09 March 2023
Helping Your Clients With Their Financial Year End Accounting
With important dates coming up in the financial calendar, it is often a busy time for accountants and business advisors who assist clients with their end of financial year accounting procedures, in particular, filing company tax returns and creating financial forecasting. Year-end budgets can be a daunting task for business owners, especially when it comes to the end of the financial year. As an accountant or business advisor, it is your job to help your clients understand and manage their finances in order to set them up for success. Here we will provide a few tips on how you can help your clients with their financial year-end accounting.
Make sure your clients are prepared for financial year end
Getting your clients to sit down and face their year end budgets and business plans can often be the main challenge! Business owners will often find any reason not to look at their year-end accounts as the filing deadline approaches. So it’s important to engage with them early and give them clear timescales and guidance about what information they need to prepare to be best placed to help them.
Showing proactivity and foresight in terms of the tax year can also go a long way when it comes to HMRC milestones – so, sit down one-on-one (or virtually!) with new customers in particular as soon as possible; that extra attention will ensure everyone’s on track!
Explain to your clients that you are here to take the struggle away from them and will prepare financial reports and Year end accounts that accurately reflect the company’s performance over the past year. This includes analysing income and expenses, as well as identifying potential areas of improvement or growth opportunities. This information should then be presented in an organised manner so that your client can easily review and understand it. Software such as Clearview can really help with this as it combines balance sheet, profit and loss and cashflow forecasts into one clear forecast for your client. You should also make sure to include any changes in tax laws or regulations that may have occurred during the past year so that they are aware of any potential implications on their taxes.
Communicate regularly.
As year-end approaches, some of your clients could be feeling anxious or overwhelmed. Though this can make the situation more challenging for you as a professional, it’s important to note that not everyone will respond in the same way – so keep an eye open for who’s gone quiet and might need extra support! Regular communication with clients may feel as though you’re adding to your own workload, but it usually saves you time in the long run.
When you use Clearview for financial forecasting, there’s a shareability function, so you can discuss your clients’ finances and see them get excited about the future!
Tax planning and analysing data
At this point, you should analyse the data and develop a plan for helping your client reduce their overall tax burden as much as possible. This will involve analysing the latest tax laws, taking advantage of available deductions, and making sure that all necessary paperwork is filed correctly by the applicable deadlines. Additionally, you should offer advice on how best to structure payments and investments in order to maximise savings while still complying with all relevant regulations. To delight your customers further you can use Clearview to provide a clear picture of their financial future and discuss plans to help them achieve their goals.
Save time with technology
Technology such as cloud accounting gives business advisors and accountants the unique ability to connect with their clients on a deeper level. With ‘real time’ collaboration, financial data can be accessed instantly without any delays that can arise when manually processing and piecing together information.
Clearview automates the complex, time-consuming tasks of integrated cashflow, p&l and balance sheet forecasting. Our software allows you to build a forecast for each client in minutes, so you can get on with providing advice and helping more businesses.
With Clearview, advisors can give business owners a clear view of how their actions drive the future. Taking a collaborative and visual approach to reporting, Clearview provides stunning integrated reports that show profit & loss statements, cashflow information and balance sheets at just the click of button – helping businesses plan for success no matter what size they are.
Benefit from real time forecasting
Real time forecasting is a massive advantage for both you and your client. It means that collaboration with your clients is more streamlined than ever before. No longer does processing and collating data need to take place over days or weeks: through real-time access to financial information, you can help your clients makes it easy to visualise a business’s financial future and model the impact of different choices. This helps you to give clear and confident advice to your clients, backed up with your expertise and solid numbers. And because we provide “just in time” integrated financial forecasting for accountants, we help you to serve more clients and grow your own business too.
Conclusion:
Helping business owners with their financial year-end accounting is an important job for accountants and business advisors alike—one that requires knowledge of all applicable laws, careful analysis of data, and strategic tax planning if savings are to be maximised effectively. Clearview can ensure that your clients finish off their fiscal year with a clear view of their business—and set them up for even greater success down the road!