Our UKBA teams regularly meet by Zoom video call. Today, our London and South East team reviewed the support given to companies in the last couple of weeks, and we would like to share this with you. You are also encouraged to visit our general support page at https://ukba.co.uk/coronavirus Here are examples of how we have helped companies and added value to them: Apply for Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan applications (40% approved and 60% pending to date) Plan for Furloughing, restructuring and assisting Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme applications from 20.1.20 Prepare business strategy, business planning and financial planning Assisting construction companies preparing to resume operations and resolve supply chain issues Applying for an Innovate UK funding competition Helping companies to claim R&D Tax Credits and get cash injections Completing the recruitment of a marketing manager and working with clients to plan their needs … [Read more...]
HMRC taxing Contractors deemed as Employees (IR35)
IR35 in the Public Sector How could this affect your business? Introduction IR35 is a piece of legislation that allows HMRC to collect additional payment where a contractor is an employee in all but name. If a contractor is operating through an intermediary, such as a limited company, and but for that intermediary they would be an employee of their client, IR35 applies. New rules for IR35 will apply from the 1st of April 2020 in the Private Sector as they have been applied in the Public Sector for the last two years. Each business needs to assess the Risk and implications of these new rules and make the necessary changes to procedures before early April 2020. Who will be affected in the Private Sector? Medium and Large Companies will be the initial target of the IR35 rules and they will follow the rules that now apply in the Public Sector. Small businesses do not have a definition for IR35 but the definition will probably follow the criteria in Companies Act 2006. How … [Read more...]
Financial information you need to run your business effectively
In order to manage your business effectively you need to be sure that it has enough cash to keep trading and that it is running profitably. To ensure this happens, I recommend you review your financial status at the start of each and every business week. You will have financial records, probably in one of the most popular accounting software packages such as Sage, QuickBooks or Xero. Either your own staff or your accountants will use these to prepare VAT returns and the other legal requirements such as the annual accounts required by Companies House. These accounting systems can also produce many of the essential figures you need to review on a weekly basis. Additionally, you need to forecast which clients are likely to pay their invoices this week. This is often not the same as those who should pay this week. Accurately forecasting your weekly cashflow is a skill every business needs to master. Not all of the figures in the list below will apply to all businesses. You … [Read more...]
Four steps to make sure your clients pay on time
We all understand that not collecting payments on time has as a severe impact on your cash flow, but let's not forget also that you are effectively giving your clients, your debtors, interest-free credit, and this also has an impact on your cash flow and your profit. Whatever the size of your business - start-up, sole trader, micro business, small business or SME - the remedies are the same. Follow these four steps and you will reduce the amount of money owed to you: send out the invoice as soon as you ship the goods; call the client the day after you send out the invoice to check the invoice has been received and there are no issues with the goods or services supplied; call the client 5 days later to carry out the same checks, so that there no excuses on that front; and call the client 5 days before you expect to get paid to make sure your invoice has gone into that month's payment run. Pretty obvious really, but it is surprising how many companies are not doing that. DSO - … [Read more...]
Collecting cancellation fees
People don't like paying cancellation fees even if they are aware of them when they book their appointment, to the extent that charging a fee often results in the client going elsewhere. No easy remedies Apart from asking for a non-refundable deposit, there are no easy remedies. Charging a cancellation fee to their credit card leaves you open to the client disputing the charge and claiming a refund, the excuse being: they did not receive your service, they were not aware of your cancellation policy (even if you did tell them), and they did not authorize the charge. Avoid cancellations in the first place So, by far the best way of reducing lost revenue is to avoid the cancellations in the first place. Send the client a reminder 24 hours before the appointment either by SMS, email or phone and get a confirmation of the appointment; Ensure your staff are well trained to handle objections and secure the appointment; Survey the clients to find out why they cancel and address the … [Read more...]
Removal of Time to Pay threatens the life blood of our economy
UK Business Advisors (UKBA) believes that Time to Pay has been a major help to small businesses, and is concerned that its withdrawal will threaten the survival of many small businesses, just at the time that the economy is looking to them to help pull the country out of the slump. Time to Pay is a government initiative by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) that enables businesses to spread tax payments over several stages. It has been particularly helpful to small business with smoothing out quarterly VAT payments. Three small payments are much easier to manage than one large one. However the latest HMRC stats show that the Revenue are only granting Time to Pay at a third of the level in 2009. This is because they have made it clear that they will not allow repeat applications. HMRC have now announced that they will no longer publish statistics on this important safety net, further threatening the survival of this scheme. The recent poor performance figures from HMRC appear to … [Read more...]
