Contact UsApplied Business Solutions partners with the Techsol Group
We are pleased to announce that, late last year, the Techsol Group acquired Applied Business Solutions. Our company began in 1997 and has grown into a leading supplier of accountancy and business software throughout the South West. Chris Parkinson, Director of Applied Business Solutions, said: “With the shape and nature of technology moving fast, we decided to look at how we could partner with another like-minded business in order to deliver the next evolution in technology. We wanted a partner that would further strengthen our product portfolio and services that we are able to offer our clients. The Techsol Group shares the same values we do and their aim is to ensure clients make effective use of the latest advancements in technology to increase business efficiency and performance” Gavin Morgan, Managing Director of Techsol Group said: “The acquisition of Applied is a great opportunity for the Techsol Group to increase its range and depth of services to give our customers a full choice of solutions across the technology spectrum. We look forward to investing in the team and business to push forward and work with the rest of the Group to give customers a high quality of service across all technology aspects. Applied also gives us...
Top tips to maintain a healthy cash flow and keep growing
Picture the scene. Your customers can’t get enough of your products or services, you want to embrace growth and take on more projects. ‘Cash is king’ and is the lifeline of all businesses. But there’s a problem. The long payment terms set out by your customers mean that cash flow is tight. So, how can you manage your cash flow better? We’ve put together our top tips for businesses to maintain healthy cash flow and keep growing. 1. Be aware of customer payment practices You’ll be able to manage the payment terms of your customers better if you plan. Ask questions and do research before you strike up new trading relationships. Even without long payment terms in the picture, all companies have different payment habits. Maybe your customer pays everything on the same day each month? Perhaps it’s on an ad-hoc basis, which poses different challenges. You need to know. 2. Prompt invoicing It seems like a no-brainer. If you don’t invoice your customers you can’t maintain your cash flow – but it’s easy to fall behind on issuing invoices when you’re already being pulled in a lot of direction, and that just causes further payment delay. Make sure one person takes...
Five ways to spring clean your business books
Here are some top tips from Emily Coltman to help you brush up your bookkeeping and get your business set for fresh new growth in the months ahead. Now that winter is winding down and self-assessment season is over for another year, it’s a great time to start thinking about how you could do some early spring cleaning to tidy up your figures and make your business more efficient. Review your transactions for VAT If you’re registered for VAT, it’s not always easy to know how much you should charge to your customers and how much you can reclaim on your costs. What you charge to your customers depends on which goods and services you sell. If you’re not sure whether a particular item should be standard-rated, reduced-rated or zero-rated, or exempt or outside the scope of VAT, check HMRC’s guidance or ask your accountant for confirmation. You’ll often be charged VAT by your suppliers and you may be able to reclaim this, but you can’t reclaim all the VAT you’re charged. For instance, if the cost you’ve incurred relates to exempt sales, or if you paid to entertain clients, you can’t reclaim the VAT on those costs. Check the...
Small businesses to benefit from HMRC digital reforms
Here, Ed Molyneux explores the changes to the tax process that will commence on April 6th. If you are still getting over what was, for many, the stress of the January 31st tax self-assessment deadline, get set for another upcoming milestone. April 6th fires the starting gun on a new financial year that will bring a raft of changes to the tax process for millions of businesses. From April, HMRC begins a journey which will give everyone real-time insight and will automate more of their tax filing, eventually making the entire process digital. These changes have been widely characterised, by business groups and 112,107 petitioners, as introducing the extra burden of not just one but four tax returns per year. But that is not what is happening, and there is no need to be afraid. The changes starting now will lead to less red tape, not more. So, what is happening? Already, the majority of business owners file their returns online. As part of HMRC’s Making Tax Digital initiative, now every individual and small business will have access to their own digital tax account, showing a personalised picture of their tax affairs, like an online bank account. That will give...
Sage announces 6% growth as it releases annual results
ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE company Sage's annual results to the year end 30 September 2015 has revealed organic revenue growth of 6%, reaching £1.4bn - up from 5% the year before. Organic recurring revenue by rose 9%, up from 7% in 2014, with software subscription the primary driver. The company launched its flagship product Sage One in Brazil, Malaysia and Australia over the course of the year, with further global expansion planned. Significant partnerships were also confirmed with Salesforce, Microsoft, PwC, Deloitte, Barclays, Telefonica, Google, Constant Contact, Neat and Costco. Sage group CEO Stephen Kelly said: "Our aim is to support businesses by providing the technology and ecosystem that they need to be successful and to grow. This is one of many milestones that helps us to connect our customers to accountants and partners with real time and intuitive information about their business. "Sage One is central to our strategy of addressing the white space opportunity of small and medium businesses which are not using any means of accounting software currently." Read more by Calum Fuller
Replace your bad clients with good clients
You are only as good as your client list. But one AccountingWEB member's relationship with their clients has led them to ask: Where have all the good people gone? AccountingWEB member taxwizard turned to Any Answers in despair, complaining about how their clients are ‘rude’ and aggressive’. Furthermore, taxwizard grumbled that their clients are devious, conniving, and they "seem to hide information". A few AccountingWEB members nodded their heads in agreement: Abaco blamed clients’ lack of manners on the cynical viewpoint society has taken to accountants. “Half the trouble is that "a good accountant" is regarded by much of the wider world as someone who will come up with and participate in the execution of a foolproof method of unlawfully evading tax; usually at a knock down price into the bargain,” abaco said. However, member NH partly disagreed. “I can only speak for my own clients and I would say that 90% of them are friendly, honest and polite. They appreciate the advice I give and usually follow it.” But NH’s clients’ civility could be systematic of his rigorous recruitment process. AccountingWEB user Stewie Griffin had similar thoughts as taxwizard until they weeded out their rude clients. “Life is much...
Tax profession just doesn’t get it
It took a top flight lawyer to tell the tax profession what they didn’t want to hear: That they are out of touch with the zeitgeist on matters of tax avoidance. Des Hudson, former Chief Executive of the Law Society and current chairman of the Taxation Disciplinary Board was addressing the great and the good of the tax profession at the CTA Address. His core argument was: There is a disconnect between the tax profession and what society demands on tax behaviour. To bridge this gap the tax profession must reconnect with society as a whole. A member of the audience said the standard of behaviour tax advisers should adhere to is to advise clients to pay all the tax the law requires – not a penny more – and that clients should be assisted to pay as little tax as possible. Des Hudson said this was exactly his point: such behaviour is no longer socially acceptable. If organisations and individuals are seen to be avoiding tax, even through legal means, that is wrong. He went on to say that society’s expectations of the tax professional now goes beyond telling clients what the law allows, and arguing if you don’t...
How to navigate the .GOV maze
Kate Upcraft from AccountingWeb puts together some top tips that might offset the time you spend on .Gov filling in feedback forms – which do work sometime so don’t be discouraged – and wading through search results. First off, use ‘filter by organisation’ box this can reduce several hundred results to dozens, which is a relief. I also like the email subscription as it allows me to see everything that HMRC have published that day, not just the selected items that HMRC decided could make it onto ‘What’s new’, often days after the announcement. One of the structured email forms I’ve used a few times lately and that has always delivered is the ‘my tax code is wrong’. In my case it was to assist employees who needed spit allowances over two jobs. Completing the text box with the relevant suggested split has always led to correct P6s arriving with a couple of weeks. Staying on the tax code theme employees with company cars should be aware that they should consider using the new service that HMRC is trialling to tell them that they have been allocated, changed or ceased to have a company car. Whilst the employer will provide that information via the P46...
FRC to focus on quality of small company reporting
FRC launches series of measures aimed at improving the quality of corporate reporting at smaller quoted companies. THE FRC has launched a series of measures aimed at improving the quality of corporate reporting at smaller quoted companies after finding that many accounts fail to meet investor expectations. Many smaller quoted companies lack sufficient skilled resources and are unable to keep pace with new reporting requirements, the reporting watchdog found in a review of reporting by companies listed on junior stock markets. It said it will develop ways of providing more focused training to finance staff; provide guidance to audit committees and boards on evaluating the adequacy of a company's financial reporting function and process; promote options for reduced disclosures against IFRS against such companies; and provide annual guidance to boards of smaller quoted companies on the current issues, areas of focus for investors and common errors. Read more
Chancellor to review bank tax threat
THE GOVERNMENT is considering a review of a tax on banks in order to discourage multinational banks considering leaving the capital and establishing their HQs overseas. The chancellor is to outline plans for the review in a speech later this week, in which he will say the government is committed to maintaining the competitiveness of banks, the Sunday Times reports. After a scandal-hit year, HSBC is currently assessing the viability of relocating its financial centre to Asia, while Standard Chartered is also undertaking a similar process. HSBC - Europe's biggest bank - said in April it was prompted by "regulatory and structural changes" in the industry. It makes 80% of its profits in Asia. A finance ministry spokesman declined to comment directly on the report but said: "We are committed to maintaining our position as a global financial hub. "As set out at the budget, it is right that, as it becomes more profitable, our banking sector makes a fair contribution to fixing the public finances." Read more
