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Every year you submit your year end books and records to the accountant. From those records the accountant will prepare the financial accounts for the business and any related tax returns. These may be sent out to you in the post for signing or you may have a year end meeting with the accountant. Then the whole process starts again. Rather than just fast forwarding to the next year, you may want to 'take stock' and cover a few important issues with the accountant, which can benefit you and your business.

Firstly, you might want to ask your accountant whether you are claiming for all the expenses you can possibly claim. This question may trigger a conversation about what other expenses you actually incur, which you thought you could not claim against tax, but in fact the accountant says are allowable. Also discussing this issue will allow you to consider your future planned expenditure and whether it is allowable or not. Indeed, if some of your future planned expenditure is not allowable you may decide that it may not be worthwhile incurring from a profit standpoint.

Secondly, you may want to ask your accountant if there are any improvements you can make to your bookkeeping and records. This input will allow you to make your records better for decision making purposes and give you more control over all the financial aspects of your business. You might also find this topic may be a good platform for you to possibly get a slight fee reduction from your accountant. After all, if your records are better, you could argue that the year end services, which the accountant provides, will be easier to complete.

At the year end, it may be a good opportunity to discuss your future plans for the business. For example, you may want to discuss an exit strategy for the business in terms of selling it or passing the ownership of it to other family members.

Alternatively, you may want to discuss expansion plans for the business. Your accountant will be able to look at any projections you have prepared and give you their opinion, as well as looking at any finance options available to you.

Lastly, when you have your year end chat with your accountant, it would be a good idea to go through any other taxes outside the normal business taxes which may affect you. This may involve looking at your inheritance tax situation or any capital gains tax charges you may be facing. These taxes can sometimes be avoided with a bit of sound upfront planning.

The moral of the story is that you should use your accountant for more than just your year end business accounts and tax returns. Their advice can help you improve your bookkeeping, increase your business expense claims, help you with your business planning and help you to reduce your non- business taxes, amongst many other things.