Regular support and guidance from an experienced accountant could turn out to be the icing on the cake for those who are working hard in the hospitality sector to build and steer a successful business.
At J Sweeney Accountants we have extensive knowledge of the food, drink and hospitality sector and understand the needs and the pain points of clients following their dream to own a pub or restaurant while ensuring their financial matters are in good order.
For clients in all business sectors we offer an outsourced Finance Director service, taking on the role of the person tasked with managing the financial health of the business on a day-to-day basis while at the same time advising and encouraging a long-term view regarding continued growth.
The service is aimed at firms that need, but are probably not in a position to employ, a Finance Director. Instead, the outsourced role is available at a fraction of the cost but with the same attention to detail. Those services could be for clients who need a plan for growth, who need more robust day-to-day financial advice, who are restructuring or merging, or who just need to get a firmer grip on their finances in what is a challenging economic landscape.
The food and drink sector in particular is a tough business, and the people making a success of it work hard, and usually at unsociable hours. They are passionate about what they do, happy to be following their dream, but the financial and business side of things is often the area that needs support.
It’s a sector that has its own unique pitfalls and cash-flow issues and if you’re not on top of it, things can turn very quickly.
Just a few of the areas an experienced accountant can oversee include:
- Cash flow – the hospitality industry is prone to significant fluctuations in revenue. Christmas, Mother’s Day and Easter are regular high points, while warm summer evenings and England doing well in a football tournament might come along as a bonus. January and February are known to be slow and can be planned for, but a wet and soggy August can make all the difference to people’s desire to go out and spend money.
- Cost control – in a sector that deals with perishables, careful stock planning and buying reduces waste, which in turn reduces costs. Getting the level of staffing right for busy times impacts service levels, while energy costs and other overheads have to be factored in.
- Compliance – tax matters can be complicated if you are employing a number of casual or part-time workers and you’re never sure how many you will need in or when, or when they will need to be paid, there are several ways to manage that simply and efficiently.
- Long-term planning – who hasn’t gone into what used to be a favourite pub, restaurant or hotel and not noticed that it needs a lick of paint or a bit of TLC. Capital expenditure has to be factored in if you want to make sure your customers remain impressed and your venue looks inviting and welcoming.
The fact is, there are many things to think about when you’re running a business in the hospitality sector and you need to know exactly where you stand, financially, at all times.
Our reactive service for hospitality clients provides a weekly report, rather than the more usual monthly update, so that they can see their profit and loss, additional or unexpected costs and identify what went well and what didn’t.
Our services also include meticulous bookkeeping and payroll management (removing one of the most time-consuming and challenging tasks), efficient tax planning so there are no unwelcome surprises, straightforward end-of-year accounts and, as well as providing a weekly report on how your business is performing, we’ll arrange monthly meetings, and we’re always available for a phone call if clients have anything they want to address immediately.
We use all our experience in the sector to help clients plan for this week, next week, next month and the long-term future, so that they know what’s going on and they can feel comfortable planning for the future.
Joseph Skinner
Partner
J Sweeney Accountants
Contact J Sweeney Accountants at info@jsweeneyaccountants.co.uk or visit the website here
