Although most business owners recognise the importance of careful financial management, few seem to want to spend their time dealing with numbers. Unfortunately, not keeping a close eye on your income and expenses can be very costly for a business. Here are five of the most common bookkeeping pitfalls, and some simple tips [...]
We are always advising clients to cut costs and save on overheads - it comes with the territory, but sometimes spending your money can wind up helping your business immensely, protecting it from slower times. It might seem counterproductive to spend money when you want to put it in the bank - and [...]
We are often asked by clients if they should buy or lease capital equipment for their businesses. The answer, as usual, is not simple and it depends upon the nature of your business, but there are nevertheless a few guidelines you can follow to help you decide what you should do. Broadly speaking, [...]
Most business owners immediately think of the bank or loans when they’re short of cash. But there are many more resources you can tap before you ask for that expensive overdraft or for an overdraft extension. You can often free up funds from within your business by re-examining your business systems, and these [...]
As reported by the BBC this weekend, the number of hoax calls from people saying they are HMRC has hit 60,000 up to January 2019. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47422903 These calls sound convincing and can be very stressful as a client of ours found out recently. “They sounded so convincing, quoted a warrant number and said [...]
You probably haven’t ever tried to boil a frog, but if you ever do then don’t put it in boiling water - it will jump straight out! If you start with it in cold water and boil it slowly, then your frog is toast. Don’t ask how we know this, but it is [...]
I am not being dramatic when I say receiving bad or incorrect advice from The Accountant can ruin your business. Unfortunately, I have seen it happen. And no, despite the image, I am not talking about the Ben Affleck movie - I mean your accountant, your trusted advisor. Getting bad advice or crucial [...]
Everyone knows that January is hell for accountants. With all UK self-assessment tax returns due on 31st January, up and down the land accountants are struggling to get their returns out and back in again, in time for the filing deadline. A £100 fine for every late tax return certainly focuses the minds [...]
In this example, we have received a rental invoice in November, but it relates to the months December – February 2019. Why spread the cost at all? For an accurate Profit and Loss, we need this cost spreading across the months it relates to otherwise November’s rent will be too high, and Dec-Feb [...]
If you hold stock or work in progress in your business, then the value of this stock has a huge impact on your profit. Imagine a scenario where you buy £10,000 of goods and sell £2,500 worth of them for £5,000. Your loss, when not accounting for stock, would be £5,000. Sales less [...]
