Providing optimised cloud-based bookkeeping and customised analytics to enable you to know and grow your business. Based in Faversham, covering all areas of Kent.
Mail Boxes Etc Canterbury is a busy franchise store that offers a variety of printing, shipping and mailbox services. Payments are received through the till and direct payments to the bank accounts.
Warren, the business owner, did his own bookkeeping and waited until VAT returns were due to process 3 months of transactions in one go. The reconciliation processes weren’t working nor was the paper record keeping effective. Quickfile accounts software was installed by the head office with limited technical support and Warren’s accountant didn’t support it. The combination of these factors made it a very difficult for Warren to keep on top of his business finances.
Warren asked me to take over his bookkeeping last June. When I started I taught myself the accounts software and used my experience to figure out how the reconciliations should work. I re-designed and added processes, created new merchant accounts and introduced checks to get everything working correctly. I still visit the shop fortnightly to do the bookkeeping and keep it all on track. I’ve just sorted out the payroll for a new employee.
As well as bookkeeping I’ve also helped Warren understand his business by using my analytics skills through looking at the contribution of different business lines at a high level and detailed level. This challenged Warren’s assumptions about the profitability of different lines of his business and has led to Warren making a number of changes to his business model. I’ve also used my analysis skills to identify operational issues for example ensuring that till sales balances match the bank account income and to quantify the value of key shipping customers.
I cannot recommend Lucia highly enough, she has saved me time, money and worked miracles with my accounts, all with good humour and a smile.
When I started my business I decided to do the accounts myself, partly to keep costs down. I soon discovered that it was not something I enjoyed and it took up a lot more time than expected. It was also a false economy because it took my accountant a lot more time to make head or tail of my "unique" system and therefore he charged accordingly. Also, I could never tell how well the business was doing, as it's fair to say, the accounts were a mess. Eventually I saw sense and was recommended to contact Lucia.
I am so glad I did. With diligence and limitless patience, Lucia turned my books into a coherent system. I know where my business stands financially and can see where the revenue streams are. The tax man is paid on time and my accountant has stopped losing any more hair. Lucia has also set up forecasting systems and has done analysis into where the biggest profit areas are.
