Financial impacts of the pandemic – how cloud accounting helps you regain control

Last year, we all adapted to lockdown and the changes in how we practiced. Governments were supportive with guarantees of income and promises of reimbursements of new costs and with full lockdown General Practice continued its work in different ways.

With varying degrees of lockdown, there is currently no nationwide financial support in the GP world. Different countries have adapted in different ways but there feels to be a disconnect between commissioners wanting General Practice to return to full normality whilst practices face staff shortages as self-isolation requirements impact families.

Whilst General Practice has been protected from the wider economic risks in the economy it is not immune. 2020/21 will bring pressures through reduced income and increased costs. These will impact practices differently but as we move into Winter, it's important practices keep a health check on their finances.

Practice income will be under pressure – medical student teaching is only just returning, research work has mainly been halted, minor surgery work is difficult to restart, report fees have reduced, room rentals from private providers has dried up. In isolation, each may seem insignificant but combined they will add up.

On the cost side whilst the PPE crisis of wave 1 will hopefully not repeat itself there are increased cleaning costs, time inefficiencies of cleaning down after seeing patients and increased staff overtime to cover absences.

Practices, therefore, need to be on top of their finances to identify risks and mitigate them where possible and in the worst-case scenario’s drawings may need to be reviewed.

For the last few years, we have been moving increasing numbers of our clients onto XERO, a cloud-based platform. It has many benefits but during the pandemic has allowed us to continue the process of helping practices remain compliant with their financial reporting. It also has reduced considerably the paperwork transfer and allowed us to continue working remotely from the office. Cloud accounting also hopefully helps practices with reduced time benefits of keeping up to date live daily updates from your bank and remote access from us. If you need our help we can step in remotely and relieve the pressure.

Written by Lee Simmonett, Healthcare Client Manager

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Back to Spring 2021 update

Healthcare news - Spring 2021

This collection of articles will cover changes to the 2015 NHS Pension Scheme, the benefits of cloud accounting, HMRC nudge letters for those who have assets overseas, phishing attacks, Medics Money NHS pension masterclass, and final pay controls.