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management accountant / 18 posts found

Consider this before you employ

by mike tombs
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Sometimes it can be beneficial to your business to employ members of your family, young people or volunteers, but it is important to consider the consequences of these decisions. When you work with a management accountant we will provide you with ongoing business support to enable you to make good decisions for your business. If you hire family members you must: avoid special treatment in terms of pay, promotion and working conditions make sure tax and National Insurance contributions are still paid follow working time regulations for younger family members have employer’s liability insurance that covers any young family members check [...]

Should you invest?

by mike tombs
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For most of us in business the recent, and continuing, Brexit fiasco has meant that making meaningful investment decisions has proved to be problematic. What will our future trading relationship with Europe look like and how will that affect our own trading results? However, despite Brexit we still need to continue to operate and expand our businesses, which will require investment. It would be foolhardy to forget that in the UK we have an extremely generous tax allowance, aptly called the Annual Investment Allowance (AIA), that means we can write off the full cost of qualifying assets against our profits [...]

How are dividends taxed?

by mike tombs
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Dividends received from shares held in UK companies form part of a tax-payers self-assessment. The payments are made by the paying company without any deduction of tax and therefore the amount received is the sum that needs to be declared. Dividends are paid out of the company’s retained profits – these are profits after any corporation tax has been paid – once these reserves are exhausted, it is illegal to declare or pay any further dividends. Tax payable on dividends received by shareholders is not payable at income rates (20%, 40% or 45%), but as hybrid rates. The rates for [...]

As easy as 1, 2, 3…

by mike tombs
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Well maybe not quite, but you should have your important figures at your fingertips and as ready to slip off your tongue as 1, 2, 3. The world of business can be a difficult place in these times, so arming yourself with data will give you a head start. We know that knowledge equals power, but it is the quality of the knowledge that is important. How much use is there in knowing last year’s profit margin? Not much, when you trying to make a decision based on events unfolding before your eyes. But knowing the current profit margin on [...]

I want more money!

by mike tombs
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Prepare, prepare, prepare and if in doubt, prepare some more. If you are looking for someone else to put money into your business, it is your job to convince them. There will always be other businesses after their investment, so you need to make it crystal clear why they should pick yours. The most important factor to your investor will be your figures. These must be correct and must agree. Far too often people approach potential investors with incorrect figures that contradict each other. You need to understand what you are showing your investor. Your management accountant will help you [...]

Where is all my money going?

by mike tombs
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So, you have sorted your pricing out correctly. You are winning the right customers at the right rate, everything is brilliant…but your costs have spiralled out of control and they are eroding your profit margin. You need to act fast. Having a cloud-based accounting system and a management accountant will help you to keep your costs under control and prevent them sabotaging your profit. Taking the time to regularly check your costs is an investment in the future of your financial health. The first step is to review all processes and procedures. Many of the things that we do every [...]

It’s all in the process!

by mike tombs
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McDonalds, the fast food chain - and incidentally the 5th largest employer in the world - is renowned for its systems. The premise of this business model is that anyone, anywhere in the world, can pick up the “how to” book for McDonalds and do any of their one of their individual jobs. Their business model is extraordinary. It’s is heralded as the systems process model everyone should attempt to emulate if they are ambitious for growth. You may think the following: But my business is more complicated But it’s all in my head But I don’t have time to [...]

Don’t fall at the cash hurdle!

by mike tombs
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There is nothing more frustrating than watching a healthy, profitable business collapse due to cash flow problems. More profitable businesses fail for this reason than for any other. Don’t let yours be just another statistic. Cash flow problems come about when the gap between when your money comes into your account and when the money leaves your account becomes too large. This situation can be bought about by the bank changing their overdraft agreements, or a large customer suddenly defaulting on a payment, or simply a combination of bad luck and poor management. Different types of businesses are more at [...]

Know your numbers!

by mike tombs
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The problem with using generic Key Performance Indicators (or KPIs for short) is that all businesses are different. So the numbers that we need to understand to make better informed business decisions are different. The trick in optimizing the potential of cloud accounting reporting is in choosing which figures to look at. A good management accountant will make sure that you are basing your decisions on the correct set of figures, not on the wrong ones. The next part of this is to watch those figures, and see what they do, each week, every week. There is no point only [...]

Don’t look back!

by mike tombs
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One of the many quotes bandied around by people is: “don’t look back, you’re not going that way…” Like many clichés, this one contains a grain of truth, and never more so than when understanding the difference between financial and management accountancy. Financial accountancy is a simple record-keeping exercise that shows you a summary of what has happened in the previous year. It is used mainly by accountants to work out how much tax is due to HMRC. This process, filing your tax return and statutory accounts, and making any necessary payments, are a legal responsibility. Financial accounting is viewed [...]