Other services

Business growth services include:

• Setting goals and an action plan to get you where you want to be – see strategic planning.
• Removing the blocks that are stopping you from getting where you want to be.
• Getting the systems in place to allow your business to grow.
• Performance monitoring including use of key performance indicators.
• Marketing strategy.
• Unique selling point development.
• Customer service systems to help WOW your customers.
• Pricing strategy – have you tested what your optimum selling price is?
• Lead generation systems.
• Sales conversion systems.
• Reselling systems.
• Raising finance to allow you to invest in growth.
• Improving the potential of your team members.
• Measuring and testing everything so that you can continually improve.
  
  

Our Business Healthcheck service is designed to identify the health of your business to produce a list of recommended areas where there is opportunity for improvement.

The healthcheck can help with:

• Producing a valuation of your business.
• Reviewing the management information systems and reports used.
• Goal setting and how you measure where you are against those goals.
• Identifying the blocks that are stopping you from getting where you want to be.
• Helping you with working ON your business as opposed to IN it.
• Development of key performance indicators.
• Review of marketing strategy, USP’s, customer service levels to assist with business growth.
• Pricing strategy review.
• Review of systems to identify cash flow needs.
• Review of systems to develop the potential of your team.
• Review of disaster recovery planning – death, loss of key personnel, fire, computer failure, etc.
  
  

Business plans are also regularly needed to support finance applications, especially bank lending.

We can assist with all aspects of the business plan including:

• Business strategy and goal setting.
• Budgets.
• Cash flow forecasts.
• Profit forecasts.
• All written elements of the plan such as business background, marketing plan, SWOT analysis, markets, competition and all of the other key elements that need presenting in the most suitable way to lenders.

After you’ve produced the plan, you need to monitor how you are doing against the plan and we can help you with this.

Our business support sessions are a planned series of sessions to support you in developing your business. We listen to your issues and provide constructive feedback and ideas.

They can be monthly, quarterly or six monthly.

They are ideal for:

• Business owners that have little other support. Employees come to you with their problems but who do you go to?
• Those needing a fresh pair of eyes to suggest new ideas – most great ideas come from those outside of the immediate business!
• Helping you focus on working ON your business, not IN the business.
• Anyone who needs to set time aside to focus on key business issues.
  
  

The sessions can be used to cover any or all of the following:

• Review of management accounts and information.
• Business strategy.
• Comparison of where you are in relation to goals.
• Business growth and marketing ideas.
• Employee issues.
• Cost saving strategies.
• Tax saving ideas and queries.
  
  

An agreed action plan is formulated from each session that we produce for review of progress at the next business support session.

Valuations can be required for:

• Monitoring how the business is performing against goals.
• Taxation and negotiating with the tax authorities.
• Business sales and purchases.
• Business mergers.
• Divorce proceedings and matrimonial disputes.
• Raising finance.
• Company buy back of shares.
• Tax planning.
• Financial reporting requirements.
• Shareholder/partner disputes.
• Pension and exit planning.
  
  

We can provide business valuation services for unincorporated entities and shares in unquoted companies based in the UK including assistance with dispute resolution and litigation.

We can help you fulfill this role and offer the following services:

• Registered office facilities.
• Maintenance of statutory registers.
• Submission of statutory documents.
• Giving notice of General Meetings.
• Drafting agendas for company meetings.
• Preparing Minutes of Meetings.
• Completion of share transfer forms.
• Preparation of share certificates.
• Carrying out company searches.
• Filing of Confirmation Statement.
• Acting as Company Secretary.
• General Company Law advice.
• Advice on protection of minority interests.
  
  

Please contact us if you would like a free consultation to discuss the tax advantages of contracting in more detail and the different possible scenarios.

We offer all-inclusive services for contractors including:

• Company formation.
• Annual accounts.
• Company tax returns.
• Personal tax returns.
• Company secretarial service.
• Bookkeeping.
• VAT returns.
• PAYE returns.
• Tax computations.
• Review of contracts for IR35 status.
• Provision of anti IR35 draft contracts.
• Dealing with IR35 disputes.
  
  

There are many factors to consider in deciding if a contractor is caught by the notorious IR35 legislation.

Fundamental factors to consider:

• Control.
• The right to get a substitute or helper to do the job.
• Mutuality of obligations.
  
  

Other factors to consider:

• Provision of equipment.
• Financial risk.
• Basis of payment.
• Opportunity to profit from sound management.
• Part and parcel of the organisation.
• Right of dismissal.
• Employee benefits.
• Intention of the parties.
• Length of engagement.
  
  

These are often matters of general employment law and not specific tax legislation. There is an enormous amount of Case Law in this area and the Taxman is not always right. They do not have the final say on whether somebody is caught by IR35 or not. We can argue your case for you.

The cost of employees’ and employers’ national insurance if you get it wrong are considerable as well as interest and penalties.

We can review your existing arrangements and give you our opinion on whether it will stand up to attack from the Revenue. We can help draft contracts for services to assist you and advise on how you can maximise your chances.
 

Through our close working relationships with finance sources, we can assist in advising on the right type of finance for you and offer advice on:

• Bank loans and overdrafts.
• Hire purchase.
• Personal loans.
• Sales invoice factoring and discounting.
• Leasing and contract hire.
• Venture capital.
• Private investment sources.
  
  

You can use our office address as the registered office for your company.

This will also ensure all important documents come straight to us to deal with on your behalf straight away. Any that aren’t for us, we forward to you.

You’ve probably been told many times that planning is crucial to success in business but somehow you’ve never quite got round to it.

Rather than having a planned strategy you run your business by:

• Trusting your intuition.
• Using instant decisions.
• And generally riding the rollercoaster.
  
  

That may well work and we do realise that gut feelings are a crucial business skill in successful entrepreneurs but planning is still crucial. Research shows that those businesses that do plan and have clear strategies are far more successful.

Our strategic planning service helps you:

• Agree on long-term strategic goals both personally and for the business.
• Identify where you are now.
• Work ON the business so that you can spend less time working IN it.
• Indentify the blocks in the strategy.
• Agree an operational strategy to overcome the blocks and meet those goals.
• Develop business growth systems.
• Grow a great team of people.
• Monitor your results against those goals.
• Manage the money in your business.
• Develop an exit strategy.
  
  

The result is an agreed action plan.