Painless Financial Management (Good Practice Guide)

Shows that effective financial management begins even before you start in practice and continues through to retirement. This book includes chapters on project reporting, long- and short term planning, credit control, and fee, resource and cash-flow forecasting.

How can you keep up with the relentless costs of running a practice - the monthly payroll, the rent, income tax, VAT and so on - when your fee income is prone to so much unpredictable delay? How do you know if you'll have enough cash to operate in six or twelve months' time? Are you likely to make any profit? And how can you take care of the finances when you've got a building to design?

This book answers all of these and many other questions with straightforward advice and practical solutions based on years of hard-won experience. Written in a friendly, sympathetic style, it will give you the knowledge and tools you need to plan for business success. The comprehensive guidance shows that effective financial management begins even before you start in practice and continues through to retirement. In between, chapters on project reporting, long- and short term planning, credit control, and fee, resource and cash-flow forecasting explain the full range of tried-and-tested techniques. The concluding chapter examines the reasons why architects commonly go out of business, serving as a cautionary checklist of what to look out for.

By acknowledging the unique set of business challenges they face and offering easily-adopted solutions, this welcome book makes essential reading for all senior architects and those thinking of setting up in business.