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Management Accounts · Reporting

Management Accounts for Brighton Businesses

Management accounts give you the financial information you need to run your business effectively — profit and loss, cash flow, balance sheet, and key performance indicators — presented in a format that's actually useful.

What we produce

  • Monthly or quarterly profit and loss statement
  • Cash flow report and forecast
  • Balance sheet
  • Key performance indicators relevant to your business
  • Variance analysis against budget or prior year
  • Plain English commentary on your results

Know your numbers

Management accounts are particularly valuable if you're applying for finance, monitoring growth, or making significant business decisions. We produce them quickly and clearly.

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Management accounts and statutory accounts are different things

Statutory accounts are filed once a year at Companies House and feed the Corporation Tax return. Management accounts are for you. They have no set format, are not filed anywhere, and arrive monthly or quarterly so you can act while there is still time to change the outcome.

What a monthly pack contains

  • Profit and loss for the month and year to date, against budget and last year.
  • Balance sheet, with debtors, creditors, stock and cash explained.
  • Cash flow report and a 13-week forecast that includes VAT, PAYE and Corporation Tax dates.
  • Three to six KPIs chosen for your business, not a generic list.
  • A page of plain English commentary: what moved, why, and what to do.

Three numbers worth watching, with examples

Gross margin. Sales of £40,000 with £14,000 of direct costs is a gross margin of 65%. If the same month next year shows 58%, that one line tells you pricing or supplier costs have slipped, long before the year-end accounts would.
Cash runway. Cash of £45,000 and monthly spending that exceeds income by £9,000 gives five months. That is the figure a lender or investor will ask about.
Debtor days. Trade debtors of £30,000 on annual sales of £240,000 is about 46 days (£30,000 divided by £240,000, times 365). If your terms are 30 days, the extra 16 days is cash tied up in customers.

What the pack depends on

Management accounts are only as current as the bookkeeping beneath them. If the books are three months behind, the pack is three months late, so we usually set up monthly bookkeeping first or alongside. Lenders, including banks and asset finance providers, often ask for recent management accounts and a forecast alongside your last filed accounts, so a pack that is ready saves weeks when you need finance.

See also our pricing and corporation tax pages.

Sources: GOV.UK: Prepare annual accounts for a private limited company.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between management accounts and statutory accounts?

Statutory accounts are the annual accounts filed at Companies House and used for Corporation Tax. Management accounts are internal, produced monthly or quarterly, and have no set format. They show how the business is performing now, so you can act before the year end.

How often should I produce management accounts?

Monthly suits most businesses with staff, stock or tight cash flow, because problems show up while they can still be fixed. Quarterly is enough for stable, low-volume businesses. Either way, the bookkeeping underneath must be kept up to date.

Do lenders ask for management accounts?

Often, yes. Banks and asset finance providers commonly want recent management accounts and a cash flow forecast alongside your last filed accounts, especially when those accounts are several months old. A monthly pack that is already prepared shortens the process.

What are debtor days?

Debtor days measures how long customers take to pay. Divide trade debtors by annual sales and multiply by 365. Debtors of £30,000 on annual sales of £240,000 is about 46 days, so on 30-day terms roughly two weeks of extra cash is tied up.