FAQs

Ask any business owner who did not start working with an accountant or book keeper from the very beginning and you will probably hear that they wish they had started working with someone sooner!

Why is this?

Firstly, we can advise on the busines set up in terms of trading structure and whether to be VAT registered. We can make sure you are aware of the tax reliefs and allowances available and set up a robust book keeping system.

Starting or growing a business is exciting but time consuming. All of a sudden there will be things that need doing which are out of your comfort zone or area of expertise. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you will be able to add this onto the end of your already busy day and save money but doing it youself. It won’t happen ! Evenings and weekends are for you, your family and friends – not your books.

Even with the best intentions, the book keeping starts piling up and becomes more and more unappealing!

We will make sure you are all up to date, confident in the knowledge of how your business is performing and with all upcoming tax bills budgeted for. No nasty surprises.

Is it a cost or is it actually the best investment in your business you will ever make?

We will be bringing 30 years of experience of working in industry and practice. If you are passionate and serious about growing your business and want to be successful then you are the clients we want to work with.

We will offer a range of packages and support so you are free to choose the one that suits your requirements the best.

This is a very common means of charging for time spent. However, with the introduction of cloud platforms, bank feeds and bank rules the focus we bring is on the output – your financial information – what it means now and what it means for the future of your business. This has transformed the role of the accountant from an historian to a real time business partner.

In our experience, clients hate being billed by the hour and the uncertainty of what the bill will be.

We focus on the value we can bring to your business not how many bank transactions or receipts you have.

As we choose to work with carefully selected clients, the first step is for you to complete a short fact find questionnaire – this helps us find out more about what you are trying to achieve in your business and what is holding you back. We will offer a range of support packages with fixed prices. Once you decide to join us, we will issue engagement letters and carry out due diligence such as money laundering checks. These onboarding activities are non-chargeable.

There is a 3-month probationary period – if you are not happy with us, you can leave and pay nothing. If we feel you are not working well with us or responding to our queries, we will end the relationship so we can offer another business the opportunity to work with us.

Costs increase each year and we, like you are in business so there will be a fixed 2% increase applied on the 1st January each year. If the increase needs to be more than this, we will give you 3 months’ notice.

Other than that, your price will only increase if our scope of work increases. We will agree this with you before we take on any additional work.

Kath will be your sole point of contact. She is dedicated to working with a select client base, understanding your business and establishing long term relationships.

All work will therefore be carried out by a highly experienced chartered accountant.

We appreciate that switching from an accounting book or excel sheet to an online platform can seem a leap of faith and daunting but we have worked with these platforms now as they have developed for over 10 years.

Using a cloud-based platform offers the following advantages

Real time financial data and reporting – with bank feeds and bank rules, your books can be up to date and ready for your review without risk of human error with mis typing numbers from bank statements into stand-alone excel sheets

Reporting – these platforms come with excellent reporting packages which are fully customizable – perfect for bringing to board meetings or funding/loan applications

Security – all your data is stored in the cloud and 2 factor authentications can be used to log onto the platform meaning your business financial information is safe and secure. You can decide on how many users to have and who can do what. All data is fully encrypted.

Embrace the digital age – the Government is committed to supporting a digital strategy for a digital economy. For the fast-growing new business, digitization offers a real time view of finances, opportunities and key cashflows. Emphasis is now on the outcome and value from robust and complete book keeping rather than focusing on the time and volume of transactions to be processed. The rapid growth of the ecommerce sector shows a realization of the changing nature of consumer spending and behaviors. We have some great tools that can help with the integration of the transactions into your cloud platform if you sell on Amazon/eBay etc.

Switching is easier than you think and data from most desktop packages such as SAGE can be transferred over. Just contact us with your current provider and we will be able to offer you some options. We have access to expert migration teams who will carry out the data transfer and ensure everything is correct and complete for you.

Depending on the complexity and amount of data to be transferred, migration costs start at £350. Cloud platform licences start from as little as £6 – there is an option to suit every business of every size so just get in contact for a free no obligation quote to get you flying high in the clouds and ready for MTD.