Support & added value services

The combination of your business knowledge and our support services will help your business to grow and increase profitability.

Management accounts and information

Management accounts can be a hugely vital tool and competitive advantage for growing businesses, allowing business owners to make up to date and prompt decisions.

Management accounts can include…

• Unlike financial statements which must be prepared in a particular structure and format to comply with legislation, management accounts are tailored and can be prepared to suit your own needs.
• Flexible periods of preparation – monthly, quarterly, or even bi-annually.
• We can identify and report key performance indicators that operate as the underlying drivers that run your business.
• We can offer training and support to help you understand any information and how to get the most out of it.
• We can separate particular areas/divisions/branches of your business to check their performances in isolation.
• We can compare actual performance to budgets and/or comparative periods.
• We can provide costing information, including break-even turnover levels.
• We can supply management accounts and financial information to potential lenders and/or investors. This supply of up to date, detailed information can in some cases significantly improve your chances of gaining the finance or investment you are wanting.

Training

You may wish for you or your staff to carry out your own bookkeeping, payroll and VAT returns. If you do wish to do this but feel you are not quite experienced enough, we can provide you with training and support.

This will include:

• Recommending techniques for keeping your books and records in good order;
• Ideas to help reduce the time spent on bookkeeping;
• Training on VAT – understanding how VAT is calculated and accounted for, how this is adopted into your bookkeeping, etc;
• Advice on the right bookkeeping systems and software to adopt for your business;
• Specific training and support on bookkeeping software.

Bookkeeping

We can help you with all your general bookkeeping requirements, either at your business premises or at our office. Maybe you need help writing up the books or just want us to add the finishing touches to the information in order to create your own management information.

If you do not employ a bookkeeper then we can take up the role or help you recruit the right person for your business to take the stress of paperwork out of your hands…

• Save yourself time and ultimately the additional opportunities to earn money.
• No more worries with getting to grips with excel spread-sheets or accounting software, and no more time spent working out how to treat specific receipts, payments, and journals – leave it to the pro’s!
• Preparation and filing of quarterly VAT returns can be included. Please see our section on VAT Returns.
• Management accounts and in-year figures can be prepared much easier during the year. Unlike preparing year-end accounts and financial statements, the data will be regularly up to date meaning business planning and decisions can be taken in a much prompter manner. Please see our section for Management Accounts and Financial Information for more details.
• Estimated tax liabilities can be calculated as you go along, ensuring there are no nasty end of year surprises.

Business Growth

Business growth services include…

• Setting goals and an action plan to get you where you want to be – for more details see our page on strategic planning.
• Removing the blocks that are stopping you from getting to where you want to be.
• Benchmarking against other businesses in your industry – comparisons to the best and the average in your industry sector.
• Putting the systems in place to allow your business to grow.
• Performance monitoring through identifying and using key performance indicators.
• Marketing strategy.
• Unique selling point development.
• Customer service systems.
• Pricing strategy.
• Lead generation systems.
• Sales conversion systems.
• Re-selling systems.
• Raising finance to allow you to invest in growth – for more details see our page on raising finance.

Business Plans

Business plans can be a vital tool in the development of a business and are also regularly required to support finance applications such as bank lending.

We can assist with all aspects of business plans including…

• Business strategy and goal setting
• Budgets
• Cash-flow and profit forecasts
• All written elements of the plan including business background, marketing plans and strategies, SWOT analysis, market and competition analysis and any other key elements that need presenting in the plan.

We can also provide assistance with monitoring the company against the plan as an after service once the plan has been produced.

Business Valuations

We can provide business valuation services for both unincorporated entities and shares in unquoted incorporated companies based in the UK.

Business valuations may be required and/or beneficial for a number of reasons…

• Selling or purchasing a business
• Business mergers
• Raising finance
• Company buy back of shares
• Shareholder or partner disputes
• Divorce proceedings and matrimonial disputes
• Business monitoring
• Tax planning
• Financial reporting requirements
• Exit planning

Strategic Planning

Strategic planning can be hugely important for the future prosperity of your business.

The ability to trust your intuition and make quick decision making with your gut feelings can be a crucial business skill in successful entrepreneurs. However, planning is still crucial, with research showing that businesses with a clear plan and strategy are far more successful than those without.

The benefits of strategic planning include…

• Agreeing on long-term strategic goals both for you and your business.
• Identifying where you currently stand with your business.
• Working on the business which will hopefully lead to spending less time working in it!
• Identifying potential ‘blocks’ in your strategy and agreeing operational strategies to overcome them.
• Developing business growth systems.
• Growing an excellent group of staff.
• Managing money in your business.
• Developing an exit strategy.
• Monitoring your results against goals.

Raising Finance

Through our contacts with banks and finance sources we can assist in advising the right type of finance for you and your business and any potential tax implications.

There are a range of different options for raising finance, and would include…

• Bank loans and overdrafts
• Personal loans and mortgages
• Hire purchases
• Leasing and contract hire
• Sales invoice factoring and discounting
• Venture capital
• Private investment