Year-end accounts tell you what happened, usually months after it did. Management accounts tell you what's happening now: which jobs make money, where the cash is going, and what the next quarter looks like. Monthly or quarterly, with a call each time to talk it through.
Deciding whether to hire, raise prices or take on a bigger contract, and wanting the numbers before the decision.
+ + + +When the year-end accounts are the only profit figure you get, and it's already out of date by the time it arrives.
+ + + +Lenders and investors expect current figures and a forecast, not last year's filed accounts.
+ + + +Monthly or quarterly, depending on how often the decisions come up. Fixed monthly, agreed in writing before any work starts.
CIMA is the management accounting body. Where audit training is about checking what already happened, mine is in using the numbers to run a business: costing, pricing, budgeting and forecasting. Management accounts are the service where that difference shows most.
Management accounts have no legal deadlines, so the rhythm is set around you. Each month or quarter follows the same cycle.
A budget set with you, so every pack after it has something to measure against.
Transactions reconciled and adjustments made, so the figures are final rather than roughly right.
Profit and loss against budget, cashflow forecast, margins and KPIs, kept short enough to read.
What moved, why, and what to do about it. The call is the point of the service.
With the books current all year, the statutory accounts are quicker and hold no surprises.
Anything not here, just ask. We don't charge for questions.
Year-end accounts are a legal requirement, prepared to accounting standards, filed once a year and mostly backward-looking. Management accounts have no set format and no filing deadline. They're built around your business and the decisions in front of you, and they look forward as much as back.
No obligation, no pitch. Just where you are and where you're heading.
CERTIFIED ADVISOR
VETERAN OWNED