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
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