On counting things...

Accountants like to count stuff and I'm no exception. Sales, costs, profits, tax, debtors, bank balances etc have all been thoroughly counted over the last few years. I've been very good at counting things that accountants like to count but not so good at counting other things that can be equally useful to keep an eye on.

A little while ago I read a book called 'Better' by Atul Gawande. An interesting read about improving standards in the medical profession. Here's my summary of Better

The author closes by giving some tips on some things to do to get better in your own area of work. One of his tips was 'count things'. He didn't say what you should count. He just said, have a go. Pick a few things you think it might be useful to count and start doing it.

So I did. As well as my usual accountancy things I started counting how many tax returns we filed in a month, how many VAT returns, how many payslips we processed, how many meetings with new prospects we had, how many clients we signed up, how many clients we lost (not many thankfully) and so on.

Well I admit I'm a numbers nerd but I have found this very enlightening. Instead of relying on my gut feel for operational and marketing measures I now have some hard facts. Over time we have built up a trend and year on year comparisons. So I can see growth and areas that need some attention.

I think counting these non financial things has helped me to manage the business more effectively. If you are already doing this, that's great. If not, I can recommend it. Pick a few things to start counting now and see how it goes. Let me know if it works for you - I would be interested in your feedback

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