How to get the Management Information you need to grow your business

It is an inescapable fact that the majority of business decisions come down to numbers.

• How much should I quote for this new contract?
• Where am I making the most profit?
• Will it be worth investing in new machinery?
• How can I demonstrate to the bank that they should release funding?
• Where can I cut costs?
• Should I take on more staff?

So how do you get the management information you need? Gemma Pryke from Pryke Business Solutions, explains:

When I say I am a chartered accountant, people assume I prepare business accounts, but I actually specialise in management information. Making sure that the people responsible for running a business have the information that they need when they need it. It is about taking data and turning it into useful information that management can read and understand.

We need to refer to the financial results of our business to inform our strategic decision making. But so often the information is hard to pull together and difficult to make sense of. It is vital that finance information we use to support us in decision making is understandable, relevant, timely and objective.

For small businesses, taking on a Finance Manager full time may be impossible. However, taking on an external expert to pull together this information can be a cost-effective alternative to a full or part-time employee – and can provide the invaluable clarity that will support business growth and free up the business owners time to focus on what they do best.

This person can trawl through the finance system, identify the crucial insights and provide meaningful summaries. This helps to flag the pinch points in financial resources before they happen. Based on your requirements, this person can set up reports and forecasts, which you then run yourself, or they can pull together the report for you on a regular basis.

Every business is different and every management team is different, therefore their information needs are different. Any outsourced or part-time finance manager will need to spend time within the business, understanding the context of the numbers and establishing what the management team want and need from their information.

For more information on Management Information and how it can help your business get in touch with Gemma Pryke at Pryke Business Solutions