A survey by Intuit suggests that a lot of UK entrepreneurs do not have the financial expertise to enable them to get the best out of their enterprise.
Surprisingly, 20% of entrepreneurs do not have a business plan, 47% are not sure what gross profit means and 31% do not know the correct definition of turnover. VAT regulations also cause a lot of confusion and 40% of small businesses do not know what the current VAT threshold is.
Intuit intends to help small businesses master some of the skills they need to run their enterprise successfully. Next year, the software provider will provide training for more than 1,000 UK small businesses as part of a BIS backed initiative.
Contractors are also struggling to keep on top of their finances because of out-dated accounting methods, according to one accountancy provider.
Brookson says contractors should be more proactive when it comes to dealing with their business finances if they want to optimise their net income and avoid surprise tax bills. The company also wants to see self-employed people managing their finances better rather than leaving all the paperwork until the last minute.
Whilst availing of the services of an accountant is one way to keep your finances under control, there are other options. Cloud accounting packages, such as those offered by E-conomic, Intuit and Sage, will keep track of your income and expenditure; they’re cheap to use, simple to set up and require very little previous accounting knowledge. And the beauty of the cloud is you can access your accounts wherever you are as long as you have an Internet connection.
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