I hate the tube, and before anyone says I am not “environmentally friendly” and only using a car to travel around, I do like using the buses (although I have my misgivings about these as well e.g. why do they ‘race’ each other to the next stop, only to stack themselves up to the detriment of waiting passengers??? Gosh!).

Anyway, I had to use the tube recently and once again, it was packed.

As usual, I tried to squeeze my way through to settle in the middle of the carriage where almost always, there is much more space to breathe…

I then observed passengers continuing to cram themselves near the door despite there being more space in the middle!

As sad as I pretend not to be, I drew an analogy to a common scenario with a number of potential clients I visited recently.

Why, oh why, is it so common that companies (or more likely, their accountants!) allow themselves to cram annual accounts and audit work to the last minute?

In most cases, the directors did not think that it is possible to advance the work to within 3 months of the year end; and in most cases, this resulted in a rush as the filing deadline loomed and a nasty shock when the tax liability is formalised.

There are numerous advantages to using the “middle carriage space” if I can continue my analogy – More space to breathe! More comfortable! More relaxed! More “Informed” (by reading the adverts)!

All of our clients are offered quarterly meetings, regular management accounts review, pre-year end planning meeting and completion of annual accounts and audit within 3 months of their year end.

I see this as a real advantage, not least because it provides all the “more” attributes above, but crucially it is sound financial planning…