Financial literacy should be taught as part of growing up, as much as learning to drive a car is. It’s the knowledge that ensures a family is thriving within its financial means, or that keeps an individual financially savvy and secure. When it comes to managing a business, especially a micro-business, financial literacy is as essential as the product/service knowledge within your area of expertise.

There’s that old saying that no one likes to hear: Money won’t solve a money problem. We don’t like to hear it because it means we have to be accountable for the reasons there’s a shortage. Is it an inability to manage money? Is it an inability to earn enough? Understanding how to budget and manage your living expenses is an essential skill. WIthout this knowledge, a university degree or a great job will still not sustain your children as adults.

One of the things we love to do at Accounting Heart is to champion financial confidence and one of the ways we do this is by having quarterly catchups to talk all things numbers…profit & loss, balance sheet, break-even, budgets, cashflow, long term forecasts, tax etc. Sounds like fun, I know ?. In recently preparing for one of these catchups I opened up our client’s Xero file to find a very different set of numbers to what I was expecting, and the colour drained from my face.

I am yet to meet anyone, other than an accountant, who gets excited about tax time. With a fear of a tax bill, a loathing of paperwork and complex web of tax law to navigate it is no wonder most people find it a bit overwhelming, but with our savvy tips tax time will be a breeze!

The super gender gap. The ‘glass ceiling’. No doubt you’ve heard of them – the media often reminds us of the fact women are not earning equal pay for equal work. It’s also a fact that women generally take more time off from full or part-time work to care for children or elderly parents. It all adds up to a financial future that’s anything but certain. As a result, we women need to be super savvy in how we handle our finances.