On this episode, Gavin brings to a close what is now Season 1 of The Business Mastermind podcast after more than two years with a solo episode. In this episode, Gavin draws on his background in accountancy and looks at finance and accounting systems in business, specifically how a lot of businesses are doing far too much manual input rather than using the power of cloud accounting which enables quicker, better data, better interpretation and saves man hours.KEY TAKEAWAYSI've found that there's a huge amount of manual inputting around financing; manual inputting of purchase invoices, sales invoices, re-keying and typing stuff in. It surprised my but made me think that you don't know what you don't know.So many business owners manage their business by the amount of cash in the bank, slightly more sophisticated business owners manage their business by profit and loss as well with an accountant, other will manage profit on a monthly or quarterly basis, which is still a couple of months after the month end and the data is then out of date. Even more sophisticated owners have management accounts within two weeks of the month's end and they increase the value of the balance sheet because they're building a business with an exit in mind.Apps like Xero and Quickbooks are much more intuitive to use, save you time and grant you access to an ecosystem of apps and software that provide massive bang for your buck.They also give you visual data on the dashboard so you can see the state of your finances through graphs, charts, etc.There are apps that also ways to manage cashflow and cashflow forecasting including Float and Fluidly which has AI that learns your transactions and help to forecast cashflow which helps you to scenario plan. BEST MOMENTS‘I've used these tools with different clients and have massively saved them cost and time within their business.'‘Xero and Quickbooks are fantastic for businesses turning over sub-£5million.'‘The key thing with tools like these is you're saving a stack of time.'‘Turnover is vanity, profit is sanity.'‘There's an opportunity out there, have a look at it and see how where you can save money, see where you can get better data, see how you can make better decisions so you can put more money on the bottom line.'VALUABLE RESOURCESThe Business Mastermind PodcastTo get 20% off at Knowable, go to www.knowable.fyi and enter the code GAVINGet your copy of Survive And Thrive NOW at https://www.surviveandthrive.cc Keep Your Boat Afloat – https://survivetothrive.biz/keep-afloatgavin@gavinpreston.comABOUT THE HOSTGavin PrestonGavin is an inspirational Speaker, Business Strategist, Business Growth Mentor, Trainer and high-performance Coach.  He works with Business Owners and Entrepreneurs and has a strong track record in creating the creative strategies to accelerate growth of their business. He has helped hundreds of SME business owners and leaders improve their performance and that of their business and a comparable number of executives and employees in blue chip corporates over the last 20 years.Gavin's energetic, insightful and yet down to earth and practical talks, workshops and coaching is in demand with high growth business between £250,000 and £30 million revenue and with multi-national organisations at all levels from Board to frontline Managers. He is an expert in Business Growth Strategies, Peak Performance Mindset, Persuasion & Engagement, Marketing, Productivity, Leadership Development, Team Development & Motivation, Leading Change, Stakeholder Management, Personal Effectiveness and Behavioural Change.CONTACT METHODSWebsite: www.gavinpreston.comLinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/gavinpreston/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/gavinpreston1Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GavinPrestonGrowthStrategies/Twitter: @gavinpreston  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.