Believe me as a resident of Kent who has suffered at the hands of Operation Stack, often caused by French Industrial Action, I do not say this lightly but should we, as small business owners, behave more like the French? Do we take things too lightly and put up with the sweeping changes imposed on [...]
There are many reasons why you might want to use a virtual office address for your business. For example, if you run your business from home and you don’t want your customers to know. It’s understandable that you may also not be keen to have your address out there in the [...]
Traditionally accountants, like solicitors, record time to calculate how much to bill their clients each year. This means that every call, email, letter and piece of work is noted during the days, weeks and months and all jotted up to form the bill sent to the client. This all seems OK so far but we [...]
I grew up in a traditional English seaside town that can trace its history back to 1871. The town was founded by entrepreneur and businessman Peter Bruff. The Pier was one of the first buildings in the town and it allowed tourist to be brought in by steam ship from London. The town thrived on [...]
I was meeting some potential clients the other day and during these initial meetings I routinely ask if there is anything they would change about their relationship with their existing accountant. This husband and wife team exchanged knowing glances and then proceeded to unfold before me a tale of a relationship with their existing accountant that [...]
Fortunately, if your business is struggling and you haven’t ever undertaken any planning it’s not too late to start. The importance of planning in a business is well documented. Without a plan how can you know what you are trying to achieve and where your business is going. A plan can come in many forms from [...]
Imagine if you were a sports star and you had a great coach to help you with your game but you only had their attention once a year. You would be amazing for the one or two weeks after their input but you would probably pick up some bad habits the other 50 weeks. Now [...]
Businesses are meant to make you money, to support you and your family’s lifestyle. There are times in your businesses journey, especially when you are starting out, that you have to pay the business. It’s almost inevitable because you are making an investment in the future. However, this should only ever be a temporary position. [...]
A few nights ago I saw a documentary about small business owners who had been defrauded by their bookkeepers. This was a blatant abuse of their positions, where individuals stole hundreds of thousands of pounds. The methods used by these fraudsters were fairly simple and once you know what you are looking for they are easy [...]
In our opinion todays budget was for, in the most part, the employed, as opposed to the self-employed or small business owner. An increase in the personal allowance and the creation of the living wage will be welcomed but the changes we have seen with increased taxed on dividends along with the removal of employment allowance [...]
