How can an accountant help me grow my business?

Posted by & filed under Partners & Management Team.

Some people may only use their accountant to ensure they don’t miss any filing deadlines for their accounts and tax returns.  However, we can, and prefer to, offer so much more than that.

Here are some of the ways a good accountant can help you grow and develop your business:

  • We can identify and make you aware of key trends in your business
  • We can help you implement structures to incentivise and maintain key members of staff
  • We can help you identify and access any available grant funding
  • Once you have received a grant, we can help prepare any ongoing monitoring documents required by the grant awarders.
  • We can act as impartial and independent advisors – you can bounce ideas off us and we can share experience gained from the wide range of businesses with whom we work (of course this will be on an anonymous basis, as maintaining client confidentiality is of the utmost importance)
  • We can help you formulate and work towards a retirement and succession plan
  • We can review the structure of your business and implement any changes which may make it more effective

In addition to all of the above, as a client of Charnwood Accountants, you will receive free access to online business growth software – this will help you identify the key areas on which you should focus to grow your business; and then will give you strategies on how to do so.

If you would be interested in talking more about any of these ideas, please do get in the touch.

In the meantime, why not have a look at either of our free apps:

  • Charnwood Accountants app: full of tax tips as well as calculators so you can see how much tax you will have to pay in different scenarios
  • Profit Predictor app: discover what level of turnover your business needs to generate for you to be able to take out the money you want from it.

Brand new profit predictor app released by Charnwood Accountants

Posted by & filed under Partners & Management Team, Support Team, Technical Team.

A new app designed to help businesses maximise their profit potential is being launched this week by Leicestershire accountancy firm Charnwood Accountants.

The tool aims to provide companies with greater clarity on their financial performance as they plot their long-term growth. The Profit Predictor was designed so companies can simply and easily check how much money they were generating.

The app was developed for Charnwood by Leicestershire-based Swipe & Tap.

The idea was to help businesses quickly and efficiently gain the detailed information they needed to set viable turnover targets and move their business forward. The Profit Predictor will help our clients to grow their businesses by equipping them with the key financial performance criteria they need to progress towards their financial targets.

For many owner-managed businesses, performance is measured by turnover, as that can be easily reviewed year on year or month on month.

The app was designed to perform a true breakeven analysis, identifying the value of sales required in order to cover the costs of the business and the required takeout of the business owners. Once a core base line is established, this can be simply adjusted to factor in, for example a pension contribution, or an increased dividend.

The Profit Predictor app will work back from your desired takeout, accounting for the current business costs and gross profit margin to establish the required business turnover. Plus, it will inform you of your estimated Corporation Tax to put aside if you hit your target.

Charnwood Accountants had been using the principles of the app for many years, to help clients to better understand the link between their financial targets compared with the level of turnover required to attain them.

The app’s features include allowing users to: check changes in business overheads; review the effect of changes in gross margin on required turnover; see the effects of increased or decreased takeout from a business and change directors’ takeout mix to include a pension contribution.

The free Profit Predictor is available at apple store in the business category and can be downloaded here:

AppStoreIcon

Swipe & Tap is a Leicestershire-based independent mobile app development company.

USING THE NEW 2015 PENSION RULES FOR ESTATE PLANNING

Posted by & filed under Technical Team.

urrent rules state that pension annuities lapse on the death of an individual, with no value passing to their children. In contrast, drawdown pensions can be passed on to the next generation, subject to a 55% charge on the fund. We were expecting an announcement of a reduction in this penal charge in the Autumn Statement, but the Chancellor decided to announce the change earlier than anticipated at the Conservative Party Conference. The changes will have exciting estate planning opportunities – please contact us and/or your financial advisor to discuss these in more detail. (more…)