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Quarterly snapshot for business owners who want to be in the know December 2019
What’s the one biggest asset that means you can run a business rather than be working for yourself … People often ask me how I manage to run a business in the UK from my home in Spain … the answer I give is easy … I have an amazing team!!
The biggest key asset that has guaranteed the success of the business is our Procedure Manual and I honestly think without this I wouldn’t be able to be living my dream life here in Spain.
Now that in itself is true, and each staff member has unique attributes that help maintain a productive yet happy team, however they all have one thing in common and that is their attitude.
Over the 17 years in business I had attempted to create a procedure manual several times. After going to a meeting with the British Franchise Association to see whether I could franchise the business as we seemed to have a winning formula (I chose not to do this as I realised I enjoyed looking after clients not managing franchises), then after reading Michael Gerber’s The E Myth and then again after seeing his very frank and inspiration talk in Birmingham some years later.
They all enjoy their work, have self-motivation and good customer service skills. Without these attributes and everyone working towards the same vision then the business would not have survived without me working from the office. However, that doesn’t mean I walked away and just left them to it … I still have a lot of contact with the team to ensure both employee happiness and customer satisfaction are fulfilled.
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For some reason they never got off the ground … and after now having one that works I understand why … it’s because I didn’t involve the team!
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What’s the one biggest asset that means you can run a business rather than be working for yourself … This time, when I was planning to move away from the day to day, I gave power over to the team, getting each of them to write their own procedures giving them control over the what format they put them in; Some found recording the screen as they did tasks more worthwhile, some found bullet points and check lists more valuable. They then each added appendix of any supporting documents that would help them and others in the future. Giving them ownership meant that the procedures were true and accurate documents about what was happening in the business rather than what I thought should happen. There was a surprise advantage to this as when I reviewed the procedures, when labelling up the manual, I was able to see areas where we could improve. I then spoke to the leadership team and asked them how we thought we could improve on this. Things were then added and implemented. Once all the procedures were reviewed, and the team were happy with them, we made it a working document online where everyone has access to everything. On top of knowing that we had a well oiled machine running the business the other benefits to having this procedure manual are: Reduces employee training time – having the procedure manual drastically reduces time spent training new team members as you only have to run through things once and then they have the procedure to look back on should they forget any steps in the future.
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Delegation and Transfer of work is simplified – having the procedure manual helps when a certain team member is busy or someone is off sick and tasks need to be delegated to someone else as anyone can just pick up the procedure and undertake an urgent task. Maintains high customer service – having a procedure manual that is customer service focused means that when the procedures are followed you maintain the high level of customer service each time the task is undertaken to every client. Improves Productivity – having a procedure manual will help with team productivity as there are check lists to follow, everything is done to best practice. Also new team members don’t have to sit thinking about what to do next and hoping they don’t have to ask another member of the team. Maintains consistency and continuity for brand – having a procedure manual means that every task is performed the same each time it is done, regardless of who is doing it, and this gives brand continuity which is very important to your customers especially if they are going to refer you to their own network. Therefore you can see how a procedure manual overall strengthens your business. If you want any help in knowing where to start then feel free to send me an email and we can have a chat.
Tracy x
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Why paying tax is good news for your business!
A client who had been with us for over 4 years recently emailed and asked “what was it we exactly did for them”. This came after the client had gone from paying no tax to paying £5k tax in their latest financial year. I found this fascinating as it dawned on me that some business owners believe that an accountant’s main job role is to just reduce their tax liabilities regardless of business activity. So, what is our role? Well, here at TI Accountancy, our main aim is to help our client’s businesses grow! In the case of the above client, as a result of having bookkeeping and receiving KPI reports monthly, they had identified the areas they needed to cut costs and how they could improve their gross profit margins. By doing this, not only had they turned their business from loss-making to profitable, but they had also massively improved their cashflow situation and in this financial year had been able to pay themselves a dividend for the first time!
Although we endeavour to make sure you are paying as little tax as possible, by making sure you are claiming for everything you can (expenses, tax reliefs etc.) and by making sure you are on the correct platform (sole trader, limited company etc.) making more profit does mean paying more tax! We cannot make tax disappear. But we can, through our business growth products, help you to make sure that when it’s time to pay the tax bill you have the funds ready to do so. So, Would you like to pay more tax and be prepared when it’s due? If you would like more information on our business growth products you can read about them here or contact us at admin@tiaccountancy.co.uk, we would love to help you grow your business this year!
Lucy www.tiaccountancy.co.uk
A Company Profile
THE BRAND CHAP TM
From toddler to strategic brand specialist, the creative life of Adam. Unlike most three-year-old children, Adam Thorp’s passion for all things creative started with a professional focus, sitting under his father's drawing board playing with Pantone Markers, Letraset and SprayMount. Moving into teenage years, as we find with so many entrepreneurs, Adam struggled with the regime of school. His natural appetite to challenge and alternate ways of doing things was regularly mistaken for rebellion. He started his first small business at the age of 22 but not knowing anything about business it failed, forcing him into employment in a design agency. Quickly rising to head designer Adam still felt governed, his creativity and vision stifled.
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He left the comfortable position and formed a partnership to hone his business acumen and fulfil his creative vision. Growing the business and an enviable client list, he eventually sold his shares to partners, releasing him once again to follow an increasing interest in the true meaning of brand. Fifteen years later Adam’s passion evolved from the world of design and advertising into the understanding of true brand and the way it can positively affect business at a much deeper level. Adam is now increasingly comfortable with the title ‘Brand Specialist’ his agency providing all the support services needed to fill gaps clients have in the implementation of anything Business, Brand and Marketing. In the last
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decade, Adam has been through some tough personal times but is proud of the way he has managed to keep a balance, focus and the business going. Overall he puts this down to resilience and surrounding himself with great people. While going through this mire, he used the tools and strategies he created to help other business owners on himself. Gaining clarity of where he wanted to be, he found that his 5-year plan wasn’t congruent with what he was allowing into his life; and for the past two years has made substantial and strategic changes which is creating echoing results. The long-term goal for Adam is to create a suite of ROI focused products and services that any business, irrelevant of size or sector, can tap into to help them turn their business into a brand. He loves the world of brand, marketing and business as he finds joy in helping other entrepreneurs achieve their goals. He feels his biggest challenge at the moment is time. As a single Dad of three young children, he refuses to fail as a father; while balancing his passionate desire to push the business forward, he rarely has time for himself. The time he does find, he spends with the others he loves and watches lots of films and challenging documentaries which is where he finds vast amounts of creative and intellectual inspiration. One of the time bug-bares he has is the one that the government puts on small business to
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seemingly do their administration for them. “When paying employees, we have to collect and pay tax, national insurance, more recently pension contributions, report on all this and send on to HMRC”. He feels that if this burden were removed, business owners would have more time to grow and run their company. However, one of his consulting mantras is, “Learn to embrace what you can’t change”. Adam is very clear on the difference having TI Accountancy onboard to manage his bookkeeping makes. He said it feels like an enormous weight has been lifted. Having someone that asked the right questions from the outset, that was unable to unpick the mess from the lack of passion and implementation he had for the paperwork has done wonders for his mindset while also recouping precious time. He says this additional chargeable time makes the TI Accountancy service free. Historically he has had people in-house doing bookkeeping but always felt uncomfortable with members of his team knowing too much. After using TI Accountancy, he said, however big the business grows, he will never bring it back in-house. Giving TI Accountancy his bookkeeping was one of the smartest things he did in 2018!
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So … what is a P11D A P11D is a form which employer’s use to report benefits in kind. These are items or services which an employer or employees receive from the company in addition to their salary. As benefits in kind increase the employers/employee’s salary, they may be subject to National Insurance contributions. It is important to know these contributions are paid by the company, not the individual. Any items the company pays for that the employee benefits from need to be included on the P11D form. It is important to know that it is the employer that files the P11D not the employee. The below need to include in a P11D if it applies to the company: • Company cars • Health insurance
This has now been replaced by an exemption system, whereby the majority of business expenses incurred personally by company employees no longer need to be recorded on a P11D. Please see exempt expenses below:
• Loans
• Business Travel
• Non-business travel expenses
• Business entertainment expenses
• Non-business entertainment expenses
• Credit cards used for the business
• Assets provided to an employee that have significant personal use
• Fees and subscriptions
• Self-Assessment fees paid by the company Before April 2016, expenses could be omitted from P11D forms by obtaining a special dispensation from HMRC.
This year 2019/20, the P11D’s need to be submitted by 6th July 2020, it is important that they are submitted by the deadline to avoid penalties. If this is something you think your company may need TI Accountancy can help with this.
Kelly TI Accountancy: Tip The Wink - Dec 2019
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Did you know you can insure your goods while in transit? A Cargo or Marine insurance policy is a product designed to insure goods should they be lost or damaged whilst in transit worldwide or in the UK for storage. The cover against loss or damage can be whilst travelling by road, rail sea or air. As well as worldwide travel, policies also includes transport within the UK. The cover provided is on an all risks basis. Policies can be purchased as an annual or single trip policy. Goods that are suited for this type of policy are typically raw materials, components and finished products. Most standard policies provide:• General Average and Salvage Charges • Exhibition Risks • Airfreight Replacement • Tools or Samples • Concealed Damage • War Risks • Buyers and/or Sellers Contingent Interest The product is ideal for:• Exporters • Wholesalers • Importers • Retailers • Manufacturers • Contractors • Suppliers If you would like any further information or a quotation, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
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Sarah www.tiaccountancy.co.uk
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