Our busiest season has passed with the self-assessment deadline and now it’s the season of love. With love in the air, its time to make your business your valentine. Take the time to make a plan of action for your business. What do you want to achieve in the next 12-18 months?

Are you looking to expand your business and grow a larger list of customers? or are you trying to cut back on the amount of expenses your business pays out ? These are all goals that should be in the clear to you. Write down your plan of action, top tip, something that is written down will be more likely to be achieved than something that you have stored in your mind.

Having it written down and somewhere in sight will give you the reminder and motivation to try and achieve this. Think of the strengths and weaknesses of your business. Refresh and re-train on yourself in terms of, what are your strengths, work on weaknesses to learn and help achieve your goals.

Loving your business will give you opportunities to take it to the next level. However, with opportunities you also must weigh up the risks. This is where you need a forecast for your business, a cashflow can help make the deciding factor whether its time to hold back and watch the spending, or if there is spare cash around to invest back in the business.

We are at the start of 2018.   Make it a good one.

Happy New Year to you all, we hope you’ve had a lovely Christmas. It’s the New Year but some things remain the same, and that’s the deadline of 31^st January for Self-Assessment returns.

Self-Assessment is a system HMRC uses to collect tax. For people who are self-employed, with their own business or others who make additional income. 

The dates for Self-Assessment is 

1^st April 2016 to the 31^st March 2017. With online returns needed to be submitted by

31^st January 2018 and paper returns to have already been submitted by 31^st October 2017.

The best way to keep the tax bill down is to have your paperwork organised. You will need the actual receipts to claim as expenses. Collate your receipts and keep together as HMRC can ask to see evidence at any time. Another great way is to utilise the ISA savings as any interest received is tax-free. You’ll keep your savings on a tax-free basis for as long as you keep the money in your ISA accounts.

Higher rate tax payers benefit from additional tax savings when they contribute in to pension schemes and give to charity.

An example of a list of records you will need are;

•          Business and personal bank statements
•          Records of income
•          Records of purchases
•          P60/P45
•          Rental Income
•          Interest Income
•          Child Benefit and Income Support

You need many other records to keep, here at Cross Accounting we give our clients a more in detail list of records which we require from them to complete their tax return. This also includes a reminder of approaching deadlines to ensure not to be penalised. HMRC fine £100 for anyone who misses the 31^st January deadline.

HMRC have revealed a record number of people are filing for self-assessment this year as the numbers are north of eleven million. If you’re a couple of years behind, then do not worry as you’re not alone, we have taken on a number of clients in this situation, and have supported them and brought them up to date. If you’re not sure if you need to submit a self-assessment or you need to complete a return, you can call us on 02920 653 995 or visit our website on www.crossaccountingservice.co.uk to see how we can assist you. 

Welcome to our latest blog. Christmas is around the corner and it’s our favourite time of the year here at Cross Accounting. It’s the time of giving and is there any other way to give your business a boost a grant to get your finance in place.

A business or an individual will be given a sum of money for a specific project or purpose. A grant usually covers only partial costs involved. Grants are given depending on your business activity, the amount of jobs that will be created due to this investment or if you are in a specific industry sector. Sometimes grants are linked to geographic areas. Such as those areas in need of an economic transformation.

Business Wales can support in finance, take a look at their finance locator to see if grants and other finance your business may be eligible for at https://businesswales.gov.wales/zones/business-finance/funding-search-tool-form

You should ensure that you meet the requirements of the scheme before applying for grants and finance. You’ll have to ensure you are ready to put up some of your own money as grants only cover partial costs. You’ll also need to have a detailed description of your project or purpose and a work plan with full costings. We can assist with a budget and full detailed cashflow to secure the finance you need.

The application process for grants can sometimes be time consuming and there usually is a lot of competition but on the plus side, most grants don’t have to be paid repaid giving your business that extra boost.

If you’re looking for that push to reach some New Years goals, the Development Bank of Wales can support to get the finance your business needs to succeed. Visit https://developmentbank.wales/ to get you ready for the New Year.

You will need to have a polished business plan at the ready.  If you would like us to look at your business plan, then you can book in for a free one-hour consultation where we can discuss how to start the New Year strong. Visit our website on www.crossaccountingservice.co.uk or call us on 02920 653 995. We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

There has been a change in the VAT Flat Rate Scheme since April 2017. The government are concerned that some businesses are using the scheme to pay less VAT than appropriate. Read our blog to be reminded of the rules and regulations.

The Flat Rate Scheme is designed to simplify your records of sales and purchases. It allows you to apply a fixed flat-rate percentage to your gross turnover to arrive at the VAT due.

The scheme is for businesses with a turnover no more than £150,000 a year, excluding VAT. The Flat Rate Scheme is a simpler method of working out the VAT you have to pay to HMRC. The flat rate percentage you use depends on your business sector. The correct sector is the one that most likely describes what your business will be doing in the coming year. Click here to find out your sector percentage https://www.gov.uk/vat-flat-rate-scheme/how-much-you-pay

From 1 April 2017 the flat rate changes if you’re a limited cost business. The flat rate percentage will be 16.5% regardless of your sector if you are a limited cost business. You’re a limited cost business if the amount you spend on relevant goods including VAT is either, less than 2% of your VAT flat rate turnover or greater than 2% of your VAT flat rate turnover but less than £1000 per year.

You will also get a 1% discount if it is your first year as a VAT registered business. If you’re unsure about your VAT and would like to discuss, then please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Summers out and its back to business

Summers out and schools are back in. Those 6 long weeks of entertaining the children are over and it’s truly back to business. As summer comes to an end and we prepare for darker evenings, the new season is the best time to plan for your business.

The lead up to Christmas is best to note down and plan for the next couple of months. Its best to hand in your paperwork for self-assessment and year end to your accountant so that you can fully concentrate on the build up to Christmas and New Year. There will be no stress on your behalf to meet HMRC’s deadline, leaving you to focus on what matters most, your business.

Since everyone is back from holiday, it is a good opportunity to go out networking. This will build connections and get your business name out there. Meeting new people and old familiar faces will keep your business from being forgotten.

Get your cashflow and budget up to date, this will help you plan for the seasonal events to come. Having an idea of your businesses ins and outs can shape your business for the busy Christmas and New Year period. There will be a lot of people spending during this period, so make sure your business is always on its ‘A’ game.

As mentioned earlier, note your plans down, as it is better to have something written down and in front of you than in your memory. This will help you achieve your goals and remember planning is key!

When you are running a business whether a new company or a well established one, getting the costing of your products or services costed correctly is crucial to your success.

Service Companies

Creating the Sales price.

Your main component of cost is going to be heavily on labour. You’re going to have to make sure that not only have you covered your labour cost, ie Cost plus employers NI. Contribution to overheads plus that all important profit.

A service company needs to have a mechanism for keeping track of those labour costs versus quoting for a job, at the fingertips at all times. The easiest and simplest route to finding this out is to keep timesheets, or cost the time of every element of each procedure. You always compare the timesheet for a particular job, ie the project, versus the original sales price. This will give you an average hourly rate of the job as a whole. You very importantly need to know the average hourly cost of your overheads. Basing this on the number of hours you have available as a maximum for every member of staff.

Ie You have two members of staff, each work 40 hours per week for 5 days work. As a yearly average that’s 4,160 hours at your disposal or 347 hours per month. Your overhead for example is £2,000 per month which equates to £5.76 per hour. A cost of this nature would be labour cost per hour, plus £5.76 overhead plus % profit.

Every business and industry is different, and you’re dictated quite a lot of the time by market rates, or competitors. By knowing your average overheads and labour costs, you will know the price you cant go below or face making a loss.

Hotels have this down to a fine art. They are mainly in the services industry again heavily focused on labour costs. When you have booked your room for the night. They will know ahead of time, the number of rooms they have, the cost of an empty room, and the cost of a full room. They will have broken down in their costing mechanism

The length of time to make a bed!

Cost of cleaning the room, length of time for each room!

Cost of washing the bedding/ towels!

Cost of the tea/coffee facilities!

Heating and lighting for each room!

Your breakfast cost!

Plus a contribution to fixed overheads, and % profit

Whether your service business is hourly project based or procedure based, you need to know the cost of each element.

Manufacturing and product based sales

Again as above you are dictated to by market rates, you might be a low volume business that can charge a premium fee for your product ie Apple Iphone.   Or a high volume business that charges sales at lower margins of profit but has to sell a lot of them. Ie Walkers selling crisps

When costing a product you need first know

Cost of the materials for the product!

Labour time to make it!

Cost of energy to make the product!

The more volume you make the cheaper it should be per product as you will become more automated in your processes plus you are likely to have more negotiation power with supplier costs. You need to build in a little slack as no-one or machine can work at 100% capacity all of the time. You do need to track efficiencies and always look at how you can make things better and demonstrate you are always trying to reduce inefficiencies. This is usually where profit can go down, if a business does not look to always improve its offering.

Supermarkets have just done this in the last 18 months, by offering the self checkout facility, they’ve saved both wages cost, time and rates bills.

The main thing to realise that this is not a static job to do, as you grow and develop or change your product offering you will need to keep monitoring these costs, or you could end up working twice as hard, for a lower gain.

Always be one step ahead.

This blog is intended for information only, you may have other suggestions of your own.  Please treat this as a guide only.

Budget 2014 19 March 2014

This is an edited version of the speech, to see the full speech go to https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/chancellor-george-osbornes-budget-2014-speech

So in this Budget we make sure hardworking people keep more of what they earn – and more of what they save. Yesterday we set out our support for parents with tax free childcare. Today support for savers is at the centre of this Budget, as we take another step towards our central mission: economic security for the people of Britain.

OBR and economic forecasts

A year ago at the Budget the OBR forecast the economy to grow by just 0.6% in 2013. They now confirm that it grew by three times as much. At the Autumn Statement, they significantly revised up their expectations for future growth.

Today I can tell the House they are revising up their forecast again. A year ago, they predicted growth in 2014 would be 1.8%. At the Autumn Statement, 2.4%. Today the OBR forecast growth in 2014 of 2.7%. That’s the biggest upward revision to growth between Budgets for at least 30 years. Growth next year is also revised up to 2.3%. Then it’s 2.6% in 2016 and 2017. And with the output gap closed around a year earlier than previously predicted, growth returns to around its long term trend, at 2.5% in 2018. Taken together, these growth figures mean our economy will be £16 billion larger than was forecast just four months ago. Employment forecasts At home the biggest risk is clear: abandoning the economic plan that is working. And nowhere is the success of that plan more evident than in job creation. 1.3 million more people in work. The latest figures today show a staggering 24% fall in the claimant count in just one year, and the fastest fall in the youth claimant count since 1997. The OBR today forecast one and a half million more jobs over the next five years. Unemployment down from the 8% we inherited to just over 5%.

£1 coin

Of course, the prerequisite of sound money is a sound currency. And, Mr Deputy Speaker, the £1 coin has become increasingly vulnerable to forgery. Now among the oldest of coins in circulation; one in thirty pound coins are counterfeit – and that costs businesses and the taxpayer millions each year. So I can announce that we will move to a new, highly secure, £1 coin. It will take three years. We will consult with industry. Our new pound coin will blend the security features of the future with inspiration from our past. In honour of our Queen, the coin will take the shape of one of the first coins she appeared on – the threepenny bit. A more resilient pound for a more resilient economy.

Fiscal policy

We are taking further difficult decisions now so we can reduce the deficit and protect our NHS and schools and meet our obligations to the world’s poorest by contributing 0.7% of our national income to help them. On public service pensions, we implement the reforms proposed by John Hutton. We will ensure schemes are properly valued, saving the taxpayer over £1 billion a year. We are continuing with pay restraint in the public sector – an essential part of maintaining sound finances and economic stability. We will also insist on the prudent management of departmental finances. Thanks to the efforts of my colleagues in Cabinet, these now regularly come in under budget. In order to lock-in these underspends, I said in December that we would reduce spending by £1 billion in 2015-16. Today, I am making that overall billion pound reduction permanent. And I look forward to the work my excellent colleague the Chief Secretary is now doing, with the Cabinet Office, to find further efficiencies. Difficult decisions on public service pay and pensions. Further savings in departments. A cap on welfare bills. None of these decisions are easy, but they are the right thing to ensure Britain lives within her means.

Welfare

We set out today the details of that welfare cap – and we will seek the support of Parliament for it next week. From housing benefit to tax credits, the full list of benefits included in the cap is published in the Budget document today. Only the State Pension and the cyclical unemployment benefits are excluded. I am setting it at £119 billion in 2015-16. It will rise, but only in line with forecast inflation, to £127 billion in 2018-19. Britain should always be proud of having a welfare system that helps those most in need. But never again should we allow its costs to spiral out of control and its incentives to become so distorted that it pays not to work. In future, any government that wants to spend more on benefits will: have to be honest with the public about the costs, need the approval of Parliament, and will be held to account by this permanent cap on welfare.

Tax avoidance

Thanks to my Right Honourable Friend the Prime Minister’s leadership we have driven the international efforts to develop tough, new global tax rules that stop rich individuals hiding their tax and companies shifting their profits offshore. And the number of registered tax avoidance schemes has fallen by half. And while the vast majority of wealthy people pay their taxes, there is still a small minority who do not. We will now require those who have signed up to disclosed tax avoidance schemes to pay their taxes, like everyone else, up front. I am increasing HMRC’s budget to tackle non-compliance. We will block transfers of profits between companies within groups to avoid tax. We will increase tax credit debt recovery rates for those with sufficient earnings. We will give HMRC modern powers to collect debts from bank accounts of people who can afford to pay but have repeatedly refused to, like most other Western countries. We will increase compliance checks to catch migrants who claim benefits they aren’t entitled to, saving the taxpayer almost £100 million. We will take action to curb potential misuse of the EIS and VCT schemes. And we are expanding the new tax we introduced to stop people avoiding stamp duty by owning homes through a company. We will expand the tax on residential properties worth over £2 million to those worth more than £500,000. And from midnight tonight anyone purchasing residential property worth over half a million pounds through a corporate envelope will be required to pay 15% stamp duty. None of this applies to homes that are rented out. Many of these are empty properties held in corporate envelopes to avoid stamp duty.

So I will continue to direct the use of the LIBOR fines to our military charities and our emergency service charities too. Because the sums continue to grow, I can today extend that support to our search and rescue and lifeboat services – and provide £10 million of support to our scouts, guides, cadets and St John’s Ambulance. I am also today waiving inheritance tax for those in our emergency services who give their lives protecting us. I will also relieve the VAT on fuel for our Air Ambulances and Inshore Rescue boat services across Britain, and provide a new air ambulance for London – all in response to huge and heartfelt public demand and the campaigning of my Hon. Friends for Hexham, Brentford & Isleworth, and Argyll & Bute. Further, this summer, many services of remembrance will be held in our cathedrals to mark the Great War, so we are providing £20 million to support the repairs needed to these historic buildings.

Exports

Mr Deputy Speaker, We’re not going to have a secure economic future if Britain doesn’t earn its way in the world. We need our businesses to export more, build more, invest more and manufacture more. First, exports. Our exports have grown each year and the OBR today forecast rising export growth in the future. Our combined goods exports to Brazil, India and China have risen faster than those of our competitors. With Stephen Green, and now Ian Livingston, we’re expanding the reach and support UKTI offers British businesses. But for many firms the truth is you can only win the contract if you are backed by competitive export finance. Today we fundamentally change that. And we’re going to start with the finance we provide our exporters. We will double the amount of lending available to £3 billion. And I can announce that from today the interest rates we charge on that lending will be cut by a third. We will also reform Air Passenger Duty to end the crazy system where you pay less tax travelling to Hawaii than you do travelling to China or India. It hits exports, puts off tourists and creates a great sense of injustice among our Caribbean and South Asian communities here in Britain. From next year, all long haul flights will carry the same, lower, band B tax rate that you now pay to fly to the United States. Private jets were not taxed at all under the previous government. Today they are, and I’m increasing the charge so they pay more.

One key British export is the North Sea’s oil and gas. We will take forward all recommendations of the Wood report. And we will review the whole tax regime to make sure it is fit for the purpose of extracting every drop of oil we can. We will introduce now a new allowance for ultra high pressure, high temperature fields to support billions of pounds of investment, thousands of jobs and a significant proportion of our energy needs. Even with these measures, the North Sea is a mature basin – and the OBR have today revised down the forecast tax receipts by a further £3 billion over the period. Britain is better together.

Housing

Mr Deputy Speaker, our country needs to export more – and it also needs to build more. House building is up 23%. But that’s not enough. That’s why we’re making further reforms to our planning system and offering half a billion pounds of finance to small house building firms. And it’s why we’re giving people a new Right to Build their own homes and providing £150 million of finance today to support that. It’s why we’re funding regeneration of some of the urban housing estates that are in the worst condition, and we’re extending the current Support for Mortgage Interest Scheme to 2016. And it’s why we’ve got Help to Buy. We’re extending the Help to Buy equity loan scheme for the rest of the decade, so we get 120,000 new homes built. In the South East where the pressure is greatest we’re going to build new homes in Barking Riverside, regenerate Brent Cross, and build the first new Garden City in almost a hundred years at Ebbsfleet. We’re going to build 15,000 homes there, put in the infrastructure, set up the development corporation and make it happen. Taken all together, the housing policies I announce today will support over 200,000 new homes for families.

Investment

Today I have approved a £270 million guarantee for the Mersey Gateway Bridge thanks to the hard work of my Honourable Friend for Weaver Vale.

Tomorrow we introduce legislation to give new tax and borrowing powers to the Welsh Government to fund their infrastructure needs, and they can start now on work to improve the M4 in South Wales. Because of the exceptionally poor weather this winter, I am making an additional £140 million available, on top of that already provided, for immediate repairs and maintenance to damaged flood defences across Britain. Our roads too have taken a battering.

My Honourable Friend for Northampton North has been a persistent campaigner for resources to repair the pot-holes in his constituency and across the country. His persistence has paid off and I’m making £200 million available which local authorities can bid for. I trust Northampton will be making an application. Modern infrastructure is part of a successful economy. So too is a modern industrial strategy.

If Britain isn’t leading the world in science and technology and engineering, then we are condemning our country to fall behind. So we will establish new centres for doctoral training, for Cell Therapy and for Graphene – a great British discovery that we should break the habit of a lifetime with and commercially develop in Britain. To make sure we give young people the skills they need to get good jobs in this modern world, we’ve doubled the number of apprenticeships and I will extend the grants for smaller businesses to support over 100,000 more. And we’ll now develop new degree level apprenticeships too.

Business tax

Today we accept their recommendation to move the collection of Class 2 NICs into self-assessment, abolishing for 5 million people this wholly unnecessary bureaucracy. And we’ve cut business tax rates.

Corporation tax was 28% when we came to office. In just two weeks corporation tax will be down to 21%, high street stores will get £1,000 off their rates, and every business in the country will get the Employment Allowance – a £2,000 cash-back on jobs. Next year, corporation tax will reach 20% and we take under 21s out of the jobs tax altogether. Businesses keeping more of their money to create jobs and invest in the future. Today I want to go further. Many of the enterprise zones we created are now flourishing – so the business rates discounts and enhanced capital allowances will be extended for another three years.

And I can confirm that with the Northern Ireland Executive we’ll establish the first enterprise zone there near Coleraine. I’m raising the rate of the R&D tax credit for loss-making small businesses from 11% to 14.5%.

Two years ago, I launched the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme to help finance start-ups. It’s been a great success and I’m making it permanent. We’re backing investment into social enterprises with a Social Investment Tax Relief at a rate of 30%. And we’re supporting our creative industries too.

The European Commission has today approved the extension of our film tax credit – and I will apply the same successful approach to theatre, especially regional theatre. From this September there will be a 20% tax relief for qualifying productions, and 25% for regional touring.

And we’re expanding by a third the size of the cultural gift scheme. But I want to do something today that helps all businesses invest.

In 2012 I increased the Annual Investment Allowance ten-fold to £250,000. This generous allowance was due to expire at the end of this year – and all the business groups have urged me to extend it. So we will. But we’ll do more. We’re going to double the Investment Allowance to £500,000, extend it to the end of 2015, and start it next month. 99.8% of businesses will get a 100% investment allowance.

Manufacturing Today, by tilting the playing field – extending the 2% increase in company car tax in 2017-18 and 2018-19 while increasing the discount for ultra low emission vehicles – and reducing the rate of fuel duty on methanol. But above all we are going to have a £7 billion package to cut energy bills for British manufacturers – with benefits for families and other businesses too. First, I am capping the Carbon Price Support rate at £18 per ton of CO2 from 2016-17 for the rest of the decade. This will save a mid-sized manufacturer almost £50,000 on their annual energy bill. Duties So we’re backing exports, backing manufacturing, backing a Britain that builds. And

Mr Deputy Speaker, we also want to help hardworking people keep more of what they earn and of what they save. That’s what we’ve done by freezing council tax, freezing fuel duty and raising the personal allowance to £10,000. And from next year tax free childcare – 20% off, for up to £10,000 of childcare costs for parents.

I can confirm that the fuel duty rise planned for September will not take place. Petrol will be 20 pence lower per litre than it would have been.

Let me turn now to tobacco and alcohol duties. Tobacco duty has been rising by 2% above inflation and will do so again today. Today, I am scrapping that escalator for all alcohol duties. They will rise with inflation, with these exceptions:

Scottish Whisky is a huge British success story. To support that industry, instead of raising duties on whisky and other spirits, I am today going to freeze them. And with some cider makers in the West Country hit hard by the recent weather, I am going to help them by freezing the duty on ordinary cider too. And then there’s beer. I know the industry, led so ably by my Honourable Friend for Burton, have been campaigning for a freeze. But beer duty next week will not be frozen. It will be cut again by 1 pence. Pubs saved. Jobs created. A penny off a pint for the second year running.

Personal allowance

 Mr Deputy Speaker, it is a central part of our long term economic plan that people keep more of the money they have earned. When we came to office, the personal tax allowance was just £6,500. In less than three weeks time, it will reach £10,000. That’s an income tax cut for 25 million people. Today, because we are working through our plan, we can afford to go further. Next year there will be no income tax at all on the first £10,500 of your salary.

I can also confirm today that the higher rate threshold will rise for the first time this Parliament, from £41,450 to £41,865 next month, and then by a further 1% to £42,285 next year.

And because I am also passing the full benefit of today’s personal And I am linking the rate of the transferable tax allowance for married couples to the personal allowance, so it will also rise to £1,050.

Savings And we are going to make the New ISA more generous by increasing the annual limit to £15,000. £15,000 of savings a year tax free – available from the first of July. And I’m raising the limits for Junior ISAs to £4,000 a year too.

So we will launch the new Pensioner Bond paying market leading rates. It will be issued by National Savings and Investments, open to everyone aged 65 or over, and available from January next year. The exact rates will be set in the autumn, to ensure the best possible offer - but our assumption is 2.8% for a one year bond and 4% on a three year bond. That’s much better than anything equivalent in the market today. Up to £10 billion of these bonds will be issued. A maximum of £10,000 can be saved in each bond.

And because 21 million people also invest in Premium Bonds I am lifting the cap for the first time in a decade from £30,000 to £40,000 this June, and to £50,000 next year – and I will double the number of million pound winners.

The tax rules around these pensions are a manifestation of a patronising view that pensioners can’t be trusted with their own pension pots. I reject that. People who have worked hard and saved hard all their lives, and done the right thing, should be trusted with their own finances. And that’s precisely what we will now do. Trust the people. Some changes will take effect from next week. We will:

• cut the income requirement for flexible drawdown from £20,000 to £12,000

• raise the capped drawdown limit from 120% to 150%

• increase the size of the lump sum small pot five-fold to £10,000

• and almost double the total pension savings you can take as a lump sum to £30,000 All of these changes will come into effect on 27 March.

Pensioners will have complete freedom to draw down as much or as little of their pension pot as they want, anytime they want. No caps. No drawdown limits. Let me be clear. No one will have to buy an annuity. But instead of the punitive 55% tax that exists now if you try to take the rest, anything else you take out of your pension will simply be taxed at normal marginal tax rates – as with any other income. So not a 55% tax but a 20% tax for most pensioners. But there is one final reform to support savings I would like to make. Mr Deputy Speaker, There is a 10 pence starting rate for income from savings. It is complex to levy and it penalises low income savers.

Today I am abolishing the 10 pence rate for savers altogether. No tax on those savings whatsoever. And we will almost double this zero-pence band to cover £5,000 of saving income.

This blog is intended for information purposes only and is only advice from past experience, you may have other suggestions of your own. It is not intended to be used to make all of your business decisions but as a guide only.

Love is in the air this month, with Valentine’s Day just here .. and now is the time to give your business the TLC it also needs.

Investment. Investment in a business can be many things. It can be your investment of time and energy in nurturing your business as it grows. It can be working on your operations, improving your processes and making yourself more efficient.

Investment is money. The business may not be generating you the income you were expecting, so investing some money into the business to spend on a marketing campaign, or buying that piece of equipment that will make the operation run smoother may seem painful initially. We are still at the start of the New Year, getting these investment ideas up and running will be worth it in the end.

Now is the time to take a closer look at your customer base, are you meeting their every expectation? Is there something you are not currently offering that could add value, or which you can use to up-sell to increase your sales turnover? A business which knows their customers very well, and manages their expectations always succeeds.

Marketing. Take a look at your marketing strategy. If you are putting time and money into activities that don’t work, then you need to stop them! Only spend money and time on what works for your business. Measuring the success of your marketing is a very important exercise that needs to be done on a regular basis.

Processes. Is there something you are doing that can be done more efficiently? The difference between profit and loss can often be a case of the process being too cumbersome. So, streamline your processes to meet the changing needs of your business. This will become increasingly vital as your business grows. If you don’t manage your processes – you are guaranteed to waste money.

You the owner. Make sure you are taking care of yourself. If you are busy and stressed you will not have the mindset to focus on your business effectively. Watch your stress points and take regular holidays. I still see far too many clients visiting me looking completely worn out. It’s not good for you – and it’s definitely not good for your business.

Your business is an investment for the future, feed it and it will grow.

This blog is intended for information purposes only and is only advice from past experience, you may have other suggestions of your own. It is not intended to be used to make all of your business decisions but as a guide only.

Improving your credit score

We are seeing an increasing number of our clients looking for mortgages and loans with their banks. It’s a good thing because it means that our client base is looking ahead at moving home, moving up the ladder by getting a more expensive house, or expanding their businesses.

As owners/directors of a business, your business and personal lives cross over, so these tips to get that dream house or expanding your business to meet your strategic goals will be similar.

The banks and finance houses look at a number of things when deciding whether to loan you money.

Can you pay it back ?

Do you meet their risk assessment criteria ?

What assets do you own ?

As a soletrader or Director of a Limited company your accounts to a bank are just as important as the personal income you are taking from the business.

They generally look at three years accounts, wanting to see that not only is the director taking an income, there is a defined growth year on year, the director is not taking out the complete amount of disposable profit, and keeping the balance sheet positive. This also needs to show year on year growth.

There are two main figures which are of high importance on a balance sheet ive discussed previously, the Net Current Assets, which is an indication of working capital, or cash in the business. The other figure is the overall total balance sheet value, this again needs to be positive.

The more money you wish to borrow the stronger the balance sheet and directors income needs to be.

This is not an overnight task but needs to be planned ahead over a period of time, but by putting in some self restraint and leaving funds or assets in the business you are over time improving your credit score.

Another scoring technique the bank uses is the amount of credit the company is taking and asking for. Whether is through credit with suppliers, a credit card, or a short term loan, ie overdraft. The bank will be checking your records demonstrating that you are being given credit by 3rd parties and are paying it back on time and within the terms of those agreements.

We have a number of clients who have been able to self sustain their businesses by not needing to apply for credit. This will unfortunately go against you if you are looking to expand. You need to be applying for credit every so often so that your credit history is gaining information. Even if you don’t need the money, and don’t want to pay any interest. You can apply for a credit card and just make sure you pay it off at the end of the month, you are naturally improving your credit score just by applying for the credit.

If you have an overdraft already in place its worth having a meeting with your bank manager keeping them informed of your plans for the future. We as a business put it into our routine to have a meeting every six months. As a company did this recently not only did the bank provide us with a larger overdraft than we had originally asked for, but as we had built up a good credit score, and were considered low risk to them they reduced the interest rate voluntarily by half for a much larger credit facility. It is definitely worth staying in touch with your bank manager.

Your own operational processes within the business. If you are giving credit to customers, make sure you are keeping on top of chasing the debt. Keeping your cash inflows at regular intervals this means to a bank that you are very active and have good controls in place, making you low risk to them. Next time youre reading your bank statement take a look and check not only the value of the cash inflows but the number of transactions. Frequent transaction is gold dust to a bank you are demonstrating large activity.

The cash outflows, if you are using an overdraft be sure to come out of the overdraft and into positive at least once a month. And never go over the overdraft. You will be penalised badly by the bank for doing so and can even have a much needed resource taken away. Remember an overdraft is very short term, it can be recalled and cancelled at anytime. I hope you find this article useful and use it a planning tool for your future, both personal and professional.

This blog is intended for information purposes only and is only advice from past experience, you may have other suggestions of your own. It is not intended to be used to make all of your business decisions but as a guide only.

For anyone who is looking at taking on a an employee in the next 12 months, then this article is just for you.

There is a good budget at the moment with assistance with wages for both apprenticeships and graduate schemes.

ACT Training is providing training and assistance to young people aged 16 - 24 years.  Take a look at their website on /www.acttraining.org.uk/apprenticeships-2

Paying £100 towards wages on a full time placement for the first six months, followed by £50 per week for the next six months.  There is also funding for training available.  Take a look at this website its got some useful information the helpline is good too.

Jobs Growth Wales again is offering placements for six months, paying the national minimum wages for the first six months.

website is wales.gov.uk/topics/educationandskills/skillsandtraining/jobsgrowthwales/?lang=en

Lastly the graduate scheme at Go Wales.  I recently attended their 10 year anniversary event, this organisation is actively seeking employment for students.  There are two schemes in place the placement scheme where the student stays with you for a six month placement and Go Wales supports the wages bill.  

Or you can have the taster sessions where the student get a small taster of your business which is great for if you have a project in mind to be finished, or are unsure whether you can employ a person.   The taster sessions are normally free of payment.

www.gowales.co.uk/en/employer

Think of this article as taking a look into the future and growing your business, you are also giving a young person the opportunity that you once had.  So go on what are you waiting for?

Thanks Nicola