In Focus Issue 6

in focus turn your business strategies into reality

issue six: autumn 2015

Unlocking the Secrets of the Locked Box - the key to a smooth transaction?

Support for childcare business advice

Shedding light on solar accountancy & audit

A new dawn for corporate finance tax advice

Get ready for auto enrolment

wealth management

finance

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welcome

in this issue welcome to issue six

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12 - 13 Are the ‘green’

energy tax laws set to change?

Hello and Welcome to the sixth issue of ‘in focus’ magazine – your guide to growing both your business and your profits.

Our Tax Team at R&P have broken down some of the latest announcements and explained in more detail how these may affect you, your family and/or your business.

Our Business Advisory and Corporate Finance Team look to offer you advice and show how you and your business can capitalise on the UK’s current growth.

R&P and in focus magazine deliver up-to-the-minute creative solutions and expert advice to help grow your business and develop your full potential.

In this issue:

04 staff news

Baby Boom, Exam Success and Mindshop Awards

05 Quorum

Helping to turn business strategy into reality

06 - 07 tax news

James Geary gives an update on corporate and personal tax news.

08 - 09 tax news

Government support for childcare - a major new relief

04

Tim Watkins Managing Partner

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autumn 2015

08 - 09 www.randall-payne.co.uk

contents

business advice accountancy & audit tax advice wealth management financing business startups valuations buyouts debt factoring

18 - 19 11

IMPROVE

INVEST

10 - 11 corporate finance

Randall & Payne’s Corporate FInance Team - here to advise

12 - 13 business advice

Energy saving installations, auto enrolment and minimum wage update

GROW

EXIT

20 - 21 20 - 23

14 -15 academies news

The advised funding rates for 2015/16 for pupil premium

16-19 in the community

Healthy business communities, awards, dragons and beer!

20-21 Case Study

Lister Unified Communications

22 dates for the diary

How Randall & Payne are helping this Stonehouse-based business grow, prosper and auto-enrol

23 tax reference

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R&P update

news focus turn your business strategies into reality

your guide to what’s new in the world of business...

Staff News Proud New Fathers...

Congratulations to Chris Baldwin and Ollie Newbold, each of whose partners have recently given birth to a baby girl and to Shaun Pegler and his partner who have become the proud parents Shaun Pegler of a baby boy!

Chris Baldwin

Ollie Newbold

Trish Clements

Dani Longney

and more Great Results!

Congratulations also to Danielle Longney, who is now AAT qualified, and to Trish Clements who has recently passed exams enabling her to become a Society of Trust and Estate Practitioner.

Mindshop Award Will Abbott, an Accredited Mindshop Facilitator (AMSF) was a guest speaker at the recent Mindshop conference in Australia - and came away with an award!

Will Abbott with his award and Chris Mason, founder of Mindshop

This is Will’s second Mindshop award. He received his first Mindshop High Achiever Award, for his work with ambitious business leaders, in 2011. Through his role in Randall & Payne’s Business Advisory Team he delivers a process to drive growth and profits, tailored to your goals. “We have a different approach to strategic development tailored to the clients goals, based around you and your team, which qualifies for government funding. We help the client and their team learn how to diagnose the problems, fix them and then maintain a cycle of improvement,” says Will.

“Will Abbott was recently awarded Mindshop UK’s 2015 ‘High Achiever’ award during a presentation at Mindshop’s annual gala dinner held in London. The award recognises an individual in the Mindshop UK community who, over the past 12 months, has achieved the most success in growing their advisory business and delivering fantastic outcomes for their clients utilising the Mindshop tools and processes.

A great achievement by Will.”

James Mason, Managing Director, Mindshop

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R&P update

Need help to turn your business strategy

into reality?

Don’t just take our word for it...

Randall & Payne Quorum allows business leaders to connect and share strategies for growth while gaining skills and tools to implement them.

For a small investment you not only get a sounding board for your ideas, but real training and the knowledge that you can see and measure your progress regularly.

As business owners sometimes we forget the importance of planning ahead and the Quorum is a great place to share your problems and find the answers to resolve them” Steve Barnett – Glevum Security

• Online Tools • Government Funding • Remote Business Support • Minimising Tax • Accounting For Business • Making the most of your wealth • Workshop for Business Leaders Government Funding… You could also be eligible for funding from the Government. To find out more speak to Will Abbott. Conditions may apply.

WILL ABBOTT Partner LLB FCA AMSF MInstLM Will is Head of the Business Advisory Team and Lead Facilitator in the Randall & Payne “Skills For Business” training programmes.

A Registered Expert with the Business Growth Service for Coaching, Leadership & Management Training, Will facilitates Government subsidised blended learning programmes in partnership with Mindshop, who have been delivering business and leadership training since 1994.

Will establishes a process using the tools shared at the Quorum Workshop as a platform to achieve growth and profits by understanding your situation, clarifying what you are trying to accomplish and the actions you need to take. Between workshops, Will offers mentoring meetings, phone, skype and email support, as well as access to the online Mindshop.

His focus is providing the relevant business advice and resources to help you reach your goals. if For more information call Will on:01242 776000

For more information visit our website www.randall-payne.co.uk

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tax news

Tax News ...with James Geary

George Osborne Leaves Us Goodwill Hunting There were a lot of surprises in the Summer Budget but perhaps the biggest was the one which was only briefly mentioned in the speech and that was the change to the tax treatment of goodwill on acquiring a business.

Since 2002, companies buying the trade, assets and goodwill of another business (as opposed to a share purchase) have been able to claim Corporation Tax relief on the cost of the goodwill as it is written off against their profits, under the “intangible assets” rules.

Hidden away in the background documentation from this summer’s Budget is a note that, for acquisitions of businesses on or after 8 July 2015, companies will no longer be able to benefit from this tax relief.

This will have a major impact on the way companies plan to grow by acquisition and, at worst, could stifle

the merger & acquisition market. Buyers will now be keener to maximise the element of cost relating to equipment and fixtures, which is likely to be detrimental to the tax position of the seller.

On the other hand, it may force acquisitive businesses to move back to purchases of shares as the norm, which will in most cases be to the benefit of the seller, who will be able to harness Entrepreneurs’ Relief for a reduced 10% Capital Gains Tax charge much more easily on a share sale.

For business transactions that are already in the pipeline, or in progress, buyers would be well advised to speak to their advisers as soon as possible to determine the effect of this change on the deal – particularly if discussions have been taking place for some time and this change may not have come to the attention of the parties to the transaction.

For more information on this major change please speak to your usual Randall & Payne contact, or James Geary in the tax team on 01242 776000

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tax news

Annual Investment Allowance reduction from January 2016 The Annual Investment Allowance (AIA) provides a tax write off against profits for expenditure incurred on plant and machinery by businesses and owners of commercial property.

In the Summer Budget on 8 July 2015, the Chancellor announced a reduction in the amount of AIA available from £500,000 to £200,000.

Changes to the AIA – key dates The amount of the AIA was increased to £500,000 from 1 April 2014 for companies or 6 April 2014 for unincorporated businesses until 31 December 2015. The AIA will be reduced to £200,000 for expenditure incurred after this date.

What happens if the accounting period of the business straddles the 1 January 2016?

A pro rata calculation of the maximum entitlement is required.

The maximum allowance for that period is the sum of: the maximum AIA entitlement based on the £500,000 annual cap for the portion of the accounting period falling before 1 January 2016; and the maximum AIA entitlement based on the £200,000 cap for the portion of the accounting period falling on or after 1 January 2016.

Total AIA

AIA Available after 1/1/16 restricted to

31 January 2016

£475,000

£16,667

29 February 2016

£450,000

£33,333

31 March 2016

£425,000

£50,000

30 April 2016

£400,000

£66,667

31 May 2016

£375,000

£83,333

30 June 2016

£350,000

£100,000

31 July 2016

£325,000

£116,667

Does it matter when the expenditure is incurred in the accounting period?

31 August 2016

£300,000

£133,333

30 September 2016

£275,000

£150,000

31 October 2016

£250,000

£166,667

Yes it does. Continuing the above example, for expenditure incurred before 1 January 2016, there is a limit to the maximum figure available. The maximum allowance is the AIA in the computation above, namely £425,000.

30 November 2016

£225,000

£183,333

However, if expenditure is incurred between 1 January and 31 March 2016, the maximum amount of relief will only be £50,000.

Alternatively, the business could defer its expenditure until after 31 March 2016. In the accounting period to 31 March 2017, the AIA will be £200,000. However tax relief will have been delayed for a full year.

What does this mean?

Example

No matter what your business year end is, 31 December 2015 will be a critical date for capital spend. The table (right) shows, for a limited company (figures will only be marginally different for unincorporated businesses) how the AIA splits either side of this date.

A company makes up its accounts to 31 March annually. For the year to 31 March 2016, the limit is calculated as follows: April 2015 – December 2015 9/12 x £500,000 = £375,000 January 2016 – March 2016 3/12 x £200,000 = £50,000 Total:

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Year end date

£425,000

Further points to be aware of • AIA is not available for expenditure on cars.

• Certain businesses are not entitled to any AIA. • In some situations, a business may not be entitled to the AIA as computed above as the AIA limits may need to be shared with other businesses which are under common ownership.

• There are special rules for determining the date of when capital expenditure is incurred for tax purposes in some circumstances. Please contact us if a contract is being signed with a credit period of more than four months or a lease agreement is being entered into.

What to do As can be seen, timing around 1 January 2016 is critical when considering the tax position of capital expenditure. If you are in any doubt as to what this change will mean for your business, please get in touch with us as soon as possible.

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tax news

Government support for childcare – a major new relief

Patent Box: where are we going?

It was announced some time ago that we would be seeing a new scheme from the government in Autumn 2015 to provide support for working families towards childcare costs. However, in July, due to a legal challenge the Government announced the launch of this tax free childcare will be delayed until 2017. Trish Clements reflects on the support currently available, in particular employer supported schemes, and comments on the changes expected in 2017 Currently there are two forms of support available. The first is through the Tax Credits system, which provides cash support to working families who are also eligible for Working Tax Credit. This system provides support of up to £122.50 per week for one child, or £210 per week for two or more. The precise level of support is based on the earnings levels in the household.

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This kind of support will continue as the tax credits merge into the Universal Credit which is currently phasing in.

The other support which has been available for around ten years now is based on a tax exemption for employer childcare support.

Under these rules an employer can provide

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tax news in terms of varying employment contracts, HR costs and so forth (although the financial cost is normally mitigated by the saving in Employer’s NIC). Principally, self-employed individuals or partners in partnerships cannot benefit from the scheme and neither can business owners who are early stage and not yet able to harness the relief.

This prompted the launch of a major new support mechanism. Fine details are still to come but we have a pretty good idea of what this will look like.

The good news is that this is a scheme which is now administered directly by the government (so no need for the employer to get involved at all), is available to more than just employed individuals, and in the majority of cases it appears to be more generous.

Under the scheme a working family can obtain support worth up to £2,000 per year per child from the government, or double this for disabled children. It functions by the individual running an account with HMRC, out of which the childcare provider is paid.

The family pay into that account, and for every deposit the family make, the government will top up with an additional 25% up to the £2,000 maximum.

To benefit, both parents must be working and earning an average of at least £50 per week.

However, there will be relaxations to this rule for “start-up periods” for newly self-employed or entrepreneurs who cannot yet meet the earnings requirement.

With childcare costs ever rising, it is quite clear that the potential savings for families under this new scheme could be considerably greater than the existing employer support.

childcare support of up to £55 per week per employee, free of tax and NIC. This scheme has been particularly popular as a salary sacrifice arrangement where the employee agrees to give up £55 per week of gross salary in exchange for childcare vouchers to the same value. As the employee is only sacrificing a lower sum in terms of post-deduction income, savings are generated.

In terms of employer schemes, these will close to new entrants when the new scheme is formally introduced. This provides a window of opportunity where employees currently have the option to enter a salary sacrifice scheme, as they will not be able to use both schemes.

In most cases it is likely that the new scheme will be more beneficial, but every case is different depending on the facts. Lets hope there are no further delays to the launch of this tax free childcare. We will keep you informed!

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For a basic rate tax payer, this scheme can save each employee £915 per year.

This scheme has its disadvantages, however.

It carries a cost to the employer to administer If you wish to discuss your position on childcare support, or if you know someone else who is in that position, please call your usual Randall & Payne contact or speak to Trish Clements in the tax team.

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business advice

A new dawn for Corporate Finance work?

Randall & Payne’s Corporate Finance Team are here to advise With 9 successive quarters of GDP growth, business confidence is stabilising and interest rates remain low. This, in addition to the fact that businesses large and small have been generating and retaining cash reserves and are looking to achieve strong growth on the back of the recovering economy, is a recipe for a strong Corporate Finance sector.

Ollie Newbold

Ollie Newbold, Head of Corporate Finance at Randall & Payne, explains the approach the firm undertakes:

“Our primary aim is to use our experience, contacts and dedication to help clients through what can often be a complicated and time-pressured process. For a good portion of the work we undertake our clients will only go through the process once in a lifetime. It is therefore our responsibility to use our knowledge and expertise to make the process as smooth as possible”.

What is Corporate Finance?

• Business disposals

• Financing and refinancing

• Due Diligence reports

• Business acquisitions

• Succession planning

• Business plans

• Acquisition sourcing

Financing update We can help you to achieve your business goals by identifying barriers to growth and providing tailored support that fits your needs.

John Barker and Ollie Newbold have recently become Registered Experts as part of the Business Growth Service, offering support to businesses through the Access to Finance and Leadership & Management offerings.

To be eligible for funded support, your business must be looking to improve and grow, and fit the following criteria:

What is it?

•

Registered in the UK and based in England

•

Have up to 249 employees

•

Have turnover of up to £40m

•

Meet the EU definition of an SME

GrowthAccelerator is now part of the Business Growth Service, a government-backed service offering support to businesses with the potential to improve and grow.

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Is it for me?

John Barker

www.greatbusiness.gov.uk/businessgrowthservice

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Locked Box - the key to a smooth transaction?

‘Locked Box’ is an increasingly popular mechanism for dealing with closing transactions.

In simple terms, the concept of this mechanism is that the final proceeds are agreed on the basis of a recently prepared and reliable Balance Sheet, on the basis that the movements between this Balance Sheet date and completion date will be reflected in working capital and net debt.

This Balance Sheet will take into account the actual Cash and Debt position of the company at a given date and the offer for the company is based on this position.

The alternative tends to be having an offer based upon an Enterprise Value which is then ‘trued up’ through preparing completion accounts after the completion date.The Enterprise Value can be the cash-free, debt-free value of the company

Pros and Cons to Locked Box: Pros + Price is agreed early on + Less time spent dealing with the transaction after completion + Simpler mechanism + Easier for the seller to compare multiple offers Cons - The Buyer risks Balance Sheet deterioration if performance is poor between Locked Box date and completion - Difficult to apply without strong management accounts for reliance upon Balance Sheet

IMPROVE

INVEST

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business advice

Case Study: Sale of Independent Financial Services (UK) Limited What was the deal?

An acquisitive AIM listed IFA was seeking to acquire 100% of the share capital of Independent Financial Services (UK) Limited. The client had broadly negotiated initial terms for the deal and we were asked to act in an advisory capacity to bring the deal through due diligence to completion.

What were the timescales?

We were initially instructed in mid-March and were given a fixed completion date of 30th April. As a result the timings were very tight. These constraints were exacerbated by the fact that Ollie was on paternity leave in the middle!

How was the deal approached?

The Purchaser made an extensive financial Due Diligence request, which we turned around the initial response within one week. We then had to prepare financial statements. Soon after, we were given draft legal documentation which we carefully reviewed and considered with a broad range of risks in mind. It was particularly useful to have a meeting early on with the legal advisers and the clients in order to thrash through the detail of the legal documentation.

What was the main challenge?

In view of the tight timescales it was important to make sure that all issues were dealt with and that risks for the seller were minimised.

GROW

EXIT

The 4 key stages of the business lifecycle.

In light of the increasing demand for work of this nature Randall & Payne are running a series of free seminars around the 4 key stages of the business lifecycle themes: Improve - Invest - Grow - Exit.

If you are looking at any of these key areas of the business lifecycle please visit our website to book your place, or contact jo.kline@randall-payne.co.uk. Attendee numbers are limited for each seminar so please book early.

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business advice

UK rate of 5% VAT on installations of energy saving installations is against EU Law, but the Triple Tax Lock looks to preclude increases in VAT during the course of this parliament. What will the government do?

The cost of residential installation of energy saving installations is set to increase.

Despite the push of the Government to reduce CO2 emissions (the Green Deal), in recent years, the total number of new installations of Energy Efficient systems has been falling, partly as a result of reduced Feed In Tariff incentives, but is that about to change?

In the UK we currently have a reduced rate of 5% VAT for the installation of Energy Efficient materials. This covers the installation of systems such as solar panels, wind turbines, heat pumps and insulation in residential houses and care homes.

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However the Government has just lost a case in the European Court as this reduced rate of 5% is in breach of EU Law. Interestingly the UK Government is also in the process of introducing a “Triple Tax Lock” preventing increases in the rates of VAT until 2020, which places them in a very difficult position.

It is likely, at some point in the near future that there will be an increase to the VAT rate applied to the Energy Efficient systems, we just don’t know when this might happen, UK Government may appeal or have to amend legislation.

We would therefore recommend that people make the most of the current rules and get energy efficient systems installed sooner rather than later to secure the beneficial VAT treatment.

So how can R&P help?

There are some technicalities about whether a system would qualify - we are able to confirm the VAT position for individual installations giving you peace of mind.

We will also keep our clients up to date to identify when a change may be implemented.

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business advice

Preparing for Auto Enrolment Fines of up to £10,000 per day for auto enrolment non-compliance Auto enrolment is upon us with the number of qualifying businesses increasing over the coming months, peaking at an estimated 215,000 in the first quarter of 2017. These numbers mean the demands upon pension scheme providers will be considerable. This is likely to create a massive bottleneck with too many businesses and not enough scheme providers.

With fines of up to £10,000 per day for non compliance, some businesses will miss their staging date and will receive massive penalties from the Pensions Regulator.

All businesses with at least one member of staff will have now been notified of their ‘staging date’, by which time automatic enrolment must be in place. This could have been as early as 1st June 2015. Additionally all qualifying businesses are being contacted and asked to notify the Pension Regulator of the ‘Primary Contract’. This will be the most senior person in the business or the business owner. If someone else (e.g. a member of staff, accountancy, financial adviser or payroll providers will be carrying out the day-to-day taste of managing automatic enrolment, these can be nominated as a ‘secondary contact’ and so the administrative burden begins, even if your staging date is 2016 or 2017.

Implementing auto enrolment is a lengthy procedure with the need to: • Select a suitable qualifying scheme.

• Register the scheme.

• Enrol staff.

• Update payroll data (possibly including software).

• Implement and monitor the scheme.

As Rob Stokes explains “We have been working alongside specialist pension advisor IFS Cotswold Financial Planning in assisting many of our clients with the process. What is apparent is the time that needs to be allocated to ensure that this process is implemented smoothly. We are therefore encouraging our clients to be ‘ahead of the game’.

“It’s very easy to put off what isn’t seen as urgent, but waiting until the eleventh hour may well bring compliance issues and these in turn could lead to fines. Our recommendation is to act early, select a scheme which suits your business, have that scheme registered and be ‘ready to go’. This is one area where you can’t afford to be complacent”.

For advice on the options available and how to implement them, contact Rob Stokes on 01242 776000.

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Changes to the National Minimum Wage rates will affect all employers from 1st October The National Minimum Wage rates will be as follows:£6.70 p/h - workers aged 21+ £5.30 p/h – workers aged 18-20 £3.87 p/h – workers under 18 £3.30 p/h – apprentices aged 16-18 and those aged 19 or over who are in their first year* * All other apprentices are entitled to receive the national minimum wage for their age.

Employers should ensure that they use the above rates as a minimum to pay their workers with effect from

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1 October 2015 as HM Revenue & Customs advise that it is a criminal offence for employers not to pay someone the National Minimum Wage.

• Employers NIC will be abolished for those apprentices aged under 25.

New for April 2016 The government proposes that from April 2016:

• to accompany this there is a proposed increase to the Employment Allowance to offset the first £3,000 of employers NIC for some employers.

• the National Living Wage will be £7.20 an hour for workers aged 25 and older. The minimum wage will still apply for workers aged 24 and under.

For any queries regarding the above, please contact Karen Harries or Danielle Longney in our Payroll Department. autumn 2015

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academies news

Academies Update

Pupil Premium

The advised funding rates for 2015/16 for pupil premium have been announced as:

Disadvantaged pupils

Pupil premium per pupil

Pupils in year groups reception to year 6 recorded as Ever 6 FSM

£1320

Pupils in years 7 to 11 recorded as Ever 6 FSM

£935

Looked after children (LAC) defined in the Children Act 1989 as one who is in the care of, or provided with accommodation by, an English local authority

£1900

Children who have ceased to be looked after by a local authority in England and Wales because of adoption, a special guardianship order, a child arrangements order or a residence order

£1900

As usual, the grant may be spent for the educational benefit of pupils registered at the school, for the benefit of pupils registered at other maintained schools or academies and on community facilities that further any charitable purpose for the benefit of pupils at the school, their families or people who live and work in the locality. As a reminder, the grant does not need to be fully spent in the year ended 31 March 2016 and may be carried forward for future use. The funding will be payable for the pupils on the January 2015 census.

There has been a pot, for England, of £2,409,714,000 to service 2,070,010 pupils who are eligible, averaging out at £1,164 per pupil. Herefordshire has 5,070 pupils and the Academies should receive £1,071.60 per pupil; Worcestershire has 15,380 eligible pupils, meaning a payment of £1,184.08 per pupil; and Gloucestershire has 16,480 pupils, getting £1,134.22 per pupil. Again, this means the 3 counties languishing at the bottom end of the table for funding rates.

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EFA Information Exchange The continuation of the development EFA’s Information Exchange is moving at a pace.

For the latest development the EFA has included the knowledge centre which should help you to find answers to what they regard as the most common questions asked to them along with

an enquiry form should the answer to your question not be there. Also included within the Information Exchange is the latest calendar of milestones and forthcoming deadlines, which is available for both downloading and printing and downloading into your email calendar.

For more information on the services provided by our Academies Team please contact Rob Stokes on 01242 776000.

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academies news

VAT Guide VAT is a complex area particularly within Academies where partial exemption is often applicable and for those who are VAT registered there are a variety of income sources that need categorising. This guide highlights the main areas to consider when determining if VAT should be charged or reclaimed on certain transactions.

Rob has continued to offer a valuable peace of mind review for Academies covering the common areas where there have been questions raised historically and where the HMRC guidance may not be detailed enough.

The Randall & Payne VAT guide for Academies has been updated by Rob Case, our in-house VAT expert, and copies are available via the website or by contacting Rob.

Come along to a free Academies Seminar!

At Randall & Payne we pride ourselves in sharing our knowledge and helping others.

Our Academies Seminars run termly and are open to all converted Academies, whether you are a client or not. If you are interested in attending, call Jo Kline on 01242 776000 or look for details on our website.

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in the community

Randall & Payne Host Reception for Gloucester Business Awards Finalists and Sponsors Randall & Payne held a reception for all of the sponsors and finalists of the Gloucestershire Business Awards. In attendance were many of the biggest names in Gloucestershire’s business landscape including Renishaw, Rush Skate Park, BPE Solicitors, All Cooper and Printwaste Recycling & Shredding, to name just a few. Speeches from Randall & Payne’s Managing Partner Tim Watkins and Glosmedia’s Matt Holmes thanked the sponsors, congratulated the finalists and expressed their excitement for the night of the awards.

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in the community

Clydesdale and R&P at The Cricket Festival Various guests joined us at The Norwood arms for drinks and an afternoon watching T20 Cricket at The Cheltenham Cricket festival. We took the opportunity to hold a raffle and the guest very generously helped us raise £320 for Gloucestershire Young Carers.

R&P Go Green Hatherley & Reddings Cricket Club held its 2nd annual Charity Beer festival and R&P sponsored a barrel of beer. The monies raised at this annual beer festival is split equally between the Rotary club, who raise money for local charities and the local youth programmes at the cricket club. I think we can definitely say R&P went Green that day.

Engage with target audiences Create brand equity Increase business profit The Isaac Partnership is here to help when you need that extra marketing brainpower, with no waffle and just straight talking advice. We have over 15 years experience in building strategies and delivering rich marketing content for print, web and social media channels.

Our clients benefit from our award-winning ‘one stop shop’ agency approach, allowing a continued level of both creativity and service, all under one roof.

Our national media partners include:

if Call 01453 840369 to set up an initial consultation.

Our offices are one minute from Junction 13 of the M5. www.isaacpartnership.co.uk SocialMedia #isaac4design All rights reserved for our collective media partners: Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc.; Sky logo is a registered trademark of Sky UK Limited © 2015; ExterionMedia logo is a registered trademark of ExterionMedia Group; Clear Channel is a registered trademark of Clear Channel Communications, Inc.

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in the community

Five Valleys Business Lunch In association with Harrison Clark Rickerbys Solicitors, Randall & Payne and Wycliffe College co-hosted a business lunch at Wycliffe College in Stonehouse.

Held at the end of May, the theme was ‘The Importance of Healthy Communities to Businesses’, about which Theresa Webb, Communications Officer for the Nelson Trust, delivered an inspiring talk.

This free, invitation only, event showed how businesses can benefit from supporting local charities and how they can shape events to suit their customer base, all whilst supporting a charity, enhancing their reputation and if entertaining clients at the same time.

Above: Tessa Webb from the Nelson Trust.

Below: Enjoying lunch in Wycliffe Hall

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Above: Chris Baldwin, Trish Clements, Nikki Cairns & James Geary from Randall & Payne Below: Tessa Webb chats with Robert Johnson

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in the community

Above left, clockwise from top: Rebecca Reeves, Will Abbott and Claire Maddox; Melissa Raybone and Amanda White; Ian Heather , Barry Chapman and Ollie Newbold; Melanie Grey and Jo Kline; Mark Fabian, Rosalind Andrews & Gareth Hooper; John Gasan and Ewa Rozwadowska. Above right: Networking and lunch in Wycliffe Hall

Dragon Boat Race

In keeping with tradition, we once again entered a team into the Dragon Boat Race at Gloucester Docks on 10th May. 30 teams, all from Gloucestershire, battled to win, at the same time raising funds for CLIC Sargent and other charities supported by the Rotary Club of Gloucester Severn.

Dragon Boat Racing originated in China 2,000 years ago. It involves up to 16 rowers sitting side by side in a 40 foot long canoe, with a helm (provided!) to steer and a drummer sitting up high in front, beating out the rhythm.

The boats are fitted with a colourful dragon’s head and are a truly impressive sight at speed.

We were in the morning session, which involved 15 teams over 3 heats. Our first race was very slow due to the capzised rowers from last year feeling a bit unsteady in the boat, but following a move around they improved. We came 10th overall, improving on our time each race - and nobody fell in!

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case study

Lister Unified Communications Case Study

How Randall & Payne are helping this Stonehouse-based business grow, prosper and auto-enrol

Lister Unified Communications are one of the largest, most experienced providers of telecommunications in the region. Based in Stonehouse, Lister’s engaged Partner Will Abbott and his business advisory team to help accelerate their plans for growth.

The growth was split into 2 main phases, rebranding and expanding.

Randall & Payne secured Growth Accelerator funding to help with the initial project and the first outcome was to update Lister’s branding.

“They knew their existing website and marketing materials were holding them back” said Randall & Payne’s Head of Business Advisory Will Abbott, “Before implementing a strategic plan for growth it was important to get the branding, website and marketing materials in shape to create a strong platform for the second stage of the process.”

Lister’s engaged with Stonehousebased marketing and design company, The Isaac Partnership, and underwent a full rebrand, even amending their name from Lister Communications to Lister Unified Communications, to better represent their full range of integrated services.

“We offer far more than just telecoms” explained Rob Lister, Sales & Marketing Director at Lister Communications, “We provide onsite telecoms, cloud solutions, data & networks and solutions for a mobile workforce, meaning that from business mobiles and contracts, to m2m and vehicle tracking, right through to traditional and VoIP phone systems for offices, we provide an integrated, unified service.”

Once the rebrand was complete the business advisory team began preparing a 3 year vision for growth as well as the key steps for achieving it. A more detailed plan for the first 12 months kicked off with a huge building project, with a conversion that turned storage space into office space, allowing the customer support teams to be merged. “The extension was essential, we’ve turned what was basically wasted space into working space, almost doubling the size of our offices” continued Rob, “It’s given us some breathing space as well as room to expand. We have a very focused plan to grow and we’ve already achieved so much off the back of our growth plan”.

The next step was to align the management team with the new plan.

“Clarifying the individual leadership roles was important” explained Will “The people driving the business have to all pull in the same direction. By talking through who is responsible for each section of the plan, we’ve improved communication between the senior team as well as given the management team a clearer set of responsibilities.”

Much better communication between the senior team

A model to support growth – we could not carry on with the old model

We know where we need to get our people to

Rebrand Old Lister Communications Logo

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New Lister Unified Communications Logo

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case study “We’ve already made tremendous progress and we’re keen to keep up momentum. We’re having monthly meetings to review progress, revise steps and ensure actions taken. We’re looking at developing capability as well as the specific skills of individuals to ensure smooth implementation of the growth plan.”

“Will and his team have been a tremendous help” continued Rob “We’re thrilled with the progress so far and excited to see where this period of growth takes the business”.

To find out how our business advisory team could help your business, contact us today on 01242 776000.

Onsite Telecoms

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Mobile Workforce

Cloud Solutions

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Data & Networks

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dates for the diary

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october 2015 monday

tuesday

wednesday thursday friday

saturday

sunday

1 2 3 4 Corp Tax due Business - period ending Awards 31/12/14

5 6 7 8 9 10 11

12 13 14 15 16 17 18

19 20 21 22 23 24 25

26 27 28 29 30 31 A/cs to Co.s House - period ending 31/1/15

CTSA returns due for 31/10/14

november 2015 monday

tuesday

wednesday thursday friday

saturday

sunday

Corp Tax due 1 - period ending 31/1/15

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20 21 22

Autumn IIGE Seminar 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 Quorum Statement

30 A/cs to Co.s House - period ending 28/2/15 CTSA returns due for 30/11/14

december 2015 monday

tuesday

wednesday thursday friday

saturday

sunday

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31 A/cs to Co.s House - period ending 31/3/15 28 Boxing Day 29 30

CTSA returns due for 31/12/14 Fin. Statement & Mgmt letter filing with EFA

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tax reference

income tax reliefs 2015/16 Personal allowance born after 5 April 1948 £10,600

‘adjusted net income’ over £100,000.)

born after 5 April 1938 and before 6 April 1948* £10,600 born before 6 April 1938 £10,660 (For higher earners reduce personal allowance by £1 for every £2 of

vehicle benefits

(relief at 10%)* min. amount

£8,355 £3,220

* For people born before April 1948 reduce allowance by £1 for every £2 of adjusted net income over £27,000 to the minimum of the standard Personal Allowances of £10,600.

Blind person allowance

Company cars 2015/16 CO2 emissions (gm/km)

Married couple’s allowance for people born before 6 April 1935 or 75 and over

£2,290

Maximum transferable personal allowance between spouses £1,060

% of cars list price taxed

1-50 5 51-75 9 76-94 13 95 14 100 15 105 16 110 17 115 18 120 19 125 20 130 21 135 22 140 23 145 24 150 25 155 26 For expenditure incurred on or after 6 April 2013 160 27 (since 1 April 2013 for companies) cars with CO2 165 28 emissions not exceeding 130gm/km (previously 170 29 175 30 160gm/km) receive an 18% allowance p.a.

180 31 Cars with CO2 emissions over 130gm/km 185 32 receive an 8% allowance p.a.

190 33 195 34 200 35 205 36 210 and more 37

capital allowances on cars

mileage allowances

For diesel cars add a 3% supplement but maximum still 37%. For cars registered before 1st January 1998 the charge is based on engine size.

Company Vans 2015/16 £3150 Car Fuel Benefit 2015/16 £22,100 x appropriate percentage* *percentage used to calculate the taxable benefit of the car for which the fuel is provided.

Cars and vans Rate per mile Up to 10,000 miles 45p Over 10,000 miles 25p Bicycles 20p Motorcycles 24p These indicate the maximum tax free mileage allowance for own vehicle business use. Any excess is taxable.

corporation tax year to 31/3/2016 Profits band Rate Now unified at a flat rate at 20%* *Different rates apply for ring-fenced (broadly oil industry) profit.

www.randall-payne.co.uk

income tax rates 2015/16 Band £ Rate % 0 - 5,000 10* 0 - 31,785 20** 31,786 - 150,000 40*** Over 150,000 45****

*Only applicable to dividends and savings income. The 10% rate is not available if taxable non-savings income exceeds £5,000. ** Except dividends (10%). *** Except dividends (32.5%). **** Except dividends (37.5%).

Other income taxed first, then savings income and finally dividends.

value added tax Standard rate

20%

Reduced rate

5%

Annual Registration Limit: from 1.4.15 (1.4.14 - 31.3.15 £81,000)

£82,000 Annual Deregistration Limit: from 1.4.15 (1.4.14 - 31.3.15 £79,000)

£80,000 No change to the Flat rate scheme/ Cash account limits

pension premiums 2015/16

• Tax relief available for personal contributions: higher of £3,600 (gross) or 100% of relevant earnings.

• Any contributions in excess of £40,000, whether personal or by the employer, may be subject to income tax on the individual.

• Where the £40,000 limit is not fully used it may be possible to carry the unused amount forward for three years.

• Employers will obtain tax relief on employer contributions if they are paid and made ‘wholly and exclusively’.

• Tax relief for large contributions may be spread over several years.

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That’s why 1000’s of businesses have trusted us for over 136 years to see their big picture and to provide them with the knowledge and advice they need to plan ahead for growth.

For a free consultation call 01242 776000 www.randall-payne.co.uk Chartered Accountants • Business Development • Tax Planning • Audit • Wealth Management Randall & Payne iRandall & Payne is a brand name of Randall & Payne LLP. Registered in England & Wales number: OC345710. Chargrove House, Main Road, Shurdington, Cheltenham, Glos. GL51 4GA. Unless otherwise indicated we use the word partner to refer to a member of the LLP. Registered to carry on audit work in the UK and Ireland and regulated for a range of investment business activities by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. Details about our audit registration can be viewed at www.auditregister.org.uk for the UK, under reference number C002244548 and www.cro.ie/auditors for Ireland, under reference number EWC002244548.

A member of the ICAEW Practice Assurance Scheme.