Finance Focus: financial check-ups

Do you need a financial makeover? You might have systems in place to manage your money but how do you know whether they are working efficiently? There may be alternative solutions that could even save you money.

That's the thinking behind banking giant Barclays' business process review, which is designed to identify efficiency savings, reduce costs and offer improved services to tenants and managed groups alike. It aims to add value to a licensee's business by drawing upon industry knowledge built up by Barclays' licensed trade team, its range of banking services designed specially for the pub industry and its links with third-party providers of financial solutions.

A business process review would look in detail at how the money comes in, how it goes out and what happens to it while you've got it. It might cover cashflow, borrowings and investments, growth plans and reconciliations. Key areas could include:

Receipts​

• Efficient and secure methods of accepting and paying in cash and cheques
• Maximising the benefits of electronic collection methods, for example by direct debit and debit/credit card over the telephone and internet
• Best practice in respect of traditional credit and debit card acceptance, including Chip and PIN requirements and reducing fraud
• Increasing control over unreconciled cash

Payments​

• Reducing the cost of making payments by integrating operating systems
• Maximising the benefits of making payments by BACS
• Secure methods of cheque production
• Reducing the cost of settling low value invoices

Information and reconciliation​

• Automated reconciliation of data to help reduce operational risks
• Maximising benefits of electronic banking

Treasury management​

• Efficient account structures to promote offsetting of debit and credit balances
• Maximising income on surplus credit balances without unacceptable levels of risk.

The reviews are carried out by Barclays' relationship managers leisure team, among them Mike Smith.

"I enjoy providing support to the SME market and in particular to customers in the leisure sector," he says.

"We believe that in a constantly changing sector it is imperative to understand the wider challenges faced by our customers so we can support them by providing innovative banking solutions."

"The business process review is an important part of our approach to any business operating in any sector," adds Geoff Newton, who heads the bank's licensed trade team.

"We have built up a great deal of knowledge of the pub sector over the last 10 years and this enables us to identify some solutions and efficiencies to help them run their business more effectively, often at a cheaper price."