top of page

Admin

A small practice might have a four- o six-page business plan, including the following sections:

​

  • A one-page practice description   

  • Name of director   

  • Skills and experience; any specialist expertise   

  • Type of work   

  • Client base   

  • How work is sourced   

  • Office location   

  • Consultants’ employment by the practice   

  • Approach to it, social media, website, etc.   

  • Other relevant activities are undertaken by the practice   

  • Cv(s) of director   

  • A list of completed contracts, with the value and a short description   

  • Work on listed buildings or in conservation areas   

  • Turnover and profit for the last five years   

  • Workload program for the coming year   

  • A long-term program   

  • Cashflow forecast and profit and loss forecast for the coming year.   

  • A balance sheet.

 

 

Making a profit.

 

Controlling cash in an architectural practice means careful monthly monitoring of your debtors and creditors and the company bank account.

The better the control is, the quicker we can see the red flags and take any action.

If you are working as a sole practitioner you will know and deal with everything yourself, but if you employ staff and delegate parts of the business it is important to have a weekly/monthly meeting to review performance and targets and to agree and take whatever action is necessary. 

​

Reasons why you can run out of cash:   

​

  • You might not be doing enough work.   

  • You might not be spending enough time on productive (fee earning) work.   

  • You fees might be too low   

 

• Your invoices might not be put promptly   

• Your invoices might not have been paid promptly or in full, or at all.   

• Your overheads, including salaries, are too high relative to the income of the practice.

 

Accounts and bookkeeping

​

Choose your account and bookkeeper carefully. Try to find people who understand the scale and needs of your particular business, whom you can rely on meet deadlines, and with whom you will enjoy working - potentially for a long time.

 

Overheads

 

It is important to remember that fee income in any architectural practice will vary from year to year, but most of your overheads (rent, salaries, software licenses, etc) will remain fixed.

​

​​

The typical overheads for a small architectural practice include.   

​

  • Rent (unless you work from home office)   

  • Business rates (unless you work from a home office)   

  • Staff cost, including salaries, pension contributions, NI. 

  • Furniture   

  • Equipment   

  • Hardware   

  • Software and license   

  • Insurance bank charges   

  • Consultants fees   

  • Cleaning and maintenance   

  • Heating and lighting bills   

  • Phone bills   

  • Tax   

  • Travel and mileage   

  • Petty cash   

  1. Postage   

  2. Stationery   

  3. Documents (OS maps, Joint Contracts Tribunal (JCT) or RIBA contracts, RIBA appointment documents, etc).

​

​​Some of the totems will last for long periods of time, such as furniture or computers however this will decay over time and the depreciation will be accounted for in your end-of-year accounts.

​

The other items are revenue expenditure, and these items are allowable as expenses that can be deducted from your gross profit to calculate the next profit on which your company corporation tax will be based.

​

Any petty cash expenditure during each month should be recorded on an expenses sheet, with copies of receipts stapled to the sheet. At the end of each month, you will be paid back for any mirage or out-of-pocket expenses on behalf of the company. These expenses sheets should be achieved.

bottom of page