JL Grant

Yes. As long as we are able to physically meet with you at least once initially, to comply with the proof of identification requirements of the current Money Laundering Regulations, we can act for you remotely. With the advances in modern communication technology, most communications can be achieved by use of the telephone, e-mail and normal mail.

Quite simply, accounting tells you if you are making money. If you create a profit and loss statement each month, you can ascertain your position quickly. If you are losing money, you can make changes in your operations, such as increasing prices or reducing expenses, to correct the situation long before the year’s end and ensure that your overall year will still be profitable.

If you decide to invest in software, we are more than happy to advise you on this and ensure everyone working on the records is happy about the decision. Consider what you want the system to do. Most systems will record bank account transactions, sales and purchase on credit, but you may also want a payroll programme that analyses costs by departments. Do you want to integrate purchase sales with stock records? How much support and training is on offer, and can you increase this? There are a number of effective software programmes, but do not under-estimate the time it will take to get them up and running effectively.

We will regularly discuss financial planning with you. Apart from an outright sale, the best option may be to groom the management to carry on the business, and/or employ someone to run the business for you. You might want to supervise this initially, and put systems in place to keep control. Incentives might be needed to attract and keep the right trustworthy person, but at the same time make sure you have access to all aspects of the business, especially financial!

We are required by the ethical guidelines of our Professional Institute ACCA to follow a prescribed procedure before accepting such new work:

• We must ask you to inform your existing Accountant of the proposed change.
• You should then supply us with the contact details of this Accountant.
• We shall then formally write to this Accountant seeking information which could influence our decision as to whether or not to properly accept appointment.
• The existing Accountant is under a professional duty to reply to this request and advise us accordingly.
• Assuming we are satisfied that we can properly accept appointment, we shall inform you of this and confirm with you, in writing, our specific terms of engagement.
• We shall then obtain any information we deem appropriate from the previous Accountant and, where relevant, register with the Inland Revenue as your new tax agent.

We charge our fees based on the time we spend on your affairs and the levels of skill and responsibility involved. As the requirements of no two clients are identical, neither are the fees. We would be pleased to quote in advance for our services, during a free initial consultation with you.

The total tax and National Insurance (NI) paid by a small limited company is likely to be lower than a comparable unincorporated business when the taxable profits exceed the 40% level. Also, company profits do not attract National Insurance.  Salaries of directors of companies are subject to income tax and NI, but dividends paid out of company profits do not attract NI although there is a tax on dividends. On the downside there may be capital gains tax implications when transferring assets (particularly goodwill) from an unincorporated business to a limited company. There is no right or wrong answer, it depends on your specific business so talk to us and we can advise you accordingly.

Get some impartial advice from ourselves before you consult the bank. A bank will want to see a strong business plan. Consider raising equity finance (sharing the risk and rewards by selling shares in the business) but if you go down this route be prepared to grant outside shareholders a stake in the business.

Think through the alternatives to getting more finance. For instance, you might have assets against which finance could be raised, such as factoring debtors. Maybe you could manage the stocks and debtors better to free up cash? A hard look at the cash flow can pay dividends. Could you release cash from underperforming assets? Reduce costs in general? Look also at improving the profitability of your products or services to generate more cash. If none of the above is enough and there is still a gaping hole in the finances, make sure there is a strong business plan to present to the bank.

Income tax (and Class 4 National Insurance) is normally collected by means of two half-yearly payments on account, on 31st January in the relevant tax year and the following 31st July. These payments are normally based on the previous year’s agreed liabilities. So there will be a balance owing to HMRC which is collected in the payment on the following 31st January (along with the first payment on account for the following year). So when profits increase there is a time lag before tax is collected on these profits, and problems can occur if later the business is not doing so well. Try to set aside tax early on!