How well do you know your practice finances?
How well do you know your practice finances?
The current economic climate has had a significant impact on GP practices: the implications of high inflation, interest rate rises, increases in the National Living Wage and other business expenses, are all set against the backdrop of a relatively modest increase in the underlying GP contract. So there has never been a more important time for GP practices to have a thorough understanding of their day-to-day business finances and cashflow position.
Although some practices still try to rely on an annual post year-end meeting with their accountants, it is practices that have a means of budgeting and forecasting reliably that can best plan how they continue to make their business sustainable and weather the current economic climate and beyond.
Previous articles have described the numerous benefits of moving to a cloud-based accounting system. These systems provide accurate and real-time reports on the practice finances, enable digital links to a marketplace of applications that can support in the delivery of finance reporting and potentially free-up staff time. This allows your practice manager to have access to the financial information needed when the practice makes business decisions, such as the timing of projects, locum use or staff recruitment and reward.
Regular management reporting provides timely snapshots of the finance position but also allows businesses to make informed decisions throughout the year. There are a variety of management reporting software applications which showcase these figures and trends in graphical and digitised formats. As these are cloud-based applications, you can interact with and ‘drill-down’ into the data, enabling a better understanding of your practice finances. These applications also allow for analysis of 'top spends', budget vs actual comparisons and extrapolation of these figures into estimated future position, allowing your practice manager to monitor progress against planned performance and identify areas where further action is required to achieve budget.
There are also cashflow applications which allow for scenario planning to map out any larger scale projects for the business or, for example, to illustrate the impact of taking on a new GP. Cashflow forecasting options can be built into the management reporting to bring the two elements of financial planning and reporting together to allow you to make well-informed decisions for the sustainability of your practice.
We have seen a growing number of experienced practice managers leaving the profession or taking early retirement due to ever-increasing demands of the role.
These digital applications can help relieve some of those pressures whilst delivering improved financial data for your practice.
Furthermore, adopting cloud-based software facilitates the transition to outsourced bookkeeping, allowing your staff to focus on the day-to running of your practice. Should you choose to outsource your finances, your service provider would use their knowledge of your practice and the sector to tailor solutions to your business activities and suggest improvements to your back-office procedures, using digital tools to streamline processes. While these applications do come at a cost, we would argue that the time-savings and improved awareness of financial performance that they bring are worth the investment.
If you would like assistance to get your practice set up with digital accounting software or would like more detail on the options for management reporting and cashflow forecasting, please get in touch with our team.
Although some practices still try to rely on an annual post year-end meeting with their accountants, it is practices that have a means of budgeting and forecasting reliably that can best plan how they continue to make their business sustainable and weather the current economic climate and beyond.
Previous articles have described the numerous benefits of moving to a cloud-based accounting system. These systems provide accurate and real-time reports on the practice finances, enable digital links to a marketplace of applications that can support in the delivery of finance reporting and potentially free-up staff time. This allows your practice manager to have access to the financial information needed when the practice makes business decisions, such as the timing of projects, locum use or staff recruitment and reward.
Regular management reporting provides timely snapshots of the finance position but also allows businesses to make informed decisions throughout the year. There are a variety of management reporting software applications which showcase these figures and trends in graphical and digitised formats. As these are cloud-based applications, you can interact with and ‘drill-down’ into the data, enabling a better understanding of your practice finances. These applications also allow for analysis of 'top spends', budget vs actual comparisons and extrapolation of these figures into estimated future position, allowing your practice manager to monitor progress against planned performance and identify areas where further action is required to achieve budget.
There are also cashflow applications which allow for scenario planning to map out any larger scale projects for the business or, for example, to illustrate the impact of taking on a new GP. Cashflow forecasting options can be built into the management reporting to bring the two elements of financial planning and reporting together to allow you to make well-informed decisions for the sustainability of your practice.
We have seen a growing number of experienced practice managers leaving the profession or taking early retirement due to ever-increasing demands of the role.
These digital applications can help relieve some of those pressures whilst delivering improved financial data for your practice.
Furthermore, adopting cloud-based software facilitates the transition to outsourced bookkeeping, allowing your staff to focus on the day-to running of your practice. Should you choose to outsource your finances, your service provider would use their knowledge of your practice and the sector to tailor solutions to your business activities and suggest improvements to your back-office procedures, using digital tools to streamline processes. While these applications do come at a cost, we would argue that the time-savings and improved awareness of financial performance that they bring are worth the investment.
If you would like assistance to get your practice set up with digital accounting software or would like more detail on the options for management reporting and cashflow forecasting, please get in touch with our team.