Business Advice

25.04.2013 Business Advice No Comments

Option for company to buy back its own shares

Certain businesses are required to have more shares issued than would normally be the case, for example a firm of financial advisers may have a capital requirement under the old FSA to have say £15,000 shares issued where a similar business would only have £100.  This means that the owner will have had to pay £15k into the business rather than £100, but if the requirement is no longer there, these funds may be extracted. read more

28.02.2013 Business Advice No Comments

Year end information for your accountant for Sage users

The details provided below are in response to requests from clients of AW Accounting in Gravesend for details of what to provide at the year end.  This specifically relates to Sage read more

22.11.2012 Business Advice No Comments

What can I find out about a company online?

In the last week a couple of clients have asked me what and how they can find out about companies they are either considering working with or are having issues with.  For registered companies information is held at Companies House and the usual documents you would expect to find read more

18.11.2011 Business Advice No Comments

Year end information for your accountant for Quickbooks users

The details provided below are in response to requests from clients of AW Accounting in Gravesend for details of what to provide at the year end.  This specifically relates to Quickbooks read more

18.11.2011 Business Advice No Comments

Computer records – what does my accountant need?

It is no longer necessary to box up all of your records and send them down to your accountant. If you keep your records electronically read more

11.07.2011 Business Advice No Comments

HMRC Spam emails and hacked Twitter account

There have been two incidents which have reminded me of the danger of online transactions in the last few days:

HMRC spam repayment claim email

A client of mine received an email directing him to a website which as you can see looks pretty realistic at first sight.  He was only forewarned by some spelling and grammatical errors in the original email. read more

28.05.2011 Business Advice 1 Comment

Running a business, my best advice…

I get to see many businesses and discuss their experiences throughout the year and the most successful ones are those that concentrate their activity on their core business

What is the core business?

It is so easy to describe your business within its sector as accountants, builders, cleaners for example  but this does not describe what you do.  It is only by being more specific that you can become more focussed not only in your marketing activity but also in the process by which you actually do the work.  Let us consider the builder as an example and the type of work they carry out:

  • Commercial (as opposed to residential)
  • Public sector (not private sector)
  • Fit out (rather than new build)

If they deviated into a domestic new build a new skill set would be required and while they may be able to do the work the disciplines and working practices are different.  Suddenly the efficiencies are lost and this will impact on both profitability and ultimately cashflow.

This may be an extreme but it is worth looking at new ventures and seeing whether they are complimentary to current activity or running along a separate track altogether.  In summary my advice would be to:

  • Differentiate your business
  • Become a niche – you are not the same as the others
  • Concentrate on that core activity

The advice above may not apply to your circumstances, so seek professional advice before taking any steps based on the information shown. If you would like advice in this or other areas feel free to call.  Alastair Wood, AW Accounting, Gravesend – Accountants who “speak your language”

06.12.2010 Business Advice No Comments

Signatory for your company

An incorrect signature can have major consequences on a compay’s liability for a contract so you should ensure you get it right.  There principles are different depending on the entity you are representing.  read more

23.11.2010 Business Advice No Comments

How to Change Accountants

Some advice from Gravesend Accountants, AW Accounting.  Accountants like banks tend to have loyal clients however the time may come where service or fee issue mean you have looked elsewhere and want to change.  There is no easy way to say good bye to a longstanding business relationship read more

24.08.2010 Business Advice No Comments

How to complete an Annual Return online

With the increasing volumes of companies registered at Companies House, it makes sense that any data which is held on the record can be copied from year to year with changes rather than recreating the information every year from scratch and that being updated manually or by Optical Character Recognition at Companies House.  The process is fairly straightforward for anyone used to buying goods online. read more