HOW WE CAN HELP

We can assist you with all the day to day procedures required of you by Companies House, HM Revenue and Customs and for your own needs to ensure that this work is kept up to date and provides useful information. Our team of experienced and professional staff would work with you to design procedures which put the least burden on yourself to achieve this.

We would work with you to design procedures that are bespoke to you so that they suit the way you work.

We can help with:

• Accounts preparation
• Bookkeeping (including manual, computerised and online)
• Training in bookkeeping
• Payroll processing
• Tax Returns
• Company Secretarial Services

Our experienced and friendly staff will enjoy working with you to support your business. This can include taking as much, or as little, as you would like to ease the administrative burden of a modern business including:

Payroll

Running a payroll can be time consuming and complicated. With the advent of real time information reporting requirements it is essential now, more than ever that payroll is processed accurately and in good time. Failure to do can leave you exposed to penalties and interest. We offer cost-effective solutions which includes a complete service including provision of pay-slips, submitting the relevant reports to HM Revenue and Customs and keeping you updated with legislative changes.

Auto Enrollment

We can assist with auto enrollment. This will include helping you to set up the pension fund for your employees and providing you with all the letters and communications you need to send to your employees. Once the scheme is up and running we will be able to process the relevant deductions, deal with your chosen pension provider to pass them any information required and assist you in maintaining your compliance with the complicated rules and employee reviews that are needed.

Bookkeeping

We can help you with all your general bookkeeping requirements including training and assistance with whatever system you wish to use. This can be at your workplace, at our office or in the cloud. We have facilities to remote access your data (always with your permission first) so that we can work together with you on the same information in real time. You may require help to write up books or need us to add the finishing touches to information we are happy to do as much or as little as you would like. Our services are flexible and do not require any ongoing commitment from you so you are free to change and adapt the way you use our services to suit you.

Business planning and forecasts

We can help you prepare detailed planning and forecasting in any way that suits you, or indeed as may be required by your lenders. A business plan if put together in a sensible way can be a valuable tool in monitoring your business. We can help develop this and identify key performance indicators that will assist you to monitor the business in a quick and effective manner.

Your professional and personal goals are central to our consulting services; we take the time to get to know you better so we can offer the best advice.

Management consultancy

Our management consultancy service can review your credit control, stock control, budgeting and financial reporting systems and allow you to take full control of these key areas of your business. We can also help you address specific problem areas in your business such as gross profit , cost control and stock valuation.

Effective management information will allow you to seize opportunities when they arise or identify problems quickly so you can take effective corrective action.

Information technology

Information technology (IT) is one of the key resources available to every business to achieve its short and long-term objectives.

Using the knowledge gained from our own systems and those designed for other clients, we are able to advise on IT related matters with first-hand experience. We can provide training and help you to obtain the best from your chosen system.

If you are spending too much time writing up books, typing invoices and chasing debts we help to take control by computerising your accounts system. We can help you to make the best use of IT resource to produce financial information that is accurate and appropriate for running your business effectively. With the correct accounting software you will save hours of hard work leaving you more time to deal with the more important areas of the business.

In short, whether you are investing in new technology, reviewing existing systems or have simply outgrown your current resource, we can help.

When starting your own business many people find the complication of options and regulations quite daunting. You do not need to worry about these as once you have met with us we offer an initial free of charge consultation at which many of your initial concerns and queries can be addressed.

We can help you to:

• Understand and decide on the most suitable business form (sole trader, partnership, or limited company) that is best for you;
• Assist with making contact with the bank of your preference and in preparing any information they ask for;
• Inform you about VAT and payroll requirements, including helping to decide if VAT registration is needed or beneficial;
• Complete any registration at both Companies House and HM Revenue & Customs;
• Advise on the most suitable accounting system to use and if appropriate the most suitable software;
• Provide assistance and training to set up and maintain your bookkeeping records; and
• Help with all aspects of business administration both as you start-up and in the future.

We can work with you to help devise sound investment and retirement planning strategies that make sense economically, strategically and in a tax efficient manner. Having helped you devise a plan we can then work with your own independent financial advisor or introduce you to the advisors we work with on a regular basis.

As part of this, together with the independent financial advisor, we can also ensure that the life and health insurances you may have are appropriate and cost efficient.

If you have a mortgage which has not been reviewed for a while or need a new mortgage we can introduce you to a mortgage broker who can carry out the review and then assist in placing the mortgage for you.

We work closely with you using our extensive experience and knowledge to ensure you pay the minimum tax required by law. This can include reviewing the way your business is set up or looking at alternative operating methods to increase your after tax profits. We will help you to understand the tax implications of your actions, in order that you can plan ahead and conduct your affairs in a tax efficient way.

Tax protection

With the increased activity of HM Revenue and Customs the risk of you suffering enquiries, reviews or investigations has risen significantly. We offer a scheme to protect you and your business from unexpected costs that actions by HM Revenue and Customs may cause. For a small annual charge we can then offer support in most of these enquiries with no further cost to you or your business in terms of our fees. These interventions by HM Revenue and Customs include:

• Tax Investigations
• Payroll reviews
• VAT Reviews
• Record reviews

Corporation tax services

As part of our services we can complete all necessary Corporation Tax Returns whilst at the same time reviewing the transactions to ensure tax efficiency. We actively work with you to help minimise the tax due in a legal and cost efficient manner. These reviews can help to ensure not only are you tax efficient but they also strengthen your business to increase the profits left for you to reward your hard work.

Personal Tax (including sole-traders and partnerships)

We are specialists in income tax, capital gains tax and inheritance tax planning.

Self Assessment

We can take the pain of the self-assessment system off your hands. Using our knowledge and experience we complete the self-assessment returns on your behalf and then file them for you. This then allows us to provide practical advice on your personal tax positions and identify planning opportunities available to you to help minimise your tax liability. In the event of queries and disputes over amounts due we can talk directly to HM Revenue and Customs on your behalf.

Estate and Inheritance Tax planning

Inheritance tax is becoming an issue for more and more of us. Giving your affairs an early review increases the opportunities to ensure that your hard earned assets and wealth is passed to whoever you chose as intact as possible and minimising the amounts of inheritance tax due.

For this planning to work and be effective care must be taken to ensure all structures put in place are completed correctly. We can work with you and a solicitor of your choice, if this is necessary, to put the plan and legal framework in place

VAT

Whilst VAT appears a simple tax it is in fact a very complicated system with many confusing rules and regulations that come into play when you are VAT registered. Mistakes can easily be made and HM Revenue and Customs are imposing ever more penalties for errors and omissions, even if innocently made.

As ever we can work with you using our experience and knowledge to negotiate this complex area. We can help with one off problems, general enquiries, detailed VAT planning and the basic processes to ensure VAT returns are submitted on time and accurately. We are happy to complete and file the returns using your records and calculations or by compiling your bookkeeping information for you. We also offer the service of giving your VAT return a “sensibility” check before submission if you would like a pre-submission review to identify potential problems.