As we enter the new 2023/24 tax year with a host of changes to the way we do things, are you prepared?

You see, it’s not only changes to tax that we need to be aware of.

The end of the current financial year gives us the opportunity to tie up loose ends with our business finances.

Starting the new financial year fresh with a clean sales ledger will allow you to identify areas where you can improve your cashflow and reduce the amount of time you wait for payment to be made, and get your current overdue invoices paid.

Find out what your business should do as we enter the new financial year to give your company the best possible start and hit the ground running!

What your business should do ahead of the new 2023/24 Tax Year

Ensure your accounts are up to date

Preparation is key.

The first step you should take is ensuring all of your accounts are up to date.

If you’re waiting for outstanding invoices to be paid you need to decide which debts you are writing off and which of these overdue invoices need paid.

Get to work recovering your overdue invoices

Once you’ve decided which of your invoices need recovered quickly, it’s time to get to work!

This is especially true if you use accrual accounting, also known as invoice accounting or standard accounting.

With the accrual accounting method you record revenue, as well as pay VAT, as you raise invoices, before actually receiving payment.

This means if you have overdue invoices that were raised in tax year 2022/23 it’s in your best interest to get these paid before the 2023/24 tax year!

In cases where there is no way of recovering what you are owed, for example when your customer goes insolvent, you can claim bad debt relief. However, you can only write off these debts if you’re sure they will not be recovered from your customer in the future.

Cash accounting is slightly different where you pay VAT and record revenue as you receive payment. This scheme is aimed at smaller businesses with annual turnover of less than £1.35 million, but once businesses join this scheme they can stay on it until their annual turnover exceeds £1.6 million.

Either way, if you have outstanding invoices it is always in your best interest to recover what you’re owed quickly.

If you have outstanding commercial debts you can claim late payment interest, compensation and debt recovery costs on top of your overdue amount!

Find out how much you’re eligible to claim with our free calculator.

Implement robust credit control processes

If you have suffered from the stress of invoices not being paid you should take the time to analyse your current credit control processes to minimise the risk of it happening again.

Auditing your current processes will help you identify areas of improvement that will help mitigate credit risk and ensure you’re paid quicker.

• Are you credit checking a business when they place a new order to see their track record of payment and their credit limit?
• Are you sending payment reminders?
• Are you chasing payments regularly as soon as they are overdue?

Often these processes aren’t followed correctly due to lack of time and resources in small businesses.

We’ve partnered with Know-it, the cloud-based platform that automates the complete credit control process, saving your business time and money!

Running a business is difficult with many spinning plates, but ensuring you are paid for the work you’ve carried out or goods you’ve delivered should be your number one priority.

Here at Darcey Quigley & Co we specialise in helping businesses just like yours with credit control. We work as an extension of your current credit control team and framework to deliver a streamlined credit management process.

Seamlessly connect your sales ledger with our new purpose-built credit control platform and automate your credit control processes, saving you time and money whilst getting your invoices paid quicker and boosting your cashflow!

Schedule a call with our credit control specialists to see how we can assist your business by delivering a bespoke credit management solution.

A helping hand with commercial debt recovery and credit control

For over 15 years we’ve been helping businesses recover commercial debts from all over the world and implementing bespoke credit control processes to ensure companies are paid quickly for the work they carry out.

Why choose Darcey Quigley & Co

• We operate on a no win, no fee basis.
• Cases actioned within 1 hour with 48 hour turnaround.
• 93% success rate recovering overdue invoices.
• Fees starting from just 3%.
• Recover late payment interest and compensation on your behalf with an 89% success rate recovering additional charges.
• UK & International coverage.
• Rated 5 Stars on Trustpilot.