Tag Archives: Accounting

Proactive Positive Laziness – Part two

Posted on January 26, 2011 by Adrian Fowles

Pareto is your friend Pareto was a wonderful guy.  He left us with that wonderful 80/20 rule that seems to apply to just about everything.  A few examples: 20% of your customers provide 80% of your income. 80% of your … Continue reading →

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HMV and Credit Insurance

Posted on January 19, 2011 by Adrian Fowles

On January 6th, in my post about HMV, I commented that the issue for SMEs will be what happens if or when the insurers pull cover: When a big retailer sneezes it is the suppliers that catch the flu.  The … Continue reading →

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Proactive Positive Laziness

Posted on January 12, 2011 by Adrian Fowles

Some years ago I was contracted to an international FMCG.  There had been a change of management and the new team was not sure of the financial status of the business. I’d been called in to drive the year end … Continue reading →

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Mothercare and Clinton Cards in delusional weather warning

Posted on January 9, 2011 by Adrian Fowles

Two more profit warnings have hit the press – This time it is Clinton Cards and Mothercare The Telegraph article opens by saying that shares in Clinton Cards and Mothercare fell sharply on Thursday after they became the latest retailers … Continue reading →

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HMV – three years ago

Posted on January 6, 2011 by Adrian Fowles

As a postscript to my blog entry this morning, I thought I’d mention that just under three years ago there was a blog post about HMV on the Interactive Investor site : Is HMV in the ‘buggy whip’ business? A … Continue reading →

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VAT is now 20% – How will it pan out?

Posted on January 4, 2011 by Adrian Fowles

Following on from my last post, VAT is now 20%, but how is this actually going to impact on our spending patterns? In my last post I discussed what would happen to the all-important price points.  Now the BBC has … Continue reading →

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VAT Increase – Time to focus on the V = Value

Posted on December 28, 2010 by Adrian Fowles

There cannot be many business owners and managers in the UK who are not spending the time between Christmas and New Year thinking about the possible affects of the impending VAT increase.  I’ve been reading what a few other blogs … Continue reading →

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What is your kidnap fund?

Posted on December 23, 2010 by Adrian Fowles

The thing about Entrepreneurs is that they are often the opposite of Accountants. I’ve never come across an Entrepreneur who said “I’ve got this great idea, but I need to optimise the working capital cycle before going ahead”.  They just … Continue reading →

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How do you make a profit but still go bust?

Posted on December 22, 2010 by Adrian Fowles

So, why do businesses go bust because they have run out of cash even though they are making a profit?  The answer is in the Working Capital Cycle. This concept describes the time taken between the business handing money over … Continue reading →

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Turnover is vanity, profit is sanity, and cash is reality

Posted on December 21, 2010 by Adrian Fowles

You’ve probably heard that phrase before.  Well, I’m here to tell you that it is fatally flawed. It is easy to boost turnover – Just do a few deals with a few customers willing to snap up a discount.  Salespeople … Continue reading →

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