Large companies have large Accounting teams, Medium sized companies have medium and small sized teams. But what do small companies and businesses have? Usually nothing. More often than not small businesses (I’ll use the term ‘small business’ here because ‘small company and small business’ is a little cumbersome) rely heavily on their external Accountant to provide information on how the business is performing, whether costs are under control and what measures can be implemented if anything needs improvement. These businesses have the need for a Management Accountant on board, however don’t have the necessity of having someone in-house 5 days a week.
The problem here is that the Accountant could be more productively spending their time working on the higher-level, more strategic issues for the business, and leaving the business-level reporting to… Me! Working inside your business on a regular basis, I form part of the team between the Business-Owner and the external Accountant, working closely with both parties as necessary.
Services I typically perform in this capacity include, but are not limited to:
General
– Monthly Management Accounts preparation
– Preparation of journal entries as required by the organisation or external Accountant
– Review of bank reconciliations
– Assistance with financial decisions
– Review of financial operating procedures to ensure maximum value for money from suppliers
– Year-end reconciliation procedures
– Payables reconciliation
– Receivables reconciliation
– Monthly reconciliation of all General Ledger accounts
– Preparation of files for year-end audit
– Monthly reporting on Payables and Receivables
– Pursuing of outstanding accounts
Payroll and Staffing
– Assistance with review of salaries in line with relevant Industrial Agreement and discretionary adjustments
– Assistance with recruitment
– Preparation and review of annual PAYG Payment Summaries
– Monthly reconciliation of payroll items:
– PAYG Withheld
– Wages paid
– Superannuation paid
Budgeting and Forecasting
– Review of prior period budgets
– Review of actual vs budgeted performance
Procedural and Operational
– Review and recommendations to be made on supplier trade terms
– Review and recommendations to be made on organisational invoicing system and trade terms
– Creation and monitoring of KPIs – both financial and non-financial
– Management of fixed asset register
– Ongoing review and recommendations to be made on perceived financial risk areas for the organisation
– Review and recommendations to be made on IT adequacy for Accounting purposes
– Advise management of any issues with respect to asset suitability or improvement