* Every now and again, someone posts in a business forum to say that they are not happy with their accountant for various reasons, such as: not getting any support or advice from their accountant, unexpected bills from their accountant, they’ve asked a question and they don’t understand the accountant’s answer and so on… For [read more]
 DIY Accounts*I’ve blogged previously about why you should have an accountant. However, when trying to cut costs (and who isn’t, these days?), often business owners look to cutting accountant fees. They either fnd a cheaper accountant, or they do without one altogether. Unless you require an audit, there is absolutely no obligation for a business to appoint an [read more] |
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 Year End Accounts Checklist*Traditionally, accountants do a number of tasks in completing a set of accounts & tax returns. Here are a few of them. (Note that some of them may not apply to all businesses. For example, sole traders would not have to submit accounts to Companies House. If you don’t hold stock, then stock-takes and stock [read more] |
 Recourse Factoring in the Statutory Accounts*Recourse Factoring calls for “Separate Presentation” in the balance sheet of a company’s statutory accounts. The liability to the Factor is shown as a short-term creditor, because in effect it is a loan from the Factor. The Sales ledger debtors are shown under “current assets” in the usual way. The Factoring fees and discount fees [read more] |
 Umbrella Company Confusion*This week’s blog posts were inspired by a recent question on AccountingWEB. It seems that even accountants can be confused about what Umbrella Companies actually do. For that reason, it’s important to use an accountant who actually knows about the practicalities of contracting and IR35. Most accountants will be able to deal with bog-standard limited company [read more] |
 Choosing an Umbrella Company*Some things to think about when choosing an Umbrella company: The speed with which they will process your PAYE and expenses and their timescales/deadlines. How fast will you be paid once the Umbrella company receives payment from the recuitment agency. This will also depend on how fast they send an invoice to the agency. How easy [read more] |
 Why Use an Umbrella Company*Advantages for the Contractor There are tax advantages to trading through a limited company, rather than being PAYE employees (mainly in the area of the tax-deductible expenses that can be claimed by the contractor). However, running a limited company is onerous in terms of additional regulation, responsibility and statutory accounts, returns and corporation tax. Using an Umbrella [read more] |
