By Shaun Pegler, client director at Randall & Payne 

What has become apparent to me through having numerous exploratory meetings with prospects is that there are often gaps in the knowledge of what their accountant is currently doing for them or information which is missing that they don't know they need.

It is vital that business owners have the key information that they need to make sound business decisions - and these days this is available at the click of a button with cloud accounting.

Management reporting is becoming a prominent way in which we provide information as more of our own clients migrate to cloud accounting and, as with all the services we provide, we continue to look for ways to improve.

However I have seen first-hand that many businesses are paying for a service from their accountant but not getting the full service without even realising. Could you be in a similar situation? An interesting exercise is to see if you can answer the following questions about your business:

1. Do you have access to Management Information and do you know what it means?
2. Do you know how to use the Management Information to support your strategic decision making?
3. Do you know how your products or services perform and why?
4. Are you using apps to reduce data processing time?
5. Do you know how to free up cash in your business to re-invest and help it grow?

Even before the COVID pandemic we have seen things such as disclosures not being shown in the company accounts and directors not understanding their business fully, but conversations we have had with businesses throughout lockdown have shown many are still not getting any, or the right, Management Information when it is needed now more than ever.

At Randall & Payne we aren't just accountants, we are business advisors and have specialisms in areas such as; Xero (we are Xero Gold partners), R&D tax relief, and corporate finance services (valuations, acquisitions, restructuring, to name a few).

If you can relate to any of these points, it might be time to get a second opinion? I hold hour long advice clinics free-of-charge and am always happy to have a chat to see what you might be missing out on. This offer extends to our existing clients too so we can check you are getting everything you need from us.

Many of our clients would agree that we are more than their accountant - we are an essential part of their business' road to success, which fits with our mission which is 'We make your success our priority'.

Shaun Pegler is a client director and meets with new prospects to discuss their business goals in order to show how we can help them to achieve success.

If you would like to book an hour-long advice clinic free-of-charge please contact clinics@randall-payne.co.uk or 01242 776000.