact the employment income manual guidance on the treatment of double-cab pickups for income tax purposes in light of the recent Court of Appeal decision in Payne & Ors (Coca-Cola) vs R & C Commrs (2020). Due to be effective from 1 July 2024, it was to enforce a less preferential treatment of double-cab pickups for benefit in kind (BIK) purposes – meaning most vehicles of this type would be classed as a car, not a van.

Farmers and the motoring industry quickly voiced their concerns about the potential negative impacts of the change in tax-treatment, HMRC listened, and the update in guidance has been withdrawn.

HMRC added: “The government has acknowledged that the 2020 court decision and resultant guidance update could have an impact on businesses and individuals in a way that is not consistent with the government’s wider aims to support businesses, including vital motoring and farming industries.

HMRC have today announced that its existing guidance will be withdrawn, meaning that DCPUs will continue to be treated as goods vehicles rather than cars, and businesses and individuals can continue to benefit from its historic tax treatment.”

So, as a business, it’s always worth speaking out. If something feels drastic and unfair, say something! 📢

🤔 Are you thinking about investment? There's lots to consider before you even begin writing an investment deck or approaching investors...

❔ Are we ready?

❔ Do we need or want investment?

❔ Do we understand the process?

Read about the top things we suggest businesses look at before embarking on the investment process...

👋 Happy New Year! With the start of a new year and for the benefit of our new followers we thought it was the perfect time to reintroduce ourselves!

🎉 Congratulations Katie – very well deserved! 🎉 Katie joined Practical CFO back in June 2022 and has been a great addition to the team.

We’re delighted that Katie has moved into this role bringing her experience in helping businesses grow, expertise in finance and an overall great positive attitude 😊 – plus many other things! We’re so pleased to have you on board!

😫 Management Account Prep doesn't need to be a chore... a few simple habits can help make it a much more easy process. Find out what they are over on the PCFO blog! 😌

https://pcfo.co.uk/post/creating-management-accounts/

Best Practices for Management Accounts | Blog | Practical CFO Creating accurate management accounts is an essential part of running a successful business. Management accounts provide the financial data needed for long-term business planning, enabling owners and managers to make informed decisions about their business.

🍂 September is here! 🍂 A great time to refocus and start planning for Q4 and beyond. Why not revisit your strategy and targets to see if you're on track; if you're not make some adjustments to help get you there. Top things to look at:

1. Cashflow - Are you in good shape financially and can you confidently forecast revenue for Q4?

2. KPI's - Are they still a good measure of your success or do they need adjusting? Make sure you're focused on the right numbers!

3. People - How's your team doing? Are they motivated after taking a summer break? Is everyone clear on what needs to be done? Why not book a company meeting to check-in.