Financial control

The manner in which your finances are organised is of utmost importance if your company is to grow and prosper.

You will need to maintain a sound system of internal control to safeguard the company's assets and the shareholder's investment and to undertake reviews of these controls on a regular basis.

Establish formal and transparent arrangements as to how financial reporting and control principles should be applied. Get to know your auditors. While their role is to check that the annual accounts give a true and fair picture of the company's current standing, it should be remembered that a wealth of information can be gathered through the audit process which can be invaluable to your company and provide an essential bedrock to major business planning.

Financial control in its widest form covers everything that protects the assets of the company. It includes working capital, cash flow, competent IT systems and the provision of adequate insurance over fixed assets.

Safeguard yourself against risk by undergoing regular risk assessment, examining all systems, functions and activities - both financial and non-financial - within the company, so that the relevant risk factors, and the potential impact they might have, can be identified and assessed.

Undergo a Computer Assurance Review to gain independent assessment of the adequacy of your Information Systems so that you can mitigate or eliminate the weaknesses which render the system insecure. You should also instigate regular application reviews to assess whether the controls within a specific application --for example a Stock Control System -- are adequate to ensure the completeness, accuracy and authorisation of input, processing, storage and output of the application.

Grant Thornton can help you ensure that your financial controls are correct for your business both now and in the future so that at any given time you know exactly the financial state of your business.