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. […]

HMRC recently published their annual report and accounts for 2014-15 which included two interesting facts which explain why we frequently don’t get the support we need. HMRC staff handled 72.5 per cent of the 6.5 million calls they received (lower than 2013-14 when they handled 79 per cent of calls). They processed 70 per cent […]

If you have a Staging Date less than six months away and you haven’t started making arrangements for your pension scheme you may find that you can’t meet the deadline.  Many pension schemes are not accepting employers with only a few employees and therefore there are a limited number of schemes to choose from.  The […]

Meet our team of qualified and experienced bookkeepers who keep our clients’ accounts up to date, meet their VAT deadlines and provide them with the support and advice they need to maintain and grow their business. Photo courtesy of Fx92 Photograph Karen          Anne           Ruth     […]