Services
Management accounts and forecasting, done properly
Statutory accounts look backwards, once a year. Management accounts tell you, every month or quarter, where the business stands and where the cash is going. This is the work CIMA training is built for.
In short
Management accounts are internal monthly or quarterly reports: profit and loss against budget, a balance sheet, cash flow and the few measures that matter to your business. They are not filed anywhere. Their purpose is better decisions, made earlier.
What you receive
- A profit and loss account for the period and the year to date, against budget and the prior year.
- A balance sheet with debtors, creditors, cash and the director's loan account.
- A cash-flow statement and a rolling 13-week cash forecast.
- Key measures chosen for your business, such as gross margin by service line, debtor days, payroll as a share of revenue and cash runway.
- A one-page commentary in plain English: what moved, why, and what to look at next.
Forecasts, budgets and one-off work
- Annual budgets built with you, then tracked monthly.
- Cash-flow forecasts for a bank, a lender or an investor, with the assumptions written down.
- Pricing and costing: what a job, product or contract really earns once overheads are allocated.
- Remuneration planning for directors, alongside corporation tax planning.
- Decision support: hiring, taking on premises, buying equipment, or taking on a large contract.
Why a management accountant
Chartered management accountants (CIMA) are trained in financial reporting and tax, and also in costing, forecasting, performance measurement and strategy. For an owner-managed business, that means the person preparing your year-end accounts can also tell you what the numbers mean for next year.
Does a small business need them?
Not every business needs monthly reporting. Quarterly management accounts are often enough below around £1 million of turnover. What matters is that the figures arrive quickly enough to act on. A report that lands six weeks after the month end is history, not management information.
Common questions
Questions we are often asked
Internal financial reports, usually monthly or quarterly, showing profit against budget, the balance sheet, cash flow and key measures. Unlike statutory accounts, they are not filed with Companies House or HMRC. They exist to help you run the business.
Quarterly suits many small businesses; monthly suits those with tight cash, seasonal trade, borrowing covenants or rapid growth. The report should arrive within two to three weeks of the period end to be useful.
Yes. We build a monthly forecast of profit, cash and the balance sheet, with the assumptions written down so a lender can test them, and we can help you present it.
Statutory accounts are a legal filing prepared once a year in a prescribed format. Management accounts are prepared as often as you need, in whatever format helps decision-making, and include budgets, forecasts and commentary.
Contact
Bring us last year's accounts and we'll tell you what we'd change.
An initial conversation takes half an hour and costs nothing. If we are not the right practice for you, we will say so.