How are your family’s finances? Do you and your partner discuss things openly? Do you know what your outgoings are, and your total income and how much you have leftover (or how much you’re in deficit) each month? Do you have financial targets and measures in place to judge performance? Do you know what your assets are?

Now think of your place of work. If you work in the finance department ask yourself these same questions. If you don’t, imagine asking them to your company’s Accountant or Head of Finance. Can you imagine them saying no to any of them?

If you find that your family’s finance are a bit out of control, difficult to manage or simply stretched to breaking point you could probably benefit from taking an office based approach, at least for a while to get things back on track.

Firstly, call a meeting to discuss finances. At this meeting you will need all the relevant paperwork, such as bills and statements. Use it as an opportunity to go over outgoings and income and look for savings, but also to discover the needs of each part of your family. People’s financial needs change. As children grow their needs evolve, and certain times of the year are more expensive for parents than others, such as back to school. Similarly, tax systems and prices change and you need to make sure you’ve kept up. For example, what tax allowances are you allowed as a parent? If one of you is a contractor, are you going to be affected by IR35? Do you need ClearSky IR35 accountants to help you minimise the impact? How are you affected by the recent rises in fuel costs?

You need to make sure that you understand each other’s financial stresses and pressures and be working together rather than resenting each other or keeping secrets. Couples need to have independence to make spending decisions but anything which affects the family needs to be spoken about openly. You wouldn’t make a claim on your business expenses in your job without disclosing it fully.

If you are currently battling to pay off debts or to balance your incomings and outgoings, then controlling cash flow is key. Your family’s bottom line is important, so look for areas of overspending and cut them. Another thing you need to do is calculate your assets and look for ways you can make the most of them. Do you really need two cars? What else could you sell? Perhaps you have a lovely garden that could be used by companies for filming and photoshoots? (There are websites and agencies you can sign up to for this form of passive income). Accountants look at all your financial affairs and you need to think in the same way. When you’re busy it can be so easy to not discuss finances, to not think about the outgoings of others as they’re not coming straight out of your pocket and to not plan ahead. But taking a little time to treat your family like a business can help you get a clear vision of the situation and set targets for savings or paying off debts.