Financial advice for owners and managers of small and medium sized business SMEs in the UK All your tax, borrowing and administration advice
Not filed your 2009/10 self-assessment tax return online yet? Well you’re in good company. As of 17th January 2011, over three million people who’d been issued with tax returns to fill in hadn’t filed them yet. Here is, qualified Chartered Accountant, Emily Coltman with a few answers to some of those burning questions you may have, to help you meet that Jan 31st deadline.
With just under half of UK SMEs reporting that they have been turned down for a loan in the past 12 months the question over how businesses can balance their cash-flow and indeed grow is one that continues to trouble business owners.
On January 4th 2011 the government will increase VAT from 17.5 per cent to 20 per cent. This latest adjustment marks the third change in the last three years and puts further pressure on small and medium sized businesses who are left tasked with yet more paperwork to do.
In today’s more risk-averse business environment, finance departments need to understand how the risk of non payment can affect the stability of their company. For many companies, their biggest asset is outstanding invoices, yet late payment and customer defaults are an unfortunate fact of life
In the last twelve months we have seen a changing economy and how currencies can fluctuate within a short period. These fluctuations can impact payments of UK companies exporting or importing goods or services internationally – ultimately impacting cash flow and the bottom line.
Does your business accept cheques guaranteed with a plastic card? If the answer is yes then its time to get ready for next summer when the UK’s Cheque Guarantee Card Scheme is being withdrawn. Here is our guide on what you could start to be doing so that the changes don’t affect your business
With banks still not lending to many businesses, business owners are being forced to look at alternative ways of raising short-term finance and one option is to look back in history to the era of pawn brokering.
Businesses are being urged to plan how they release “recession era” accounts due by August 31st in order to avoid unnecessary credit rating downgrades.
Coutts, the bank which boasts the Queen as a customer, has withdrawn free banking to customers with less than £250,000 in their accounts.
The role of the finance manager is fundamentally changing. During the recession, the emphasis has shifted from managing business growth to imposing tighter financial control. But organisations are still hamstrung by manual purchasing processes and a delegation of authority across the business which is making strong cost control hard to achieve.
“The closest real-world analogy to raising money, whether you are seeking it from venture capitalists, angel investors, or the three Fs (friends, fools, and family), is speed dating. That’s right: In five minutes, people decide if they are interested in you, just as in bars and nightclubs. This isn’t right, and it isn’t fair, but it’s reality.” —Guy Kawasaki, “Reality Check”
We highlight a few of the stand-out points of The Budget which affect you and your families pocket.
Getting paid is not always as easy as it should be and threatening to terminate the contract is usually a last resort. There are intermediate steps you can take as well as including some protective measures in your contract terms.
More than 4.5 million Britons (10 per cent) are planning to move in excess of £3.2 billion pounds between credit cards in the first three months of 2010, to take advantage of introductory balance transfer periods, new research from Santander Cards has revealed.
Motorcyclists can save up to 40% on the price of a bike following a quiet change to tax law, experts have said.
Buried in the recent Finance Act is a change which makes motorcycles used for work 100% tax deductable, according to leading accountants.
