Most people who start up in business do so because they have a good business proposition, not because they are experts in the financial aspects of running a business.

These aspects can be quite daunting to the entrepreneur and this is where we can help by evaluating your ideas and helping you develop them into a feasible business (rather than relying on what the man down the pub says you should do).

• We can help you decide on the most suitable structure for your business: (ie sole trader, partnership, or limited company),
• Help prepare a business plan,
• Assist with cash flow projections,
• Assist with budgeting & trading forecasts,
• Carry out registration procedures with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) – Self Assessment, PAYE, VAT, , 
• Set up Limited companies (including bespoke set ups that suit your particular needs),
• Help set up accounting systems (including easy to use accounting packages – with help & assistance all the way so they work for you),

Some people say, “I can’t afford an Accountant as its only my first year” – we say “you really can’t afford not to !”.

Get the right set up for you first as last – as it can have a major impact on how much tax you pay (& when !).

These are the most common questions we are asked:

What can I claim against my profits ?

Am I paying too much tax ?

What tax should I be paying ?

National insurance ? – I never knew I had to pay that !

Tax planning and mitigation are things every business should do, as tax will represent a substantial cost to any profitable business – and no one ever wants to pay more than they have to.

We can advise you of the different ways income and expenses are treated, depending on the business structure (sole trader / limited company), and which suits your business needs, 

We can advise you of what you can claim, and the best ways to ensure you record those expenses.

We can help minimise your tax payments, and relieve you of the administration in complying with tax legislation.

We will deal with all business tax tax matters, including preparing and submitting your self assessment / partnership / corporation tax returns, including tax and capital allowance computations.

We can also assist you if HMRC look into your returns and records, as we provide Tax investigation insurance as standard for all clients.

An important part of our compliance services is the preparation of periodic management accounts. Monitoring and controlling the financial performance of your business is vital to its continued success.

We can carry out this function for you, or help you set up internal systems to generate the information.

If you are a limited company, then you are required to prepare accounts that must be filed with Companies House in a statutory format. We can help you by preparing your statutory accounts and filing them at Companies House on your behalf.

Book keeping is an important aspect that all businesses must take care of, but is often overlooked, or left until the last minute as lets face it – no one enjoys doing the books after a hard days work.

We can assist in setting up straight forward accounting procedures and systems, that are easy to use.

These can either be manual, excel based, or simple to use accounting packages that we tailor to suit your needs.

We can also reduce the burden, by taking care of some or all of your book keeping needs, using our in house book keeper.

Besides the core book keeping, we can also help maintain your VAT records, prepare your payroll, and all those nasty HMRC tasks that are sent to test your tenacity.

If you employ someone (this is yourself if you have a limited company), you will need to have to prepare wages, and submit reports online to HMRC.

We can assist you with setting up payroll software.

We also operate a very efficient payroll service which most clients take advantage of as it takes a headache away from them – especially now “Real Time Information” (RTI) reporting to HMRC is mandatory “on or before” you pay someone.

We can prepare payroll either weekly, 4 weekly, monthly, whichever suits your needs, including payslips etc electronically – and the all important RTI online reports.

We can advise on minimum and living wage rates, how and when they apply.

We will also advise you what PAYE & National insurance is due. 

We can also provide a holiday entitlement service, to ensure you comply with paying your staff the correct holiday pay (this is especially useful where employees work varying hours each week).

We can help with payroll legislation, and you have access to our external support helpline for employment and health and safety issues.

Auto enrolment is the latest legislation for small businesses to administer.

As with all new legislation and procedures, there is a lot of aprehension and confusion surrounding it, and pension auto enrolment has been no exception – if anything this will start to rear its head for many businesses either recently, or will do shortly.

We have therefore been investing time and effort getting ready to implement the changes.

We can assist in advising you which employees fit into each of the categories, and how that affects you.

We can also assist with setting up your pension scheme, and the different types of scheme available.

As part of our payroll service, we can also assist in calculating and reporting pension payments.

Depending on the size of your business, you may have to register for VAT automatically if you exceed the threshold, or you can register voluntarily even if you don’t.

Value Added Tax (VAT) is usually reported and paid to HMRC quarterly, with specific dates you must report online and arrange to pay.

We can advise on the pros and cons of registering, together with advising about the fixed rate schemes, or retail schemes available.

We can assist with the registering for VAT, advise on what VAT can / can’t be claimed, and prepare / submit VAT Returns on your behalf.

This could be reviewing your records each quarter, or as part of our in house book keeping service.