If you have a moment to spare before the Autumn springs us back into work mode, use it to check whether you could claw back a slice of your corporation tax as R&D tax credit. And please before you say, “that’s not relevant to me”, read on as too many people take that view in error. R&D tax credit is not only for the techies or pharma companies and research labs of this world; it applies to a very wide range of business sectors. In fact no sector is automatically ruled out. Of course there are some sectors where companies are more likely to be undertaking qualifying development activities. A large share of the government’s R&D subsidy goes to companies in the manufacturing industries, such a food processors, drinks makers/brewers, precision engineers, electronic circuit board makers, chemical, plastic and packaging makers and companies that are developing new gadgets and widgets. It’s also quite common for agrarian, farming, construction and engineering … [Read more...]
How can Design Thinking accelerate your business growth?
If you are a fan of design, I’m sure you’ll be looking forward to London Design Week, which is taking place across the city later in September. Our capital now seems to be crammed with creative companies and has developed an international reputation as an innovative hub in technology, food and fashion. However, not every business is graced with an in-house team of highly-charged creatives. When that’s the case, is there something we can take from seasoned design professionals that could invest some of that creative juice and energy into even the most basic product or service? With this in mind, let me introduce you to the concept of Design Thinking. This is a process that I’ve learnt from the Design and Technology industries that I believe can benefit every commercial enterprise regardless of its size or sector. So what do I mean by Design Thinking? In a nutshell, Design Thinking takes processes that designers and artists typically use to develop and … [Read more...]
How to build innovation into your business
A great way to building innovation into your business is to be looking for problems to solve and opportunities for improvement in your industry. That’s not to say that inventions haven’t succeeded by accidentally creating an invention and then looking to see what can be solved by that invention (case in point – post-it notes). However, that is not the topic of this article – today’s topic is about actively seeking to build innovation into your business. Create a culture for innovation to flourish First and foremost, if you want to embed innovation into your organisation, create a culture for innovation to flourish. If you forced me to come up with a formula, I would say: Make sure you hire people that are not only smart, they think creatively and are not afraid of change Relinquish control to your managers within a framework Encourage multi-disciplinary teams and internal networking between your sales, marketing and R&D team Make sure your employees understand … [Read more...]
To Register for VAT or Not, that is the question
What is Value Added Tax? Value Added Tax was introduced to the UK in 1972 to replace Purchase tax and to conform to the European Common Market. The Definition of VAT is a tax on the amount by which the value of an article has been increased at each stage of its production or distribution. For most businesses in the UK, VAT is added at 20%. However some things are exempt from VAT , eg most food goods, children’s clothes, postage stamps, financial and property transactions, printed books, magazines and newspapers. Some items are also charged at a reduced VAT rate of 5% e.g. energy and children’s car seats. When you are starting a new business when should you register for VAT? Reasons you should register immediately for VAT? Your new business is selling to other businesses. They will also be registered and will claim the VAT back as Input tax which reduces the amount they pay to HMRC. Your business is investing in capital items, … [Read more...]
Setting up business in the UK for non EU citizens – Essentials Check List
The summer is a time when visitors come from all over the world to watch our famous sports events including Wimbledon, test cricket at The Oval and the UK Grand Prix at Silverstone. To the side of these visits, many are also researching the UK as a destination for their new business. The UK is now one of the easiest countries in the world to do business in but there are a number of essentials you must have in place before you can start trading if you are a non EU citizen. Visa You will need a Tier 1 Entrepreneur Visa, or a Tier 1 Investor Visa. For the Entrepreneur Visa you will need to invest a minimum of £200,000 in your new business and employ yourself and at least two members of staff. For the Entrepreneur Visa you need to be prepared to invest at least £2m in the business. Business Idea You need to start with an idea of what product or service you want to sell. The first step is to think who might buy your product and why. You need a USP (Unique Selling … [Read more...]
Five ways to improve your business productivity
You will probably be familiar with the adage: Productivity = Potential – Interference. Many of us are battling daily with interference of one sort or another, both external and internal. Potential is not always something that is easy to quantify, or to realise. Growing a business, finding a market, and bringing in orders takes time and effort, and often a bit of luck. It’s also likely to take some time, so those frustrating interferences are the key focus if you want fast results. Productivity is critical Superficial measures do not always show the bigger picture – if two businesses are paying different wages, you cannot assume that the lower payer makes cheaper goods, without knowing their productivity. Obviously, if the higher-paying business is more productive than the lower payer, their output might still be cheaper. Higher productivity gives you the opportunity to take better control of your prices and margins, allowing you to undercut competitors without undue pain, or to … [Read more...]
The Value of MEASUREMENT
Knowing what to measure and how to measure it can make running your business easier. To make better decisions you need to gather the relevant data and format it into a report showing the essential information. Your decision makers can then be taught how to use that report to make sensible decisions or to recognise that they need additional information or instructions from you. For Measuring your Cash Flow you need to know: Who your debtors are, how much they owe you and when they are likely to pay. Who your creditors are, how much you owe them and when you need to pay them. What your regular outgoings are (rents, rates, salaries etc). Only when you have gathered the data can you then make a reasonably accurate Cash Flow Forecast. This will enable you to make decisions about who to chase for cash and who to pay in order to manage the cash in your business. When making a decision on buying a piece of Capital Equipment you … [Read more...]
Why do earn out clauses often create conflict or end up in court?
How do you value your business when you're selling it? In recent years there seems to be more significant differences in expectation of valuation between buyer and seller, and increasingly the Earn-out clause has been used as an appropriate way to bridge this gap. The clause basically retains interest and motivation for the seller by holding back a portion of the sale price until certain performance criteria are met, and minimises risk to the buyer of overpaying for a business that doesn’t perform as well as its previous owners say it will. If it is planned and executed well then the buyer can gain more than originally envisaged, but it is full of risk for the selling entrepreneur and conflicts are almost inevitable. So what’s the problem? You might base the sale price of the business on an assumed level of financial performance over the next 24 months, but the seller is cautious and insists on part of the value being deferred and wrapped … [Read more...]
How to Stretch for Success – Business Lessons from our 3 x Ben Nevis Bike Challenge
Some businesses move from year to year making small adjustments but never stretch themselves for the big achievements. Other more ambitious businesses, and their leaders, try to find a way to achieve leaps forward that at first sight look too hard or possibly foolhardy. Some succeed and others fail. Without setting ambitious goals, taking calculated risks, implementing careful strategic planning and proactive problem solving along the way, the big leaps are rarely made. I would like to draw an analogy with a group of middle aged mountain bikers that I ride with most weekends, typically covering 12-15 miles on local technical trails. There was a collective desire for a more challenging project to stretch us. Various options for a suitable longer trek were discussed at “team meetings” - aka post-ride drinks at the pub. This compares with business strategy meetings where ideas are floated, discussed, filtered, and prioritised. In January 2018 the … [Read more...]
How to select the best recruiter for your talent search
For a business to succeed I would prescribe a Business Success Cocktail (PIMS) consisting of: People – the means to expedite and create value Investment – time and money in working capital and assets Marketing – Accessing the market and customers Strategy/USP – A business plan, vision, strategy Of all these essential ingredients, a good strong team of people provides THE transferable premium value of a business as a going concern. Taking on staff is one of the most important decisions that a business owner will make. Getting the right fit can make an enormous difference not only to business operating performance but ultimately to the value of the business as a whole when the shareholders/ owners are looking to exit. When looking for the best talent the right recruitment practitioner can make all the difference. There are a large number of excellent recruitment practitioners but who should you choose and what are the … [Read more...]
Why chatbots are great for business!
Recently we’ve been seeing in the media how robots/chatbots/AI (artificial intelligence) are transforming how we do things and how robots might one day take over the world and we humans will become superfluous to most tasks. Worries over AI and how robots will become sentient beings has been dramatized in Channel 4’s ‘Humans’. That’s all well and good, but for now, the area that excites me the most is how chatbots will take over the delivery of repeatable knowledge that Tier 1 (lowest level) support technicians/engineers deal with via call centres. Most of us will have been on such a call to a support centre, to fix a software bug or a hardware issue, and been asked questions that are obviously being read from a script. Unfortunately, they need to assume one has zero computer knowledge and the pace is exhaustingly slow and incredibly boring for the likes of me. Indeed, I would be most surprised if that script isn’t in a decision-tree flowchart format whereby if the … [Read more...]
The Value of Time to Your Business
We are all allocated the same amount of time but some people make more of their time than others. Knowing the value of your time is essential to getting the most out of your business. When you are in business you must treat TIME as an ASSET like CASH. You need to look at how you are SPENDING your time and then ensure you are getting the best return you can on the time you are spending ON or IN the business. You need to list the tasks and things you have to do and put value them. You can then prioritise the things you have to do based on their value to the business. This may mean that monitoring your Aged Debtor report on a regular basis could be one of the director’s most important tasks to ensure that cashflow, the life blood of the business, is running in the right direction. When allocating your time you should also take into consideration the URGENCY of the tasks that need to be achieved. … [Read more...]
Fundraising success stories for early stage companies
We looked at London based companies that have recently successfully raised seed funding! The good news is that there is a constant flow of funding into very young companies - albeit with a technology bias. Companies with innovative ideas, strong management teams and good business plans position themselves for better funding success. We wanted to get a flavour of what's happening in the world of funding for seed level companies that are based in London. We found five recent funding success stories - we have summarised what they got, what they do and how long they have been going. Labrador (internet of things) We’d all like to sure we are getting the cheapest energy bill on the market, but even with the help of price comparison sites it can be a chore working out which supplier to go with and then sorting all the paperwork to change supplier. Labrador aims to solve this problem by paring with your smart meter and analysing your energy consumption … [Read more...]
Brexit – Let’s face it!
With Brexit dominating headlines, the importance of having the best leadership team, who will be able to derive and implement strategy to steer a company or organisation through change and uncertainty is of paramount importance. Deal or no deal will have a significant impact on our entire economy which executives and managers will have to address. No deal will certainly not mean no action required, in fact it most certainly will mean the opposite. The outcome may be viewed as providing significant opportunity and or challenge which will impact on all sectors of the economy and all commercial functionality whether it be sales, marketing, engineering, research. manufacturing, logistics, IT, human resources, finance or legal. Uncertainty must be addressed and not be allowed as an excuse for inaction; contingency planning is necessary. We are fortunate in having a fabulous pool of talent, skills and experience in the UK; a significant proportion of which is currently … [Read more...]
Women in Technology – Overcoming the gender imbalance
Why are there so few women in technology and will numbers of female founders in UK tech startup and scaleup businesses grow in 2018? I take a look at some of the data on women in technology and tech startups – it’s not all that encouraging but are things changing? Women still make up a woefully small percentage of business founders across tech industries and tech startups. According to a recent report published by Beauhurst the number of women founders or executives in scaleups across all industries is also tiny. They found that only 4% of UK ‘Visible scalesups’ had at least one female founder. (Source: The Scaleup Index 2017) There is some evidence that part of the problem is that it’s harder for women to attract seed and venture funding. This was highlighted by a PwC report published last year that revealed that women across the world are more successful at raising crowd funding. Why? - Because the playing field is more even. Here is just one statistic from … [Read more...]
What is a Terms of Service agreement and why could your business need one?
Terms of Service are exactly that – the terms you agree with a 3rd party who is commissioned to carry out certain services for your business. That 3rd party could be a freelancer, a contractor, a company or an off-shore service supplier. It can also serve as the terms you agree with a client who has instructed you to render services. Unless Terms of Service are agreed and the document is signed, you don’t have a legally enforceable document. Both parties need to agree to the terms set out. The terms can be set out by you or the person doing the work, or both. The document becomes legally binding if the agreement has been signed and dated by both parties. Hopefully, without confusing the issue too much, certain terms of service may not require a signature by both parties – a simple ‘yes’ on an email may suffice. You need the advice of a commercial lawyer that will help you decide if the agreement will require signatures. Planning Terms of Service Firstly you need to … [Read more...]
Five crucial ways to improve your business productivity
You will probably be familiar with the adage: Productivity = Potential – Interference. Many of us are battling daily with interference of one sort or another, both external and internal. Potential is not always something that is easy to quantify, or to realise. Growing a business, finding a market, and bringing in orders takes time and effort, and often a bit of luck. It’s also likely to take some time, so those frustrating interferences are the key focus if you want fast results. Wages & Productivity Superficial measures do not always show the bigger picture – if two businesses are paying different wages, you cannot assume that the lower payer makes cheaper goods, without knowing their productivity. Obviously, if the higher-paying business is more productive than the lower payer, their output might still be cheaper. Higher productivity gives you the means to take better control of your prices and margins, allowing you to undercut competitors without undue pain, or to … [Read more...]
Better budgeting in 10 steps
Many entrepreneurs and their management teams don't devote enough time or attention to the process of preparing annual budgets, especially when they operate in rapidly growing or uncertain markets. A financial plan in a private company is at risk of becoming gradually ignored over time, devaluing the operational benefits of measuring performance against budget and the process next time round. With a careful and efficient planning process a business will set a much clearer picture of where it is heading, knowing what to do at each stage to hit and exceed targets, but also how to react when these are missed. With the benefit of our collective experience of managing hundreds of budgets and plans, we have put together some top tips on making your budgets more robust, realistic and valuable. Get everyone involved - It is a common place misconception that your finance team puts a budget together. A business plan and its budget should be produced by the collective … [Read more...]
Do you have a 1st April to 31st March holiday year for your staff?
If you don’t (i.e. it is the calendar year or some other arrangement) then this is not relevant. If you do have a 1st April to 31st March holiday year in your business read on…… In the current 2017/18 holiday year you may have noticed that Easter is split over two holiday years. Good Friday is on 30th March and Easter Monday is on 2nd April. The net effect is that for the 2017/18 holiday year staff may receive an extra day’s holiday. How you handle this will depend on what is in your contracts of employment regarding holiday. Legally, staff are entitled to 5.6 weeks’ holiday annually. In 2018/19 the number of bank and public holidays amount to 7 days ie one day short of the legal minimum and therefore you would be in breach of your employee’s rights. To avoid this, and depending what your contracts say, you may need to top up leave next year by one day. If you want a complimentary review of the position for … [Read more...]
What are the latest HR legal requirements business owners need to implement in April 2018?
For the SME community, the relevant scheduled changes from April 2018 are the rates paid for statutory purposes, a change to the tax treatment of payments made in lieu of notice, and the impact of new regulations from May regarding data protection of staff records. Changes in statutory payments From 1st April: Rates for statutory maternity pay, statutory paternity pay or shared parental pay rise to £145.18/week The national minimum wage for those aged 25+ rises to £7.83/hour From 6th April: Statutory sick pay rises to £92.05/week Employer contributions into a pension auto-enrolment scheme increases to a minimum of 2% Change to tax treatment of payments made in lieu of notice introduced From 6th April, the rules are being clarified, after years of ‘depending on what my accountant says’ when it comes to the tax treatment of pay in lieu of notice on the termination of an employee’s contract. All payments in lieu of notice … [Read more...]
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