I don’t mean winning at all costs!  I mean that in every business situation, and in every deal you do, you try your very best to make sure that everybody involved wins something of value.

If you are of the ilk that likes to extract maximum money from people as soon as possible and have no thought of future trades, then this idea will be abhorrent to you.

However, if you are building a long-term sustainable business, then taking a little time to ensure that everyone involved in a transaction wins something will give you an enviable reputation of being “the” one to deal with.

In practical terms it means that if someone buys bookkeeping services from us, I veiw that as a compliment.  I will then make sure that this client, and every client, receives a stunning service and that we add real value to their business.

We win because:-

• We take on a new client and boost our own income.
• We have another potential source of referrals and testimonials for marketing purposes.
• We keep our bookkeepers happy doing the work they enjoy the most!

The client wins because:-

• They no longer struggle with their own bookkeeping.
• No more VAT returns.
• No more payroll and all it’s hassles.
• No more deadlines.
• No more sleepless nights.
• Accurate and regular reports about their business.
• The ability to ask questions at any time without incurring any extra fees.

The balance is always tilted in favour of the client for a soundly based, long term relationship.

We have all seen businesses that are out to rip the public off, and then disappear into the ether generally owing lots of money and leaving loads of unhappy customers in their wake.  They are sadly quite successful in the short term and can amass many thousands of £’s for their owners before they disappear.

However, a sustainable business will ensure they give substantial value and their customers are happy to pay for that value.  The business will then be around for the next 50 years or more and will be more than strong enough to ride any waves the economy throws at it.

~Ray

Watching breakfast tv this morning, my ears pricked when they heard a story about women “officially” now being able to top up their pensions if they have too many years contributions missing, by making payments of £400 per year for each year missed.  These missing years usually occur when time is taken for having and bringing up a family.  But they can also occur when husbands employ their wife/partner in the family business but only pay them just under the NI limit to save a bit of tax on their own business, and also when people think they are being clever in drawing dividends from their Ltd Company and just enough salary not to pay any tax at all.

For many years I have been advising clients against the normal trend of paying no NI contributions if possible in any tax year and I have had quite a bit of stick for it.  But people are generally tremendously short-sighted and will look to save a £1 now rather than think about pensions which may not affect their thinking for another 35 years or so.  I have always tried to persuade clients to pay their spouse above the NI limit enough so that no gap years accrue unnecessarily.  Sometimes I have been successful, but sometimes not.  People with gaps in their contributions have always had the opportunity to make up a year to a qualifying year by paying voluntary class 3 contributions - but that was as popular as chocolate teapots.

The thing is that everybody has always had the option to pay and make up for missing contributions which is why I found it funny this morning to hear the generous proposal being offered by the government, but £400 per year is the highest it has ever been to make a year qualify.  Perhaps now Gordon Brown has finally started to realize we actually are in a recession - something most people have known for a least a month or two - he sees this as a chance to scoop in a bit more money into the nation’s coffers!

I can hear you asking why missing years are important.  Well, to qualify for a full state pension when we get to age 65, we are supposed to have made 39 years contributions into the system by way of National Insurance contributions.  I didn’t hear this morning if that has changed but if you have less than 39 qualifying years you have to pay £400 per missed year to bring you up to 39 years if you want to receive a full state pension.  So… if you have been working since you left school at 18, you have a potential to accrue 47 qualifying years.  If you go to University and leave at 21, you have a possible 44 years.  It doesn’t leave much does it.  Over your entire working life, the government says you have to have had no more than 5 missing years of NI contributions or they will punish you by severely restricting the pension you are entitled to.

An average lady with a degree, who has taken 15 years to have and bring up her family before returning to work, will have to make up 10 years of contributions totalling some £4,000.

Each year you leave it by the way, the total needed will rise - it always has.

The expert chap who was talking about this on tv this morning said it would probably be worth getting a loan to make up the missing years or you could just rely on pension credits to come to your rescue if your pension is too small to live on.  I am not so sure.  It would have been much cheaper if people paid each year as they went along and stopped this live for now attitude of not paying tax or NI and opting for dividends instead, and who says pension credits will still be around in 15 or 20 years to bail people out??

The moral to the story is, pay your spouse/partner a proper wage each year and let them pay some tax and NI - remember - it is tax deductible from your profits anyway (paying the back instalments for them won’t be).  Dividends are a way of reducing your overall tax liability, but remember the consequences of trying to beat the system.  I always advocate paying a salary that is enough to live on and have the excess profits voted as bonuses.  That way you protect your position for retirement and still enjoy the benefits of your business success.

Don’t just rely on a state pension for your old age though.  We should all be making other arrangements as well - but that is a subject for a whole series of articles!!

~Ray

This week I have been reading a book lent to me on Monday called The Beermat Entrepreneur: Turn Your Good Idea into a Great Business.  It contains quite a lot of useful information for people thinking of starting a new business.  However, it does leave the reader with a few misconceptions about the number of people involved in getting a new business up and running.

For example, they left me thinking that unless there are at least 5 people plus a mentor involved right from the outset, that a business had no chance of life.  I wanted to add my two-pennies worth in case other readers received the same impression as me.

In my long experience, the reality is that most businesses are started by one person and grow at a pace determined mainly by the vision and energy of the entrepreneur.  A lot of businesses never get larger than 4 or 5 people throughout a long and successful life.  Does that mean such a business is any less successful than one that quickly reaches a multi-million turnover and is floated on the stock exchange?

Not really.  It depends on your definition of success.  What is yours?  How do you define if your business is successful or not? 

To me, success is if the founder achieves freedom.  Freedom to work, or not work as they wish.  Freedom to buy what they need, when they need it, without having to think about whether or not they can afford it.

This level of success can be achieved at any level of turnover, it just depends on the founder’s lifestyle and needs.  So, a small business is successful to me even if it employs one or two people and has a turnover of £150K.  As long as the founder achieves freedom.  Some people only look at turnover and anything less than multi-million is an abject failure.  I don’t agree at all.

So, how many people are needed to start a business - just 1.  So don’t be put off by some of the books out there if they claim any less than 5 will never get a business off the ground.  The authors of those books tend to be ones who judge success by millions of turnover, rather than freedom.

Don’t be put off.  If you feel the urge to start a business - do it.  You will regret forever if you don’t at least try.

~Ray

TCM4000

As readers of this blog know, we use this  brilliant paperless office program here in the office.  I originally installed it in 2001 and have never been disappointed with the way it works, or the support of the programmers of the system.

I had an issue today when I was sent yet another service pack adding more functionality - I still gaze in awe at the updates because I cannot see how it can be improved upon, but still they find extra functionality to cram in.  Anyway, this service pack caused me a bit of a problem as the entire system crashed and no-one could get into TCM4000.  Any other program we use - it wouldn’t be an issue as we can work around most things - but TCM4000 is like a heart.  When the heart stops, the whole organization ceases to work.

I instantly got onto the phone and asked what to do - this is the first fatal problem we have had in 7 years so I had no idea and panic started to rise inside me!  No problem I was told.  Apparently, this clever program keeps a backup of itself when it upgrades.  I was directed to the relevant place and TCM4000 fired up immediately with yesterday’s configuration.  It is written this way because after a while, users become so dependant on the program that a safety net is a normal part of the upgrade.  I didn’t know that as it had never happened before.

So, we were up and running again in about 3 minutes.  What a credit to the program and it’s programmers that is.  I will bet there are few packages where such support is so quickly available.  After an hour or so the programmers had corrected the problem and re-issued the service pack.  Wow.  Even our red hot service can’t match that!

I realized that I haven’t said nearly enough on this blog about the power, the ease of use and as mentioned above, the endless extra functionality that is added continuously via service pack.

I had a look around on the net this afternoon seeing if there is a product out there which can match TCM4000, its scalability, ease of use, sheer awesome power and generally just darn clever things it can do.  Well - there isn’t.

After 7 years that I know of, TCM4000 is still in a class of it’s own for business.  That is some achievement and I want the world to know about it so that more can benefit.  Have a read here if you are unsure what TCM4000 is all about but download the 60 day free trial, have me or someone similar talk you through the set-up and then prepare to be staggered.

I cannot do this package full justice here in this small space, but read more about it here and then go try it asap!  You will never look back once you have seen this fantastic program.

~Ray

Technorati Tags: TCM4000,paperless office,marketing software,business software

This is a question that rears its head from time to time here in the office.  My initial reaction is “Why not?”.

Occasionally there is a reasonable reason for the lack of evidence of someone’s business activities.  It may be that the business has grown really quickly and they haven’t been able to keep up.  They may have only just started the business and don’t know the first thing about bookkeeping and are seeking help.  Sometimes there has been a known disaster such as a major flood or a fire.  However, sometimes a person thinks they are being clever in deliberately not keeping records so they pay little or no tax.

My reaction to this question will completely depend upon the circumstances as to why a business owner has no records.  If it is genuine, I will move heaven and earth to help them reconstruct whatever is missing or destroyed and will then stand with them, side by side during a tax investigation, if necessary, to explain what and how we have done the reconstruction.

I will never act for a client who chooses not to keep adequate records of their business activities.  I deal with HM Revenue & Customs all the time and I will never put my professional reputation on the line for any shady character.  Unfortunately, there are accountants who will deal with these people and if they get away with it for a few years before HMRC catch up with them they broadcast their cleverness all around the area.  This can make genuine, honest people doubt that what they are doing is right if this character gets away with it.  The flip side is that they are always found out.  It may take 1 year or 20 years, but they will be called to account eventually.  With all the resources of HMRC and the bounty offered to anyone who shops these characters, they never get away with it.

Ignorance of the law has never been an excuse for lack of records.  Anyone in business knows they may have to pay tax and should inform the authorities when they start their business.  These days there is an unprecedented level of help, information, advice, packages, coaches, accountants, bookkeepers, marketers and consultants both paid and free for the new and established business owner alike.

So… if in doubt about any aspect of business or the requirement for keeping records - ask!!

~Ray

After more than 34 years working as an accountant, it is clearer to me more now than ever that many accountants are letting clients down in spectacular fashion.

Unfortunately, you may never know and you may never find out unless a good friend strongly recommends you have another expert look over your figures and points things out that have gone awry.

I recently took on a new partnership client and they had been using an accountant recommended to them for the last 3 years. When an existing client of mine was talking to them about accountants, tax bills and general service given by expert advisors, a number of alarm bells started to ring in the ears of this partnership.

Why is that?  My client was talking about the presentation of their accounts and how the bank manager clearly understood them when it was time to review the overdraft.  “What’s a balance sheet?” asked the senior partner.  “Our turnover is about the same but why do you pay so little tax in comparison?” asked the junior partner.  Many other questions followed…  “Why won’t our bank manager talk to our accountant and why won’t he give us the backing we are asking for, and need?”,  “Why did our accountant rush around to our homes last January 31st to get us to sign another tax return as she had lost our original ones?”,  “What is filing online?”,  “Does your accountant really speak to you in plain english and actually answer a question immediately in terms you understand?”,  “Can you really call your accountant on his private mobile if you need a quick answer?”.

Once the partners plucked up the courage, and I know it is not something easy for a business owner to face up to, to call me and let me review their last 3 years accounts and tax returns, they quickly realized just how bad things were.

For example, the senior partner had been doing the bookkeeping himself on a number of excel spreadsheets.  The accountant had never explained the dangers of doing this from a defence against the inevitable tax investigation point of view, nor of the massive benefits the business would gain if the books were done properly.  He had a spreadsheet for each heading of expenditure and one for sales. The accountant would just use the total of these and prepare a statement of profit and loss. No balance sheet had ever been prepared, no balancing of the spreadsheets to the bank account had ever been done to make sure all expenditure was in there, no-one was tying up the cash movements.  Cash taken from the “hole-in-the-wall” was ignored, even though the partners used it to put fuel in the coaches, etc….

The accountant had not even asked them about their personal expenses, for instance the drive from their home to the yard which was a 24 mile round trip for each of them, 6 days a week.  They each bought spares and other items for the business from their own drawings and never thought to record it anywhere.  They had never been led through a detailed examination of their business; the records; the potential opportunities for growth; the savings that could be realized.

This story is not just hearsay or made up. It is very real and very recent. Please ring me if you would like the name and address of the business and I will put you in touch with pleasure.

So, what was the result of my doing the most recent year for them?  Tax savings in excess of £10,000 and establishment of a solid bookkeeping system that now lets them track the monthly profit and loss, accurately, and which makes the VAT return a one mouse click event.  We also held detailed discussions about the future of the business and how to stop the senior partner rushing round in ever decreasing circles.  The opportunity to get the extra 2 operator licences for 2 coaches that were taxed, MOT’d but kept in reserve in case of need.  These will soon be active and earning the business money and no longer just sucking it away whilst parked up.  Awareness of how to claim back every penny they spend of their own money on the business and how to claim the government approved mileage rates for using their own cars for business travel.  Generally giving the partners back control of their lives, awareness of how the business is running, and a plan for how the business is to progress.

This brings me to why I am writing to you today.

I am sick and tired of coming across businesses that are simply not getting the service and quality of care from their accountant that they have every right to expect.

The worst cases I have come across tend to be businesses of about the size of yours, as in the coach business I outlined above.  It tends to happen because when you start out, the choice of accountant is generally made by plucking one quickly out the phone book when, at the last moment, you realize the Tax Office needs those tax forms when the ad’s start to appear on the TV around Christmas. Or you speak to another small business owner for a name of their accountant.

Unfortunately, the choice is rarely one made at leisure, more like “can you sort this out for me today? yes - ok” and then no need for change appears necessary until someone, such as an existing client of mine, starts talking to you a couple of years later.

Knowing this, I am writing this to ask you to accept a challenge. A totally FREE and no obligation challenge.

I am offering you the chance to have me, with my 34 years experience, go in-depth into your last set of accounts, tax computations and tax returns.

I promise to give you a full, detailed report, into my findings of tax saving opportunities that I may find, of improvements into your bookkeeping that may be highlighted, of simple suggestions for growth and expansion for your consideration, and any other matters that I feel need bringing to your attention - completely free of charge - within just 3 weeks.

There is no obligation on you at all.  I would just love the chance to prove to you either that your accountant is doing a fantastic job and you are fortunate indeed for having them, or that you should give my report to your accountant and ask them openly why they haven’t done this, suggested that, or cost you more tax than necessary.

I am doing this for FREE because I want as many businesses in the position you are in to make sure they are getting the best quality service possible, and if not, a chance to be made aware of it without it costing any money at all.

Yes, I would welcome you as a client as a result of my review and report, but you have no obligation to me at all.

Once you have read and digested my report you have two options:-

1. Receive the report, act on it, benefit from it - which I sincerely hope you will anyway - but never have any more contact from me and carry on with your existing accountant. Or…..

2. Receive the report and contact me for a one hour chat, either at my home, or in your office, whichever suits you better, and I will gift you another hour completely free, to go into much more depth than my initial report and chat about any aspect of your business that you want.

Whichever option you choose, although I would really love you to choose the meeting option, you still have no obligation what-so-ever to me for my time spent on the report, or the meeting.

You really have nothing to lose, but possible a huge potential of tax savings and growth possibilities to gain by accepting my challenge.

I will do the review myself.  I will not pass your personal information onto another living soul.  It will be just between you and me.

If you would like to take advantage of my challenge, please ring my office as soon as possible on 0800 047 0731.  I will collect the information personally from you at work or at home, or you can bring it round to my home by arrangement, and I will immediately get to work on it.

Let me reiterate.  This is a limited time offer just for you as my research has shown you to be in the demographic that I have experienced is the worst treated by accountants.  It is totally FREE, no obligation of any kind to you, offer.  It will remain totally private between you and me.  If the report shows your accountant is doing a good job, show it to them and give them some praise for doing their best work for you.  If the report shows opportunities that haven’t been spotted by your accountant, show them and ask why they are not giving you the best possible service.

I really look forward to hearing from you shortly.

~Ray

p.s.  Remember, this gift cannot be offered for long, just over the summer whilst I have a little free time as most clients are on holidays.  So ring me Today on 0800 047 0731.

Lost records have been a problem since time began. Sometimes the loss is genuine and records ruined in fire or floods etc., but sometimes the “loss” is a smokescreen because the business person thinks they can outsmart HMRC by claiming the records are lost.

HMRC has lots of information sources they can access in these situations, including digging into your bank accounts when the statements are lost (have you any idea how much the banks now charge for each statement HMRC ask for? between £5 and £25 each depending how far back they are needed), looking at your lifestyle to get a handle on how much money you spend, interest information, dividend information etc.

Without records, investigations become much easier for HMRC because you cannot provide any rebuttals to assumptions they make about your financial affairs and those investigations always end up with a much higher settlement than if all the records are available.

So… try hard not to lose them - they are worth their weight in gold - literally. Micro-fiche them, scan them, copy them, protect them as best you can so that if the originals do go AWOL for any reason - then it is no big deal at all

~Ray

This question comes up a lot here at the office.  I am asked at least 3 times a week as there seems to be lots of confusion out there in the “real world” amongst business people.

The answer is it depends…

If you just complete a Self Assessment Return each year as a consequence of having a company car or other employment benefits, then you should keep your paperwork relating to your claims and expenses for 2 years.  The reason for this is that HMRC have a full year after the filing deadline to open an enquiry into your affairs.  So for the tax year just ended on 5th April 2008, you need to keep this paperwork until at least April 2010.

However, if you are a business owner, the records need to be kept for at least 6 years but preferably longer.  If your accounts year end is 30th June for example, your 2008 Self Assessment will include your accounts information for the year ended 30th June 2007.  So paperwork for that year runs from the 1st July 2006 onwards.  You should realistically therefore keep those records until at least April 2015.

I personally recommend people keep as many years as possible because you just never know when they may be useful.  I know we are told from all quarters that Identity Fraud is rife and can only be prevented by shredding everything the minute you receive it, but a lack of important records during a full tax Investigation can make defence against HMRC proposed additions very difficult indeed.

If you are thinking of disposing of business records, I would strongly recommend you take advantage of micro-fiche techniques as much as possible, or keeping endless backups of your paperless office (as I do) so that all possible information is stored in a way you can get to it.  Then you can shred with confidence knowing you can still answer probing questions easily.  Most modern micro-fiche services and paperless office systems allow searching of documents so tracking things down is simplicity itself.

I hope this clears up a little confusion about business records but please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions, or would like any more information.

~Ray

Let’s Look At The Problem:

Like most people that go into business on their own, your number 1 priority is the product/service that you established their business to sell/provide. In the early stages of business all your energy is taken getting the business up and running and the records, apart from sales bits, will probably take a very back seat for a long time. The fact is that running a business in the early days involves so many hats for you to wear. You have to be the sales director, buyer, production department and quality control. You also have to become a receptionist, office clerk, helpdesk manager, operation manager, filing clerk, photocopy expert, letter writer, envelope stuffer and stamp licker.

It is no surprise to anyone that the day to day bookkeeping gets overlooked!

There is generally very little thought given to the books until a VAT return drops onto the mat, or you take on an employee that needs wages and PAYE calculating, the bank manager rings about the overdraft, or you receive a letter about a proposed VAT inspection! What happens then is a mad dash to catch up with the books, tracking down all those illusive invoices that you know you have had but can’t find, wondering why your bank account is more overdrawn than you thought but don’t know how to put in the rent, car hp, business rates etc., that go directly out the bank which had been forgotten because you didn’t write cheques out, suddenly finding out your best customer now takes nearly 90 days each time to pay instead of the 30 days you agreed.

At this point, generally one of two things happen:

Firstly, and most usual, is that the business owner makes an executive decision to fudge over the gaps and things known to be missing whilst firmly promising to dedicate more time to straighten things out next quarter when things are quieter. Except that this never happens and the errors and mistakes just compound each other and become too big to even think about tackling – just let the accountant sort it out at the year end! What the business owner doesn’t know is that accountants love clients like this and can justify fees up to £150/hour for many hours to bring things into line.

Secondly, the business owner resolves to put this right and takes steps to keep the books up to date, either by employing a bookkeeper directly at a cost of at least £15,000 per year, or by outsourcing the amount of work needed to be off-loaded to an outside organization at a considerably reduced cost than that dedicated bookkeeper.

What Do You Mean By Outsourcing?

The way outsourcing works is very simple. An overloaded business gives an agreed amount of work to a specialist company. It could be at one end of the spectrum, as little as running the payroll each week, or at the other end of the spectrum, completely passing all the book work completely over leaving the business merely producing sales invoices – nothing else. All the collection of cash, payment of bills etc., is handled by the outsourced company on behalf of the business, with none of the business customers or suppliers being aware of anything. Changes in location are explained away as “we have moved our accounts department to this new address.”

There are many stages in between the above extremes. Most businesses are content to deliver all paperwork, cheque books, paying in books etc. each month and leave the outsource provider dealing with all the official recording, reconciling, on-line filing, PAYE calculations, VAT returns. What a weight off the mind of the business owner!!

No deadlines missed, no VAT surcharges, no premature Tax or VAT inspections due to continual late filing or suspect entries on their official forms.

You are then left with exactly the amount of bookkeeping you are comfortable with and you can fully relax knowing all their books are being looked after by professional people, confident that all requirements are being met.

How Does This Add £’000s To My Profits – It All Sounds Like A Big Cost To Me?

The simple truth is that you are the only person who really adds to business profits by the things you do. A member of staff, no matter how dedicated, cannot match the earning potential of you, the entrepreneur. They don’t have the passion, the authority, the vision or the determination. Why? Because they are being paid regardless of the extra profits they bring in so what is the incentive. If they could generate the same level of profitability as you, they would be running their own businesses, not wasting their time on a salary.

Imagine for a moment….. no more bookkeeping in your work cycle.

How many hours do you now spend each week, or month – after resolving not to let things slip back into the terrible mess you got into in the early days of the business? Is it 1 hour/week - 5 hours/week or maybe more because things never seem to balance out and you pour over them for hours to get them right?

If you were released from this weekly nightmare, what would you do?

There are many possibilities of course, but one of them is to devote more time to the one activity that brings in more money to the business – Marketing.

Any business that has been running for a while knows that continued marketing is essential.  Without it there would be no customers at all!

Marketing needs to be done regularly to ensure the business has a constant stream of new and developing customers.

Any business owner that chooses to invest the time freed up from bookkeeping into marketing can easily multiply the profits of the business without limit.

That is a far better use of your time and far outweighs any costs involved in the outsourcing process.

Then….

You could then take this one step further….

If you already employ a person in house to keep your records and books, imagine how much more profitable that employee could be if they were released from the books to learn the art of marketing. At least, learn enough to help you strive to continually grow your business and your personal wealth.

Different Levels Of Outsourcing For Your Bookkeeping:

As we discussed earlier, outsourcing can mean different things to different businesses. Generally, there are 2 main levels:-

1. You take your prime records round to the outsourcing company at regular intervals, weekly, monthly or unusually, quarterly. These papers would include sales invoices, paying in book, cheque book, purchase invoices, petty cash vouchers etc. In fact all your bits of paper for the week/month/quarter. At this level you will not really see your records unless you ask but will get regular reports. This is the normal way entrepreneurs use this type of service.

2. You hand over everything to the outsourcing company and re-direct all future letters, supplier and bank statements to your new “accounts office”. It is likely you will retain the issuing of the sales invoices but you will probably find, in a good quality outsource partner anyway, that you log into their server (where your records are kept) and issue the sales invoices from there directly. The outsource company then collects your money from customers and banks it for you, pays your bills and wages by BACS and monitors your bank account tightly. You should be able to log into your records at any time, day or night, to check on things, print off reports, monitor cash flow etc.

This is a much more unusual method and works out much more expensive than option 1 above. This is because the software involved at the Outsourcing company will be specially written to ensure you would be able to log into your books on their servers and maintain strict security over your own books, and those of other people logging into their books at the same time.

What Are The Main Advantages Of Outsourcing?

To re-iterate the main advantages; Those of dedicating that freed up time on growing the business, knowing your records are right up to date and you can be happy that all questions from your Bank Manager, VAT Office, Inland Revenue etc., can be immediately and fully answered.

However, there are other advantages as well. You don’t have to keep up any expensive annual renewal and support contracts for well known suppliers of bookkeeping software such as Sage, TAS, Quick Books and Mind-Your-Own-Business.

You don’t have to keep upgrading your computers each year of so just to make sure the new version of that bookkeeping software doesn’t run out of steam as it grows and becomes ever more resource hungry.

You don’t have to buy extra licences for that software as your business grows so that new employees can issue sales invoices.

You can retain complete confidentiality of your business results from employees much more easily if the books are not on site to be looked into.  You also get the benefit of having experts, including fully qualified Accountants and various grades of accounting staff, available to discuss matters with you throughout the year for no extra costs. Imagine the saving in a Financial Directors’ salary of £100,000+ per annum alone, but still having access to one….

What Should I Look For In An Outsourcing Company?

I can think of many questions that you should ask but the minimum would be:-

1. How secure is my data on your system?

2. What experience do the staff allocated to me have?

3. Can I speak to other businesses you look after to re-assure me?

4. What access will I have to my books and records?

5. Will you deal with my VAT visits and PAYE inspections?

6. What bookkeeping package will you use on my books?

7. Will you set everything up for me including the opening balances to ensure continuity – or will I have to have 2 sets of books in one year for my accountant to deal with?

8. Can you look after my accounts, corporation tax returns and self assessment returns as a complete package?

9. What procedures are in place to avoid catastrophic data loss in the event of fire, floods or other disaster?

10. What happens if I change my mind after a period of using the service?

Any good outsourcing service will easily answer these and many other questions and concerns you may have prior to embarking on this road – but I think the most reassuring is speaking to other clients who use the service. How does it work for them, how long have they used the service, what issues have arisen and how were they dealt with.

This Sounds Too Good To Be True – What Do I Do Next?

I often say to clients that if something sounds too good to be true – then it probably is.  However, in this case, outsourcing the bookkeeping work is a win-win situation.  You win because you acquire an expert team at your disposal, no longer is there a fear of mistakes, gaps, guesses, missed deadlines, un-filed employee forms, vat surcharges etc., and the outsource company win because they are dedicated to your business and involved completely in it and as you grow, they will grow.

You will be astonished with the ease the whole thing works once set up and you will come to wonder why you didn’t do it a long time ago.

~Ray

I was discussing Richard Koch’s book “The 80/20 Principle: The Secret of Achieving More with Less!” with a client yesterday and it became apparent that lots of business people are either not aware of this concept, or do not know how to relate it to their business.

Richard says that 80% of our results come from 20% of our activities.  This can be seen to be true in just about any business I have had any involvement with as an Accountant and is something I continually tell people to look out for.

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