“Forecasts may tell you a great deal about the forecaster; they tell you nothing about the future.” – Warren Buffett
- Employ professionally qualified accountants with impeccable and verifiable integrity in positions of responsibility.
- Always align and comply with corporate governance best practice and the standards required by the accountancy profession of its qualified practitioners.
- Have a Finance & Accounting function that organises and manages your organisation’s money.
- Organise and manage financial affairs as simply and straightforwardly as possible; complexity increases costs, confuses, distracts and leads to unexpected surprises.
- Have clear accounting policies, standards and levels of authority; operate an effective overall financial control and reporting environment that meets internal and external statutory requirements.
- Routinely conduct independent internal audits of the financial control environment to ensure compliance with accounting policies, practices, standards and controls; take swift action to deal with areas of mis-alignment or non-conformity.
- Keep on top of foreign exchange issues and take prudent steps to mitigate foreign exchange risks.
- Provide financial analysis as a decision support service to business leaders progressing the organisation’s commercial and business objectives.
- Keep thorough and accessible records as required to meet both regulatory and statutory requirements, and the needs of your business.
- Pay particular attention to cash flow and disputes with clients or suppliers.
- Pay subcontractors and suppliers in accordance with the terms of their contracts when they have validly invoiced for work that is verified as complete.
- Remember – good ethical money management is the lifeblood of a sustainable enterprise.