Reports to show your sales totals month by month can be a good starting point.  How was this summer compared to last summer?  Which month of the year generates the most sales for us?  Is it the same month each year? All these questions can be answered once the bookkeeping is running well and the reports are accessed.

If you know which months are the busiest, you can start to plan around this - extra staff, extra advertising, reducing holidays for employees during the busy times.  Just this one review of the numbers can help you plan and make better choices going forward.

Higher sales doesn't always mean higher profits - which months have more expenses and costs?  Have any of the costs increased since last year and how is this affecting the profits? Running a report to show monthly profits can be helpful in tracking whether the profits are increasing or reducing over time.  Running a report to show the profit and loss for this year compared with last year can help you see whether the end result is likely to be the same by the time you reach the year end.

Up to date bookkeeping means these reports are ready to be viewed DURING the year rather than just at the year end once the accountant has had time to get them processed.  Often by the time the accountant has had time to process the year end, you are already 6 months through the following year - you need up to date figures to steer the ship and this is where bookkeeping is so important.

There are other numbers which a bookkeeper can help you track.  How many hits are you getting on your website?  Do you have unanswered emails building up that need to be replied to?  What is the average amount you receive from each customer?  Who are your top ten regular customers and how can you reward them?  Once you have someone to help you pull information together, they may be able to spot trends in the way you run day to day which are holding back your business success.