Contracting or freelancing requires you to wear a lot of hats. Relationship-building, keeping track of your time, marketing your skills and actually doing the work. But one of your priorities should also be establishing how you handle your money and setting the groundwork for good habits.

The UK’s new Prime Minister Andy Burnham has wasted no time making new tax policies since taking office, having announced a tax cut to remove VAT from domestic electricity bills from 1 October. While this measure is primarily targeted at households, some smaller businesses will, importantly, also be eligible for relief.

When you’re operating and managing a small business, you have a finite pot of cash to work with. Because of this, it’s incredibly important to manage your cash well and to have clear budgets and spending limits for every area of your business operations.  Let’s take a look at why budgeting is such a vital part of your financial management, and what you can do to keep your company on budget and in a positive cashflow position.

To be an effective leader or people manager, you need to know when to step back. It’s easy to fall into the trap of micromanaging your team – hovering around the project, dictating every minor detail and constantly checking in to make sure things are on track. Keeping tabs on your staff might seem like a sensible idea, but it’s often a self-defeating approach. Micromanagement can smother innovation, slow down team productivity and actively demotivate your high-performing employees. What’s needed is a more hands-off management style. And this is where Steve Jobs’ 10-80-10 approach to people management can be a valuable alternative.

In today's digital times, you're probably used to having unrivalled access to your financial numbers, key performance indicators (KPIs) and cashflow metrics. Without good bookkeeping, the speed and quality of your reporting can quickly fall down. So, why is fast and accurate bookkeeping so important? And what are the main bookkeeping tasks that your business should be getting right?

Starting a business can be daunting between sales, marketing, and day-to-day financing, plus there is the big question of which business structure to use. The three most common types – a company, a partnership, or a sole trader – have very different cost and administrative burdens, as well as different implications when it comes to legal status and liability.  Find out more about the pros and cons of each below.

Being the boss means you get to make all the big decisions about your business – including how much to pay yourself in wages, salary or drawings. As the owner, you might need to underpay yourself in the early stages of building your business, so you can reinvest the profits. But your time is valuable – and you need enough money to pay the bills. So how can you find the right level of pay? It has to be enough to keep the mortgage paid, while also building a thriving business.

Cashflow is incredibly important for businesses. More cash in the account means more capital to fund day-to-day expenses or buy new equipment. However, many small business owners report difficulties when it comes to the delay between issuing an invoice and actually getting paid. Six ways businesses can encourage clients to pay their invoices quicker

Healthy sales revenue numbers don't always mean your small business is profitable. It's easy to mistake rising sales and income for profitability. But unless you understand your operational costs, profit margins and net profit, you won't truly know whether the business is making long-term, sustainable profit.