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A Friday job. Fifteen minutes, one spreadsheet.Thirteen columns, one for each week between now and early January. Top ro...
15/10/2026

A Friday job. Fifteen minutes, one spreadsheet.

Thirteen columns, one for each week between now and early January. Top row: what's in the bank today. Then money in, entered on the date each customer normally pays. Be honest here. If they always take 45 days, an invoice that says 30 changes nothing.

Underneath, money out: wages, rent, suppliers, loan repayments. Then the ones that ambush people: the VAT quarter, PAYE, the insurance renewal, the Christmas bonus promised back in June.

The bottom row is the closing balance for each week. Scan along it. Somewhere there's a dip, usually where payroll and VAT collide. Found in October, that week can be fixed by moving one payment date or chasing two invoices. Found on the day, it can't.

Take a joiner who finishes a £12,000 kitchen on 30 September and invoices that afternoon.September's profit report looks...
13/10/2026

Take a joiner who finishes a £12,000 kitchen on 30 September and invoices that afternoon.

September's profit report looks great. The sale is in there, all £12,000 of it.
The bank tells a different story. The timber was paid for in August. Two lots of wages went out in September. The customer is on 30-day terms, so the money lands at the end of October if they're prompt and mid November if they aren't.
For about six weeks that business is profitable and short of cash at once. Put four jobs on the go and it's easy to see how a good year ends in the overdraft.

Neither report is wrong. One measures what was earned, the other what has arrived. Someone needs to be watching both.

Curious how wide the gap is in your business? Book a call with us today!

A quick sum for a Wednesday.Add up what the business must pay every month to stay open: wages, rent, loan repayments, th...
08/10/2026

A quick sum for a Wednesday.
Add up what the business must pay every month to stay open: wages, rent, loan repayments, the suppliers you can't trade without. Say it comes to £16,000. Divide by four: £4,000 a week.
Now look at the cash you could get at today. If that's £10,000, the business could run for two and a half weeks with nothing coming in.
That's your runway. Whether two and a half weeks is fine or frightening depends on the business. A firm with forty customers on monthly direct debits can live with less cover than one waiting on three big invoices. The direction matters more. A runway that has shrunk from six weeks to two and a half over a year is telling you something the profit figure won't.
Most owners I ask have never done this sum. It takes five minutes.
If you'd like a second pair of eyes on yours, book a call.

Two invoices. Same customer, same amount.One says "Payment terms: 30 days". The other says "Due Friday 13 November" with...
06/10/2026

Two invoices. Same customer, same amount.
One says "Payment terms: 30 days". The other says "Due Friday 13 November" with the bank details directly underneath.
The second gets paid first, nearly every time. An accounts clerk working through a pile pays whatever has a date on it.
Most late payment comes down to small frictions like that, and they're cheap to remove:
• Send the invoice the day the job finishes. Every day spent waiting for month end is a day added to the wait
• Agree terms in writing before starting, so the invoice isn't the first mention of money
• Give one person a fixed half hour each week for anything overdue. Tuesdays at 10 works
• Let the software send the first reminder. Nobody takes an automated nudge personally

If chasing is the job nobody in your business wants, book a call with us today.

"If I made all that, where is it?"I get asked this every autumn, usually by someone who has just had their best year and...
01/10/2026

"If I made all that, where is it?"

I get asked this every autumn, usually by someone who has just had their best year and still checks the balance before paying a supplier.

The accounts aren't wrong. Neither is the bank. They measure different things, and the gap between them has about five hiding places.

This month's blog goes through all five, then shows the 13-week forecast I set up for clients so the gap stops being a surprise: Profitable on Paper, Skint in the Bank: A Small Business Guide to Cash Flow - https://www.bsbaccounting.co.uk/news-blog/profitable-on-paper-skint-in-the-bank-a-small-business-guide-to-cash-flow/

Read it, then put your bank balance next to your last profit figure. If the two don't look like they belong to the same business, book a call with us.

Good bookkeeping isn’t tidy admin. It’s decision-grade information, on time.In a growing business, that means: • Bank re...
30/09/2026

Good bookkeeping isn’t tidy admin. It’s decision-grade information, on time.
In a growing business, that means:
• Bank reconciled weekly
• Clear coding rules for repeat spend
• Month-end close happens on a date, not “when we get time” If your numbers arrive late, you manage on instinct.
That gets expensive at 5+ staff. If you want your books to become usable (and less painful), book a call with us today.

VAT problems usually come from “almost right” processes repeated for months. Three preventables: • Not reconciling VAT m...
28/09/2026

VAT problems usually come from “almost right” processes repeated for months.

Three preventables:
• Not reconciling VAT monthly (even if you file quarterly)
• Inconsistent treatment for unusual items
• “We’ll fix it later” balances sitting in holding accounts You don’t need complexity. You need consistency and ownership. If you want me to review your VAT process and flag the obvious risk points, book a call with us today.

Forecasting doesn’t need a monster spreadsheet. It needs a few inputs you trust. A practical 8-week view is usually enou...
18/09/2026

Forecasting doesn’t need a monster spreadsheet. It needs a few inputs you trust.

A practical 8-week view is usually enough:
• Cash in by expected payment date (not hope)
• Fixed commitments (payroll, key suppliers, tax/VAT)
• Known one-offs (annual renewals, equipment, hires)

When you can see pinch points early, you can act early. Want me to build a simple forecast you’ll actually use? Book a call with us today!

Cash control isn’t a quarterly exercise. It’s a weekly habit. A simple weekly discipline: • Bank reconciled • Debtors re...
16/09/2026

Cash control isn’t a quarterly exercise. It’s a weekly habit.

A simple weekly discipline:
• Bank reconciled
• Debtors reviewed with next actions assigned
• Supplier payments checked against the week’s cash position

Do this weekly and month-end gets easier, forecasts get simpler, and surprises reduce.

If you want a weekly finance routine your team can run without you chasing, book a call with us today.

The ads make it sound like AI will run your finance function end-to-end. It won’t. Not if you want accuracy, control, an...
14/09/2026

The ads make it sound like AI will run your finance function end-to-end. It won’t.

Not if you want accuracy, control, and decision-grade reporting. I’ve just published a new blog: AI Can’t Do Everything: Why Your Finance Still Needs a Human in the Loop. Inside, I cover what AI is great at (speeding up repetitive work) and where a human still matters: setting rules, spotting exceptions, and turning numbers into decisions.

If you want us to look at your current setup and tell you where AI helps and where it’s currently creating risk, book call with us today.

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3 Annexe, The Wheelhouse Bonds Mill
Stonehouse
GL10

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 7pm
Tuesday 10am - 7pm
Wednesday 10am - 7pm
Thursday 10am - 7pm
Friday 10am - 7pm

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