Around 25% of businesses fail before the end of the second year.

Around 50% of busineses fail before the end of year five.

Up to 65% of businesses fail before they reach the end of year 10. The most common reason for this is that the business owner has not managed to keep its finances under control.

Having up to date books can help with this issue in a few ways.

If you need to get finance (a loan or an HP) it usually involves having to give up to date financial information.  Accounts produced by accountants are often out of date as they are only produced once a year.  However if you have a bookkeeper, who is working along side the business each month or week, the figures are always up to date.  It can be relatively straight forward to produce a set of management accounts from your bookkeeping software which will help you to satisfy a lender that you have control of the finances.

Up to date bookkeeping can also help make sure that customers have all paid, that suppliers and creditors have all been paid and that the business is staying on top of everything.

Sending sales invoices promptly and chasing for payment regularly can stop your debts going bad which is only good news for business owners.

It can be easier to spot patterns and trends in the figures for a bookkeeper who works closely with a business.  Having someone on board who can spot trouble before it even happens can be a great way to stop the business becoming a statistic.