Lisa's Story
Fast forward several years, and then this happened!…….and so I needed a
more flexible career that would fit around my family life.
And I decided that I liked living here and wanted to work at home
or as near to home as possible.
And so Liquid Accounts was born, merging my husbands’ expertise
in creating business systems and managing an established business, with our co-director, Jon’s
Chartered Accountancy background and experience of creating bespoke accounting software, and my
experience of not knowing anything about accounting, but being bloody good and communicating!
And together we’ve created the easy-to-understand concept behind Liquid Accounts, and have used
my experiences to create Jam Jar Sisters.
Here are the top 5 things I’ve learnt so far:
• Accounting is easy! – it’s basically just adding up and taking away and we all do it
every day when we’re shopping and paying household bills etc
• But it’s boring! – unless you’re the sort of person who loves columns of figures and
analysing spreadsheets, then it isn’t going to set your world alight!
• And essential! - there’s no shame in asking for help, or using a bookkeeper as long as
you have an overview of what‘s going on. In fact, I use one, and think of it as an essential
overhead! It’s more important for you to have the figures to hand to use in planning and
managing your business, creating budgets and keeping an eye on your cash flow. If you go to the
bank, need a grant, or get some business coaching it’s the first thing they’ll ask for.
• Simple terminology and visuals can help! – if you can’t picture what’s going on it’s
very hard to get enthused about it and make good use of it! This is where the whole idea of Jam
Jar Sisters comes from: it wasn’t until 18 months into Liquid Accounts that I finally put my
hand up and confessed that I didn’t know what a nominal or a nominal code was! After the gasps
and shock and subsided my husband explained to me that it was just a way of sorting your
spending, or sales into different boxes (or jam jars) so that you can look back and say ‘we’re
spending too much on paper clips!’ or ‘we sell most of our products to small companies in
Barnsley’ and then you can act on that information (if you wish!). This very much the same as
how my Grandma used to manage her weekly housekeeping: when my Grandad and Dad came home with
their wages at the end of the week, she’d share out the money between the jam jars lined up on
the mantelpiece to make sure that they had enough for the rent, and the milkman, and the pools
etc, that week, and if there was any left, it meant that my Grandad and Dad could go for a pint!
This is exactly what you need to do with your business finances.
• Choose the right accountant – this is (hopefully) going to be a long-term relationship
and you’ve got to be able to work with them. Plus a pro-active accountant who understands your
business and your industry will be able to save you more than you have to pay out in accountancy
fees..
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