Business Start-Up News « Broomfield & Alexander Chartered Accountants

Business Start-Up News

Sage 50 offers, March 2012

Friday, March 9th, 2012

March 2012 Offers

Please contact Sagesolutions@broomfield.co.uk directly for more information on any of the below offers.

All offers detailed below are available until the 30 April 2012, unless otherwise stated.

Charity Discount

15% off Sage software, support and services (exceptions apply, see terms)

New and Existing customers who are listed on the UK Charities Register.

• Only businesses that are currently listed on the UK Charity Commission Register are eligible for this discount

• Businesses who are waiting to be registered are not eligble

• ‘Not-for-profit’ and ‘CIC’ businesses are not eligible

• Applies to standalone Instant Accounts, Instant Payroll, 50 Accounts, 50 Payroll, 50 HR, 50 Job Costing, 50 Forecasting, 50 CIS and ACT! software or support contracts (excluding renewals)

• Applies to Sage Stationery and Training.

• Does not apply to services provided by Sage Customer Services such as report design, data repair etc.

Competitor Trade In

25% off Sage software

New and Existing customers buying any item included in the promotion for the first time and currently using a competitor product – see Terms

• Applies to standalone 50 Accounts, 50 Payroll, 50 HR, 50 Job Costing, 50 Forecasting, 50 CIS and ACT! products

• Does not apply against products developed by the Sage Group of companies (inc. TAS)

• Proof of competitor software ownership required in the form of a)Screenshot that clearly displays their existing software is registered under their business name and matches that shown on InTouch b) actual, faxed or email copy of original purchase receipt for their existing software.

Instant Accounts End of Life

Instant Accounts EOL version customers can get 12 for 9 on SCVE or 25% off when they upgrade to latest version

Expires: 30th April 2012 for supported customers

Existing Instant Accounts v14 supported customers or those whose support is due to expire between now and 30th April 2012

• Can not be used with any other Instant Accounts promotion

• Customers who take up this offer within 30 days of a new release will not be entitled to the next version free of charge

• SCV discount can be used with 25% off upgrade

50 Accounts End of Life

50 Accounts EOL version customers can get 12 for 9 on SCVE or 25% off when they upgrade to latest version

Expires: 30th April 2012 for supported customers

Existing 50 Accounts 2008 supported customers whose support is due to expire between now and 30th April 2012

• Can not be used with any other 50 Accounts promotion

• Customers who take up this offer within 30 days of a new release will not be entitled to the next version free of charge

• SCV discount can be used with 25% off upgrade

50 Payroll End of Life

50 Payroll EOL version customers can get 12 for 9 on SCVE or 25% off when they upgrade to latest version

Expires: 31st March 2012 for supported customers

Existing 50 Payroll 2008 supported customers whose support is due to expire between now and 31st March 2012

• Can not be used with any other 50 Payroll promotion

• Customers who take up this offer within 30 days of a new release will not be entitled to the next version free of charge

• SCV discount can be used with 25% off upgrade

20% off Stationery for first time buyers

Any item of Standard Stationery that the customer has never bought before for will be discounted by 20%

Expires: Until further notice

New and existing customers

Repeat purchases to be charged at full price

Only includes Standard Stationery Only available on items that the customer has never bought before or has at least not bought within the last two years

Instant to Sage 50 Accounts

Up to 30% off a 50 Accounts upgrade for existing Instant Accounts customers

Expires: 31^st March 2012

Existing customers only

This promotion applies to ‘up-the-range’ purchases of 50 Accounts only
Discounts available include 20% off software only upgrade
25% off software upgrades with SCV
30% off software upgrades with SCVE
This promotion can not be used with any other promotion or discount provided by Sage

25% off when buying Accounts and Payroll

25% off when buying any Sage Accounts and Sage Payroll software together

Expires: 31^st March 2012

This promotion applies to the purchase of Instant Accounts, 50 Accounts, Instant Payroll and Sage 50 Payroll software and support only.
Customers must buy at least one Accounts related item (software or support) and one Payroll related item on the same call.
Applies to the purchase of primary license, upgrade and SCV/SCVE sales
Excludes the purchase of Sage bundles and Packages
This promotion can not be used with any other promotion or discount provided by Sage.

Why not follow @BroomfieldWales on Twitter to keep up with the latest information on Sage and other business and financial topics, or simply register for our monthly newsletter.

New Business Start Checklist

Thursday, May 5th, 2011

Mark Jones, Director, Broomfield & Alexander

When starting up your business, there are many things to consider.

Refer to the following checklist to help you during the start up period and to ensure you get it right.

Here are just some of the questions you should consider:

1. What type of business do you want to setup as? E.g. Sole Trader, Partnership, Limited Company.

2. Do you believe that you have the drive to succeed in business?

3. Do you have sufficient experience in a business environment?

4. Do you have funds that you can inject into the business?

5. Will you need help in financing the business start-up?

6. Will you need to acquire premises?

7. Have you considered the potential business expenses e.g. tax

8. Are you familiar with the current legal requirements that will affect you as a business owner?

9. Will you be appointing any staff, if so how many?

It is important to plan all of these matters out before setting up your own business. If you have plan effectively and take advice from professionals you could start your business off on the right note.

Why not follow @BroomfieldWales on Twitter to keep up with the latest information on starting a new business and other business and financial topics, or simply register for our monthly newsletter.

Docsafe – keeping your documents secure

Monday, March 21st, 2011

As part of our online accounting software, we use docSAFE – a secure online office used for exchanging large documents and files which cannot be sent by email.

For more information on DocSAFE please view the video below:

Employing people for the first time? Here’s how to get it right…

Wednesday, October 27th, 2010

Sarah Case, Director, Broomfield & Alexander

Broomfield & Alexander publishes a series of articles focusing on business advice and information. This article appeared in the Business Advice column, Western Mail, 27 October 2010

Is your businesses up and running and doing well? Are all those fundamental, financial back office things you started off doing yourself now becoming a burden? Are they detracting from your ability to get up front to lead and develop the business further?

Sound familiar? You’re not alone. Many small businesses find that, as things take off, delivering the product or service becomes more time consuming, and running the finances – possibly not your forte anyway – becomes commensurately more complicated. One of the first needs of a growing company is often for someone who can get on top of record keeping, book keeping, invoicing and so on, quickly and efficiently. It’s a key appointment – get it wrong and you could be in trouble, but get it right and the smooth running of your accounts department will pay dividends, literally and figuratively, for your company.

You’ll probably have used your accountant to complete the bookkeeping for you and prepare the VAT and monthly management accounts, but once you get to a position where credit control and administration issues overcome you, you’re going to need more assistance by creating a full time finance role. The good news is that dealing with this issue doesn’t mean going for a highly-paid Financial Director from Day 1.

Your best bet will probably be to begin with an accounts assistant who will be capable of handling all the routine bookkeeping and some admin functions. Make sure you involve your solicitors to cover off any HR issues and ensure contracts are fit for purpose.

However, you will also want to use your accountant a little bit more, continuing to work closely with them to provide support at a higher level – to fine tune the management accounts so that there are no surprises at the year end, to advise on issues such as depreciation and loan interest, and to assist with analysis and discussion on how the business is doing, and subsequent business planning. You will almost certainly also prefer to ask your accountant to handle payroll to ensure both accuracy and also discretion within the business.

Ultimately, should your business become really successful, you may need to consider bringing in an FD. Again, don’t be put off by potential cost issues, or by a perceived need to offer equity shares to attract the right people.

Whether an FD or any other Board or senior management position, there are HMRC approved share option schemes available which mean you as the business owner don’t necessarily need to offer shares – which would be subject to income tax and possibly national insurance.

One such scheme, the Enterprise Management Incentive scheme (EMI) gives staff the opportunity to acquire shares at a future date with no income tax and NIC arising – they simply pay capital gains tax on any subsequent gain over the annual exemption. Typically, you would set aside 5% or 10% of the share capital to be allocated, and decide which employees will be invited to participate and to what extent.

Whilst there are administrative rules to establishing these types of schemes, they can be effective in establishing your strategic objective of attracting, retaining and motivating key staff, reducing or removing the need to pay annual bonuses and usually resulting in a payback within two years.

For more information on setting up a new business in Wales, please contact Sarah Case

NIC Series #2 – Savings available for businesses in Wales

Thursday, October 14th, 2010

Leighton Reed, Director, Broomfield & Alexander

In the second of a series of articles, Leighton Reed, Director, Broomfield & Alexander focuses on the potential for savings of National Insurance Contributions (NICs) for employers. For more specific advice and information please contact Leighton on tax@broomfield.co.uk

Employer’s NIC holiday

What is the benefit?

Only new businesses set up can qualify. The NICs holiday is available to new businesses that start up during the period from 22 June 2010 to 5 September 2013.

If your business is eligible, the National Insurance contributions (NICs) holiday will run for 12 months after the date your business started. During this time, the first 10 employees you hire are potentially ‘qualifying employees’ for the purposes of this scheme. This means that your business does not have to pay Employer’s NICs on the 12 months of salary paid to the first 10 people taken on in the first year of business. There is a NIC holiday cap of £5,000 per employee and so potentially a business can save up to £50,000 in NICs.

What is a new business?

The test of a new business is based on the activities of the business. For the purpose of the holiday, the test requires you to look at the activities of the new business and to consider whether all, or most of them, have previously been carried on in another business during the six months leading up to the start of this new business.

Also you need to decide if the new business consists of activities, or mostly of activities, resulting from the transfer of most of the activities of another business.

In considering those activities, you will need to consider whether there are similarities that may exist between the products or services, the customers, suppliers and the employees of any previous or ongoing business and the new business.

Your business will not be considered to be new and therefore won’t qualify for the NICs holiday if any of the following apply:

at any time in the 6 months leading up to the start of this business, you carried on another business and the new business consists (or mostly consists) of activities that were undertaken in the other business.
you begin to carry on a business as a result of a transfer of another business and the activities of the new business (or most of them) were previously carried on in the other business
you begin to carry on a business and before the business starts you enter into an arrangement to take on an existing business or part of an existing business at some point during the period of the NICs holiday

If you are expanding your business or setting up a new business alongside an existing one, you will not qualify for the holiday unless the expanded or new business is wholly or mainly different from the existing business. Similarly if a company establishes a subsidiary it will not qualify for the holiday unless its business is significantly different from its parent.

How to apply.

Most businesses will need to apply themselves online but only after the business has been registered as an employer with HMRC and has the PAYE reference numbers.

Your business can use the link https://online.hmrc.gov.uk/shortforms/form/NICHoliday

For more information or advice on NIC holidays please contact Leighton Reed or Nathalie Waterfield on tax@broomfield.co.uk or on 02920 549939

You have considered setting up in business for a number of years, but now you want to take the plunge. What do you need to do?

Wednesday, September 29th, 2010

Mark Jones, Director, Broomfield & Alexander

Broomfield & Alexander publishes a series of articles focusing on business advice and information. This article appeared in the Business Advice column, Western Mail, 29 September 2010

With so many jobs being lost at the moment, people are increasingly looking at self-employment – and, in fact, this may be a good time to set up in business.

The first Coalition Government is certainly encouraging – and incentivising – it. Since the last budget, new businesses starting up outside London and the South East will not have to pay national insurance contributions for their first 10 employees, subject to certain conditions.

But beware, setting up your own business may not be as easy as you imagine. To begin with, it’s important that you have done your homework to ensure that your business idea is a sound one. You should prepare a written business plan and financial projections to show you can make a profit, and will have enough cash to make your business work.

This leads neatly into the funding of your business. Perhaps you have had savings which you are going to use to purchase the necessary assets, and to provide the initial cash flow. Or you might need to approach a bank for a loan or to finance assets on leases or hire purchase, or raise equity or share capital for your business, through friends, family or third party “business angels”.

Before reaching this point, you should appoint an accountant, an expert in new business starts, who can advise on the most suitable business vehicle to trade under, all of which have differing tax treatments and varying levels of exposure to risk. You can trade as yourself, in partnership with others, form limited liability partnership or most commonly, form a company limited by share capital.

Next, you need a bank account and to consider registering for VAT. The current turnover threshold at which you must register is £70,000 pa, but you may choose to register before reaching this limit. Once registered, you can account either on a “cash received and paid” or “invoice” basis and taking advice on this point would certainly be wise.

You have to register with HM Revenue & Customs within three months of starting to trade, or face an automatic penalty. The accounting function of your business is a vital one, and it is important to choose the correct accounting software for the scale of your business. You should be producing regular monthly accounts to monitor performance, and you may need the assistance of an accountant to produce them or to provide external comment. If you have borrowed money from the bank, they may well make it a condition that you provide such information monthly or quarterly.

If your business involves employing people, seek advice. Employment law is extremely technical and it’s easy to make mistakes which can be extremely costly in the long run.

Finally, you should take out an appropriate level of insurance cover for the type of business and, again, you would be well advised to consult a qualified insurance broker.

There is a lot involved in starting a new business, and sometimes the sheer the weight of dealing with compliance matters and regulations can make people feel very weary. It’s therefore vital that you have a great passion for the business you want to start – only that will create a commitment to see it through any difficult times.

For more information on setting up a new business in Wales, please contact Mark Jones

NIC Series #1 – Potential £50,000 savings for new business in Wales

Monday, September 27th, 2010

Leighton Reed, Director, Broomfield & Alexander

In a series of articles, Leighton Reed, Director, Broomfield & Alexander will focus on the potential for savings of National Insurance Contributions (NICs) to employers. For more specific advice and information please contact Leighton on tax@broomfield.co.uk

Providing certain qualifying conditions are met (see below) new businesses can qualify for a deduction of up to £5,000 from the employer National Insurance Contributions (NIC) that would normally be due – for each of the first ten employees they take on, giving a potential tax saving of £50,000 to a new business.

Qualifying Conditions….

Must be a new business started between 22 June 2010 and 5 September 2013
Must be in a qualifying region (Wales is a qualifying region)
Sole trade, partnerships, companies, property and investment business all qualify, Managed Service Companies do not.
Some businesses do not qualify and so cannot apply for the holiday. They are:

* businesses in the coal sector

* businesses in the road freight transport sector – where the aid is to be used to acquire road freight transport vehicles

* businesses involved in export-related activities

How to Apply…

You must apply via the online application form (see link below). Before completing the online form you need to have the following information:-

Your PAYE and Accounts Office references – you will find these in the New Employer Pack sent to you when you registered as an employer with HM Revenue & Customs
Your business name
The date your business started
Your business address and post code
The region or country your principal business address falls within

Apply using the following form: https://businesslink-online.hmrc.gov.uk/shortforms/form/NICHoliday

For more information or advice on this, or any other tax issues, please contact tax@broomfield.co.uk