The Business Exchange Swindon & Wiltshire Edition 32: Aug/Sept 2017 | Page 37

The Future of Accounting by Ian Lloyd, partner at Milsted Langdon In today’s fast moving world more and more transactions are initiated online or via apps on mobile devices and these are not restricted to traditional business hours. Business owners are looking at solutions which will enable their accounting software t o capture and record these transactions in real time. There are many benefits of this for businesses. Your customers receive timely acknowledgement of orders and communication from you. Perhaps you can set up an automated suggestion of other goods/services they might like. By tracking information in real time you can spot trends; identify what is selling but also what isn’t. You can set a limited number, perhaps 1-4 key measures by which to track your business performance and have these constantly updating in an easy to read dashboard screen on your phone. Today’s financial systems continue a wealth of financial and non-financial data and so you can choose a non-financial measure as a KPI such as customer satisfaction scores, if this is a relevant metric for your business. Tools such as Microsoft Power BI make it possible to distil this trove of data into powerful, yet succinct reports with which to more efficiently manage your business. You can also analyse external data such as website traffic or facebook page interactions in order to build-up an idea of your business’ competitive position. There are also apps available which automate the data entry process meaning that invoices can be scanned and uploaded into your accounting system rather than having to be keyed in. This cuts down on the processing time. Many businesses were looking at cloud accounting as the solution to ensure that they were would be compliant with the proposed introduction of digital tax accounts and quarterly reporting. The latest announcement from HM Treasury is that this is delayed until 2020. Whilst we welcome this softening of the approach with a more realistic timetable, we also remain convinced that businesses who invest in using technology to automate processes and ensure that they have accurate and up-to-date financial information will still benefit from this in terms of the competitive advantage which it will provide. At Milsted Langdon we are working closely with Sage, Xero and Quickbooks to continue to develop their offerings and the applications and additions that enhance these to enable business owners to develop financial systems fit for the digital age. If you would like to learn more about our online accounting and business intelligence services please get in touch. For more info: www.milsted-langdon.co.uk [email protected] 01225 904940 10 Minutes with Bath Racecourse’s Jo Hall Jo Hall is the Executive Director at Bath Racecourse. Under her direction, the racecourse underwent a multimillion pound renovation in 2016 which included the creation of a magnificent new grandstand and complete refurbishment of the hospitality suites. The modernisation of the Racecourse has also provided a range of new facilities including a conference centre, meeting rooms, contemporary bars and restaurants. This investment is attracting new clientele from across the South West and further afield. The Racecourse has been transformed beyond all recognition. Other than overseeing the construction, what were the hardest aspects of managing a project like this? The entire project was a complex one to manage, especially while keeping the venue operational throughout the redevelopment with racedays and events. We also gave ourselves additional challenges by deciding to undertake a full rebrand and website relaunch to coincide with the new facilities. That created a lot of work but was a key part of the strategy in repositioning the racecourse and how we’re perceived. Managing such a large redevelopment project isn’t something you usually have to deal with, but with a great team around me we managed it successfully. How has the local business community reacted to the new look racecourse? We’ve been delighted with the support from the business community, both from companies keen to have their brands associated with the venue by joining us as official partners, and from those using the new facilities to entertain staff and clients or as a venue for non-raceday events like staff training or meetings. The feedback we’ve had from new and existing clients has been overwhelmingly positive. We now offer first-class corporate entertaining facilities and I’m pleased to say we are in high demand. As Bath’s largest purpose-built conference facility we’ve been particularly pleased with how much our conference business has grown this year. You had your first Good Friday racing this year and an almost record crowd in attendance, would you say racing is growing in popularity? We were delighted to welcome our largest crowd in 10 years on Good Friday and as a brand new addition to the fixture list, this was a great result. Racing is the UK’s second most watched spectator sport. Nationally racegoer attendances have been on an incline thanks to the hard work of racecourses to broaden the appeal of the sport through a focus on customer retention and acquisition, with themed days, after racing concerts and investment in new marketing channels. We have aspirations to become the country’s best small racecourse. Having the support of the local community is so important to achieving that vision. We’re now half-way through the first full season with all of our new facilities in operation and our visitor numbers are looking really healthy with some significant year-on-year growth. How important is it for you to have a strong team around you? For a complex business like Bath Racecourse, teamwork is absolutely essential. As well as the day-to-day management of the venue, we have the intensity of race meetings and events, and ongoing relationships with sponsors and customers that need to be managed. Then there’s the operation of the venue, and the management of the racecourse surface itself. It’s such a diverse business and without a strong team around you, who are all experts in their areas, you’d never keep the show on the road. What is your biggest achievement to date? Successfully managing the development and opening of the new facilities was undoubtedly a great achievement and a career highlight. The opening day of the new grandstand is a day that wil l stick long in my memory and I remember sitting on the top floor of the Roof Garden after the event, enjoying drinks with the team and thinking ‘we did it!’ I was personally delighted to have my work recognised when I was awarded the coveted title of Business Person of the Year at the Bath Chronicle Business Awards last September. THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2017 37