Here are five questions we invite new clients to ask us:

Q1       What are the firm’s qualifications and experience?

“Our team” section on our website gives you some detail on the experience and qualifications of our team.

Q2       Can you offer client testimonials and examples of success with clients?

We always preserve the confidentiality of our clients and so we do not publish any client lists.  However, if you would like to discuss our services with an existing client in your business sector, please ask and we will approach one or two clients to see if they are prepared to speak to you about us.

Q3       How transparent are your costs, and who delivers your services?

Please review our fee quote and menu of services in this section of our website, then ask us for a fixed fee quotation tailored to the services you require.

Q4       Why pay more than if I use a sole practitioner (qualified or not)?

The size, nature and complexity of your business AND your desire to become ever more successful will determine your answer to this.

Q5       What added value can you provide?

Over and above all areas covered by our menu of services, we provide the opportunity for regular contact with our senior team, and business advice and support on any area of your business.  If we do not have that specific skill we will know someone who does.

We are very happy to discuss these questions further with new or potential clients.

Cash flow forecasting should be an integral part of our business planning process.

It is vital to monitor actual performance against budget and calculate key performance indicators such as:

• Length of order book
• Sales compared with budget or last year
• Profit margins
• Stock levels and stock turnover
• Debtor days and overdue collections.

We have noted 7 bad practices that every business needs to avoid:

1. Taking on financial commitments before you can afford to pay for them.
2. Undertaking large amounts of speculative work in the hope of making a sale.
3. Overstating stock, WIP or fixed assets in your management accounts.
4. Not planning for major expenses you know will arise. .
5. Failing to prepare cash flow forecasts, particularly in today’s difficult market.
6. Failing to agree all the details of an order, leading to a customer dispute.
7. Poor credit control system, starting with credit checks before taking the order.

How do you score on these 7 bad practices?

Please telephone your main contact at Crowthers if you would like to discuss how we can help you to improve your business systems.

From October 2011, the National Minimum Wage rate increased as follows:

• £5.93 to £6.08 : Employees aged 21 and over
• £4.92 to £4.98 : Employess aged 18 to 20
• £3.64 to £3.68 : Employees aged 16 to 17
• £2.50 to £2.60 : Apprentice rate

Please contact Sarah Smith, manager of our payroll bureau, on 01386 552644 for further details.

As a general rule, a person’s principal private residence is a UK owned property where they normally reside.

One of the most useful tax benefits of this is that when a Principal Private Residence is sold there is 100% tax relief (PPR relief) to offset any Capital Gains that may have arisen.

However, if you own a second property that is used by you for part of the year, e.g. six months in one property and six months in another property, then it is possible to split the Principal Private Residence between the two properties.

This may be very beneficial depending on the value of each property, the purchase price of each property and the length of ownership.

If you would like us to look into this on your behalf please contact us.

The Payments Council has announced that cheques will continue for as long as customers need them and the target for possible closure of cheque clearing in 2018 has been cancelled. 

This change is as a result of public concern about the proposed phasing out of cheques by 2018. The issue has been of concern to many small businesses who continue to make payments by cheque and charities which receive substantial amounts of donations from the public by cheque.

According to the press release the: 

‘The Payments Council Board will continue to focus on security, efficiency and encouraging innovation in all types of payments to ensure customers have options best suited to the 21st century.’

Richard North, the Chairman of the Payments Council said:

‘It’s in the DNA of the Payments Council to consult and listen to all those people who actually make payments and use cheques. Listening to over 600 stakeholder groups, working with the banks and following our appearance before the Treasury Select Committee, we have concluded we should reassure customers that the cheque is staying.’

‘Over the last two years we have learnt a great deal about what is important to our many stakeholders and we are really grateful to all of those groups and individuals who took the time to talk to us and help us reach this decision. We will use what we’ve learnt to keep improving existing systems, as well as introducing innovation, so that customers benefit from 21st century ways to pay.  Innovation must be at the heart of what we do.’