Get your business financially fit for the future: Guest blog by Andy Mellor of Summit 17

A robust forecast / budget model is the cornerstone of financial planning. It allows you to project future revenues, expenses, profits, and cashflow, helping you make informed decisions. By regularly updating your forecast, you can spot potential financial challenges and opportunities, holding the right people accountable for performance ensures your business stays on track and you have visibility of funding needs well in advance. 

 

Cashflow is the lifeblood of any business, and the biggest cause of owner sleep-loss! You can have a long-term cashflow in your forecast model above, but a short-term weekly cashflow really opens your eyes to the immediate priorities. It will help you predict when cash will come in and go out, allowing you to manage your cash effectively. It’s crucial for avoiding cash shortages and ensuring that you can meet your financial obligations (e.g. debt, tax etc.). Regularly reviewing your cashflow forecast can help you adjust your spending and investment plans. 

 

Growing is painful, don’t let the finance systems make that harder. Using the right systems early will mean they can scale with you and automate as much of your finances as possible.  

Here’s my go-to tech stack for finances: 

• Xero – Don’t bother with other accounting systems. The tech that can integrate with it makes it the most powerful system out there for small to medium-sized businesses. 

• Dext – Automating transaction processing takes the pain out of bills to pay. It also has approvals and expenses built in. 

• Float – That short-term cashflow above visualised, simplified and integrated with Xero. I use this with all my clients. 

• ScaleXP – If you have recurring revenue and/or lots of prepayments and accruals, this is a massive timesaver and adds huge commercial visibility. 

• Scott’s add-ins – This is a relatively new one to me, but pulling data straight from Xero into Excel is a dream! 

 

A capitalisation table (cap table) is a record of your company's ownership structure. It details the equity ownership of shareholders, including founders, investors, and employees. Maintaining an accurate cap table is essential for managing your equity and ensuring that you can make informed decisions about fundraising and ownership dilution. 

 

A commercial calendar helps track important business events that have affected your financials monthly. A very simple table of the month and the financial highlights in 2-3 bullets is all you need. When looking back over monthly financials in a fundraising due diligence exercise, having this info already to hand shows you know your numbers and infinitely speeds up a process. 

 

Maintain a company details log to keep track of important information about your business. This log should include details such as: 

• Companies House details with authentication code and Webfiling login. 

• Company registration number. 

• PAYE Accounts Office & Employer references. 

• Corporation Tax UTR & Tax Office No. 

• VAT registration number and relevant dates (Effective reg date & 1st return date). 

• Government Gateway logins. 

• Pension details & Pension Regulator details. 

 

It goes without saying this should be all locked and password protected. We use a locked OneNote, and it’s shared in the relevant Teams channel. 

 

An accounting calendar helps you keep track of important financial deadlines, such as filing dates for accounts, confirmation statements, VAT & tax returns. By staying on top of these deadlines, you can avoid penalties and ensure that your financial records are accurate and up-to-date. 

 

A well-organised data room is essential for managing your business's financial information. It should contain all relevant documents, such as financial statements, tax returns, and contracts. Having a centralised repository for your financial data makes it easier to access and share information with stakeholders, such as investors and auditors.