We have been talking to our employer clients about pension auto-enrolment for some time now and presenting them with fact sheets about the three schemes which would not cost them anything to set up.  NEST, NOW Pensions and The People’s Pension were all schemes that would take small employers with less than 50 employees.   […]

Both an accountant and a bookkeeper have valuable roles to play in your business and generally you need both and not one or the other. A very simple explanation of their roles is that a bookkeeper will record the day to day financial transactions of your business, whilst an accountant will use the information a […]

We have been working with Xero accounts software for a number of years and have found it to be very valuable to some businesses.  So what are the benefits for our customers? We started working with a large national charity in 2014 and when they approached us their main concern that they didn’t have visibility […]

Business bank accounts have free banking for between one and two years after you set them up but once that honeymoon period is over do you check what you are paying charges for?   Banks often have two levels of charging – one which is beneficial for businesses who do most of their banking via […]

If your staff are paid the minimum wage you will need to recalculate their pay with effect from 1st October 2015 to take account of the increases which came into force on that date. Those aged 21 and above must be paid a minimum of £6.70 per hour. Those aged 18-20 must be paid a […]

Auto enrolment affects all employers.   Every employer has been allocated a Staging Date by which time they must have a pension scheme in place. Even if you think your employees will not want to be part of a pension scheme you still have to put one in place. All eligible employees must be enrolled […]

Outsourcing is the contracting out of a business service to a third party.   Business owners need so many skills to keep their business going and growing that it makes sense to know what you are best at and what someone else will be able to do better than you. As a business owner myself […]

For the second time this year our office has closed for a team training day.  We do get together regularly for team meetings but a whole day of training has proved extremely valuable to us.  Whilst we work as a team supporting each other we all work independently with different clients and different types of […]

Children aged 13 and upwards can be employed part-time but there are restrictions and they may require an employment permit issued by the Education Department of the Council.  Most local councils require that an employment permit is issued as this ensures that the employer is insured against accidents.  Children do not need a permit for […]

There isn’t a standard format for preparing an invoice and if you buy goods from a number of suppliers you will find they will all be different.  However there is certain information you must include on an invoice for your customers’ benefit, for your own benefit and which is required if you are VAT registered. […]