Making Tax Digital has arrived. From now on, most VAT-registered companies with a turnover above £85,000 will need to keep digital records and submit their VAT returns in a new way. For these businesses, the old system won’t work anymore. HMRC has been busy updating its guidance with the publication of ‘The future of tax…
The time I lost control
I recently had a week’s leave…..and ended up working every day! I don’t say this to brag. In fact the opposite because I want you to chastise me for being so stupid. I know the value and importance of recovery time after exercise (and I give my brain a lot of exercise) and yet I…
Accountants take the role of bank managers for small businesses
If you were in business in the 80s or 90s and opened an account at a high street bank it almost certainly came with a couple of add-ons – a relationship manager and an overdraft. Back then there were about 30,000 business bank managers and virtually every business that needed working capital had an overdraft…
There is a Third Path
It hadn’t been a good year. Two of my consultancy clients had been forced to cancel their contracts and a third had had their loan called in by the bank who had appointed a Receiver. Back then I mainly carried out consultancy work for growing businesses most of whom had built up debt. Most of…
The results so far
In a recent blog I explained why your website is your most important marketing asset. At the time my site ranked very badly in Google for the keywords someone would use to search for an accountant in Chester. So with the help of Will Robinson (who gave my website a thorough MOT) I started a exercise to improve my…
Is your password on the dark web?
No of course not. How could it be? Well if you use the same password repeatedly with your email address it is quite likely that it is out there and you don’t know it. Mine was. 551,509,767 real world passwords have been exposed in data breaches. This exposure makes them unsuitable for ongoing use as they’re…
Don’t make this basic mistake
Last week Big-4 accountant KPMG announced that they were pulling out of the small business accounting market. This follows their high profile launch and expensive advertising campaign only a couple of years ago. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who listens to and understands the 3Ms of marketing – Market, Message and Media.…
Don’t ignore tried and tested marketing pillars
Last week I held a monthly call with a client who is in the top 5% of business owners in his sector. He has done what all successful business owners do which is to remove himself from day to day operations so that he can work on his business, he has clear goals and develops…
You may have to start digging deeper
Last week I spent two days, with different clients, analysing and reviewing their management information. In the first case we’d be warned by their monthly management accounts that profitability had slipped in December. As is often the case the reason wasn’t clear from the P/L alone (which is often the case) and we needed to…
Don’t let GDPR ruin your plans to raise finance
When seeking investment for your business there are many considerations for a business owner, but from May 2018 you can add GDPR to that list. Whilst all business owners will have without doubt heard the horror stories of GDPR and its potential for unprecedented fines, what is not really being discussed, is the longer-term impact…
