Not long ago a business owner got in touch with me. They came to me through one of our existing clients, which is always a good way to meet someone. It means a person trusted us enough to put their own name behind the introduction, and that matters to me.
This business has been going for a good few years. Well established, hard working, the sort of owner who gets up early and gets on with it. But something had been sitting at the back of their mind for a long time. A funny feeling that something in their accounts was not quite right.
Two things nagged at them. The tax bills always felt too big for what the business was actually doing. And the figures their accountant put in front of them never seemed to match what they were seeing on the ground day to day. They knew their own business. They knew roughly what was coming in and what was going out. And the numbers on the page told a different story.
Here is the part I hear all the time. For years they talked themselves out of it. The thinking went something like this: I am paying good money for an accountant, so they must know what they are doing. So they plodded on, year after year, trusting that the person handling their figures had it under control.
The moment the penny dropped
Then their latest set of financial statements landed. This time they sat down and properly looked at it, line by line, instead of filing it away. And that quiet feeling turned into something louder. Something is wrong here. This does not add up.
That is when they asked me to take a look.
I logged into their Xero and my team and I went through the figures in full. We did not skim. We reviewed the numbers properly, the way they should have been reviewed all along. And what we found was not one small slip. It was a run of errors the previous accountant had made, built up over time.
The result of all those errors? This business had overpaid tax by a five-figure sum, towards the higher end of that range. Real money. Money that should have stayed in the business, paying for tools, vans, wages and the odd well earned holiday.
Your figures tell the story of your business
Here is what I want you to take from this.
Your accounts are not just paperwork for the taxman. They are the story of your business. The income you brought in. The money you spent to earn it. The things you own, from the vans to the kit. The money you owe. Put together, those numbers tell the honest story of how your business is really performing.
You know that story better than anyone, because you are living it every single day. So when the figures on the page tell a different story to the one you are living, that gap is worth paying attention to. It is not you being awkward or not understanding accounts. In my eyes, it is often your instinct doing exactly its job.
Consider this. You would not ignore a boiler that kept tripping out for no reason. You would investigate it. Your figures deserve the same. A gut feeling that something is off is a signal, not a nuisance.
What to do if that feeling sounds familiar
If any of this rings a bell, here is what I would gently suggest.
Do not talk yourself out of it. Paying good money for an accountant does not guarantee the work is right, and it certainly does not mean you are not allowed to question it.
Look at your latest accounts properly and ask whether they match the story of your year. Did it feel like a strong year? Does the paper agree? Does the tax bill feel like it belongs to the business you actually ran?
And if the answer is no, get a second pair of eyes on it. Reach out to another accountant, or to someone you trust, and have the figures reviewed. The goal is simple: to make sure you are paying the correct amount of tax, not a penny more and not a penny less.
The business owner I met had that funny feeling for years. When they finally acted on it, it turned out to be worth a great deal to them. I only wish they had trusted it sooner.
If you have a nagging sense that your accounts are not looking after you, or you simply want better support running your business, I would be glad to take a look. A proper review costs you nothing but a conversation, and it might just tell you something your gut has been trying to say for a while.
General information here, not personal advice. Every business is different, so if any of this sounds like yours, I am happy to look at your figures with you.