The subject of pricing reared its ugly head again recently when my partner and I had a heated discussion about what price to quote for two projects we'd been invited to tender for. I felt my partner was going in too low and that we were undervaluing both the quality of the work and our time. He, however, felt that the quotes I wanted to give were too high and that we would lose out on the jobs. As ever in business we compromised somewhere in the middle, but it did raise the thorny issue of where we should set our pricing.

What you decide to charge for your product or service is one of the most important decisions you will make as a business person. Both too high and too low will cause you potential problems with your sales and cashflow and will affect the growth of your business. This isn't purely about new businesses as it's also important for established businesses to carry out regular reviews of their pricing to help improve their profitability. Plus, of course, new and growing businesses must always be aware of what their competitors are doing in terms of pricing.

You might think it's not all that important to have a good understanding of how much money is being paid out each month in expenses, but this knowledge actually allows businesses to keep their taxes in good order, identify trends and, where needed, put new policies in place.

A study by opinionmatters.co.uk has found that around 20% of small businesses don't know how much they are paying out in expenses, with 40% saying that only their accountant knows the monthly expenses costs. Relying on an accountant only isn't an ideal situation as they don't have as full an understanding of your business as you and it's important for business owners to see what the outgoings in their business are. How else can an efficient business be operated?

Do you agree? Do you know how much is paid out in expenses by your business every month? Let us know.