The most important finance moves you can make to support your business growth
As a female business owner, one of the hats I am less comfortable wearing is Head of Finance. Anyone relate? Building effortless efficiency with my numbers isn’t something that came naturally to me as a small business owner and I must admit that getting on top of my finance systems wasn’t the easiest despite considering myself good at maths! For me, using a proper accounting software (I use Xero) has been game-changing and has made my life and my books a lot easier! I don’t get that sense of dread each month now and I can access my monthly reports easily - not that I check them regularly enough! Eek. It’s on the to-do list to get better at that!!
For obvious reasons, getting on top of your finances is an essential part of running a successful business and so that’s why, in this Expert Advice blog, I am thrilled to welcome Tessa Pollard, the founder of Neon Consulting - the experts in Finance Functions. I met Tessa through the incredible Fiona Minett of Boss Your PR. At the time, Tessa was relatively new to owning her own business, despite a vast experience in the corporate world. After working as as a CFO, Head of Finance and Finance Controller across Europe and the Middle East, Tessa jumped out of her comfort zone and launched her own consultancy and now uses her expertise to help small business owners build resilience in their finance functions.
What I love about Tessa is that she is on a mission to help more business owners get their finances in order by being more efficient with the numbers. She is someone that I have connected with my own network because who wouldn't love to have access to their own finance director!?
Read on for how Tessa is turning the way we think about finance on it’s head….
How to utilise your own powerful finance tool
Every business has its own story, and as we navigate our way through from the initial spark of an idea, to a brand with its own unique values and goals, finance is a participant that will never leave our side.
In the early days, we get to grips with opening a bank account and paying our taxes. Then, as the business grows, we may decide to take on an employee and need a payroll, perhaps we start outsourcing our bookkeeping. Initially we may see finance as an ever growing list of ‘to-dos’, but finance doesn’t begin or end with tax and payroll.
When we have dreams for our business, how do we know if we can afford them? How do we know if they will be profitable? How do we know how to finance them?
What can we do with our own numbers to help them direct us?
I have seen through many years of experience, that when we sculpt our finance processes and systems in a way that works for our business, we gain extraordinary insight into our business’s performance and capabilities - like the costs, margins, and cash flow, the supplier and customer relationships... and so much more.
All allowing us to plan, and forecast, leading our business in a way it can both survive and grow.
So how do we implement this financial strategy?
The first priority is to focus on the daily finance demands. There is no such thing as a perfect finance function, but the aim is make the day-to-day as efficient as possible. When your processes are quick and effortlessly efficient, you will be able to focus your time elsewhere, you can take a step back to look at your numbers, and the added value can begin to emerge.
Here are my top tips for gaining efficiency:
Have ‘clean data’ as your mantra
What do I mean by this? I mean keeping your numbers free from errors. Every time you look at one of your numbers - whether it’s a supplier invoice, a bank balance or an amount due - is it accurate and valid? Is it enabling you to make decisions?
If not, think about why, and how you can avoid this occurring again.
Make the most of live syncing
So many bookkeeping and accounting products now offer seamless connections from other apps, such as your online banking and credit cards. There are plenty of apps available for uploading travel receipts too.
You don’t necessarily need to change the apps you are already using, just find out what’s available and make the most of it. They often don’t take long to set up and you’ll be reaping the benefits very quickly.
Not only will you save time processing (or paying your bookkeeper), but remember what I said about ‘clean data’? Removing the possibility of human error can really help with your ‘clean data’ mantra too.
Build a routine
Take a note of the regular finance tasks you need to do in your business.
Are you completing them as often as you would like? When tasks creep up on us, we can rush them, make mistakes, and it’s not pleasant. The best way to build structure and certainty is to establish a routine. Every great finance function will have a routine in place.
I am a great lover of using days of the week or month as a prompt. For instance, using something like - Monday = statements out to the customers, 15th of the month = send off the payroll.
Look at where you can automate
Now that you have your ‘clean data’ mantra and are starting to build a routine, you are in a fantastic place to put in place some automation! Most accounting products will offer some form of in-built automation that you can utilise.
I always think the best place to start with this is communications:
What finance data do you regularly send/communicate to people outside of your business? – think statements, invoices, payment reminders.
What finance data would be useful to send to people inside your business/yourself? - think reports - maybe a list of invoices due, top 10 debtors, or a weekly profit and loss… the list goes on!
By making even just a few small changes, your efficiencies will gain momentum very quickly. I see this all the time! It feels like one day we are climbing a mountain and then suddenly it all becomes easier, expanding in to more and more time and cost savings.
I strongly believe, that by turning the way you think about finance into an opportunity for discovery, the numbers will not only assist you in providing the answers to your questions - they will talk to you before you have even asked the questions. And as you approach the top of your mountain, what would be the one thing I’d recommend you ask your numbers to tell you? Most definitely - cash flow.
It’s the topic I see new clients regularly having put to the bottom of their list, and yet it provides so much insight on which way to turn next.
Without cash flow we cannot survive, but with cash we can grow our ventures into successful and profitable businesses.
For more advice, look at some of the following links from Tessa:
How to choose your accounting software?
Tessa Pollard, is a Finance Function expert and the founder of Neon Consulting. Her passion is to help businesses achieve their ambitions by creating efficiency and opportunity in their finances, enabling them to survive and grow.
After graduating from the University of Exeter with a degree in Accounting and Finance, she began an invaluable finance practice career across Audit, Accounting, Tax and Outsourced services. She has subsequently worked as the first Financial Controller for Europe, Russia & the Middle East at Vertu; Head of Finance at Caroline Gardner; and as Chief Financial Officer at Covestro, a former part of Bayer Pharmaceuticals.
In 2022, with her belief that everyone should be supported in creating a Finance Function that aligns with their business, Tessa decided to share her knowledge and address the gap, creating Neon Consulting to help small businesses build resilience in their Finance Function.
Instagram: @tessa_neonconsulting