Accounting & Business Solutions
Helping small business enjoy the ambition & success they deserve
Planning for your businesses is not the place to cut corners or save costs. Pretium Solutions can give you expert, tailored advice before you start, helping you to avoid common pitfalls so that your business has the best chance of succeeding.
We’ll help you answer basic but critical questions, such as: Should I be starting this business? What structure should I use? How should the accounting and financial systems be set up? What are the main goals for the business - both financial and non-financial?
The world of small business is a competitive space and it’s natural to want to get moving on your ideas as quickly as possible. But there’s no point starting a business if you don’t know where you want to go with it.
Before you do anything, get some advice, and ask yourself: Why am I going into business? What do I want to achieve? How much profit do I need to make? Have I considered all of the costs of starting a business, purchasing inputs for my product or service, marketing and taxation? How will I fund the start-up of my business?
These days, the internet is full of information on how to be successful. The cloud revolution has also enabled us to set up our financial and other business systems quickly, on the cheap, and often without the aid of professional help.
While free information and speedy tech solutions are appealing, you need to be cautious. Make sure that you are following advice that’s from a trustworthy and experienced source, relevant to your business circumstances, and based on the right data.
You want to avoid common traps like selecting the wrong business structure, or using accounting software that doesn’t suit your business.
Often sales advice focuses on the mechanism of how to sell, or exhorts you to sell more, grow bigger, and always be selling.
But growing sales without growing profit at the same time is a waste of everyone’s time and energy. The only people who benefit are one-off customers chasing sales discounts that are too good to last (because the seller usually goes out of business).
To achieve sales growth for profit, you need to determine how much extra profit you want to make, calculate the volume of sales you need to achieve the extra profit you’re targeting, determine how you’re going to promote your new sales strategy, and implement your plan. And make sure you measure and review it!
Start-up businesses often fail because they are undercapitalised. They grow until the money runs out and then they can’t afford to fund further growth. The banks refuse to lend to them as they have no history and no assets to leverage, and then they die.
It’s an easy trap to fall into. Many people believe that the faster you drive sales and bring in the cash, the more successful the business will be.
But two key components are often overlooked. Finance, and cash flow management. A successful and sustaining business has all of these elements.
Rapid, unplanned growth which is often the result of unplanned growth opportunities, can be fatal to a business. It’s ironic that seizing a major sales contract or a big new client can be your business’s ruin but it’s more common than you think. Often it’s an issue that business operators don’t identify until it is too late.
We help you get set up with a cloud-based accounting system like Xero. Xero integrates real-time, automatic importation of your bank account transactions, so your financial data is up-to-date at all times. There’s only one version – tied to your secure login details – so you can access your accounts from the office, at home, at a work site or anywhere with an internet connection. No more being tied to your desktop!
We also help businesses get set up with and use expense management tools like Dext, the Xero add-on that removes the burden of data entry and does away with piles of paper. No more burying your head in bookkeeping!
We recommend cloud-based tools like Xero and Dext.
Xero is an accounting software developed for small business that runs exclusively in the cloud. What that means is that all of your accounting data is securely stored online, ready to be accessed anytime, anywhere, from any device with an internet connection. One of the most unique features of Xero is that it provides a single platform where small businesses and their advisers can collaborate together online, from their own devices. You can choose who you want to give access to, then have them log in and view the same figures and reports at the same time.
Expenses Management tools like Dext are easy to use add-on applications for Xero that automatically extract key data from your bills, invoices and receipts. They then publish this information directly into Xero (along with a scan of the attached source document). This saves you countless hours of manual data entry, making your invoicing practically
The most important thing is to start building your business on strong foundations. Those foundations are your accounting and financial systems. That way, there is nothing to fix! It takes longer to fix a problem, and is usually costlier, than avoiding it in the first place.
By working with Pretium Solutions, we will help you keep accurate, up-to-date records, so that you can make the best decisions for your business.
An exit strategy is a key element of any business plan. It will help you maximise the value of your business when you sell and reduce the time and complexity of the sale process.
In fact, a well-planned exit doesn’t just set you up for the day you sell up or retire. By designing your business around maximising the exit price, you’re effectively implementing value- and profit-boosting strategies that can start benefitting your business today.
There are a number of important steps when handing over a business to a family member. They include determining the readiness of family members, establishing clear roles and responsibilities, developing a succession plan and time line, and looking at tax and legal implications.
We understand that not all businesses are able to be sold. But you still want to exit your business in the most efficient and tax effective way.
A n exit strategy is a key element of any business plan. It will help you maximise the value of your business and minimise the pain of closing it down.
It’s important to look at your tax and legal implications before you start the process of closing your business.
Business Pain Points We Commonly See
Does this sound like your business?
Get in touch or complete our free
Get in touch or complete our free
Poor Cash Flow Management
Inadequate Record Keeping
Lack of a Long-Term Strategy
Failures to keep up with technology
Ineffective Pricing Strategies
Chartered Accountants and Certified Business Advisers
Pretium Solutions was created for entrepreneurs and small businesses to be able to compete with the seemingly unlimited resources afforded to big enterprises. You will love how in depth we go with our clients. We don’t want quick fixes; we want to help you make lasting achievements that resonate with your mission and values.
We take the philosophies that help multinationals grow by leaps and bounds and apply them to our small business clients. With our business and accounting services, you get incredible value and the ability to hold the wheel with us as we navigate your roadmap to prosperity.
“Our aim is to provide business owners with the knowledge and resources to feel confident and better equipped to accomplish their goals and savour the rewards they have always wanted to enjoy.”
Paul Sweeney, Managing Director
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