Why keeping your accounts up to date could mean all the difference between running a successful business, limping along, or failing. Would you fly a plane while wearing a blindfold? I ask new clients ‘Would you fly a plane while wearing a blindfold?’. They look at me confused, and always reply ‘No, of course not!’. At this point they are probably wondering why they hired me. Stupid question, right? Wrong! Here’s why: A significant proportion of my clients proffer similar responses when I start to investigate their bookkeeping and accounting methodology. They invariably tell me that they hand over receipts to their bookkeeper and once a year the accounts are resolved and sent to HMRC, usually at the last minute. Many then look confused again when I don’t look happy with their response. Why am I not happy? Because their accounts are typically 17 months out of date or worse. They have been led to believe that the accounts are for tax purposes, rather than as a managerial tool. This … [Read more...]
Why Women Are Outperforming Men With Their Crowdfunding Campaigns?
A recent report by PwC, in collaboration with The Crowdfunding Center: Women unbound Unleashing female entrepreneurial potential - has revealed startling findings. Below I have summarised a few of the most fascinating findings and conclusions – you can download the full 24 page report by following the link below this article. Based on two years of seed crowdfunding data from nine of the biggest crowdfunding platforms globally – the report indicated that overall: Campaigns led by women were 32% more successful at reaching their funding target than those led by men across a wide range of sectors, geography and cultures. Seventeen percent of male-led campaigns reach their finance target, compared with 22% of female-led campaigns. $87 is the average pledge amount to female-led campaigns, 5% higher than male-led campaigns. Men were far more likely to run a campaign: in technology 9 male-led campaigns for every female-led campaign / in Digital Technology 3 male-led … [Read more...]
What makes for a good Financial Model? Part 2
In part one of this blog, I introduced financial modelling and how it could help your business. Now I move on to the important qualities of a good financial model. So, what makes for a good Financial Model? No two financial models can be exactly alike, and one size fits all does not work in our experience. Every single business, big or small, successful or struggling, demands a comprehensive and unique approach to financial modelling. Often, the financial model developed one year for a business needs a complete re-assessment to meet the demands of new market opportunities, changing environment, or changes in financial conditions the following year. Flexibility is a fundamental element in the design and construction of a robust, dynamic financial model. No matter how sophisticated the model, the key focus should always be on the most sensitive yet obvious inputs, e.g. Units Produced, Market Demand, Revenue, Profit, Cash Flow, etc. Is building a Financial … [Read more...]
What is Financial Modelling and how can it help my business? Part 1
What is Financial Modelling? -- Business owners have posed this question to me often. While there can be several complicated definitions, simply put, it is the practice of projecting a business’s operating and financial results. Financial modelling allows you to see into the financial future of your business, to plan, and to understand if sufficient cash is available to meet your future operating needs. Is Financial Modelling relevant to me? Every business, large or small, growing or struggling, needs to create robust business plans backed by sound financial forecasts. Successful businesses usually do this better than the ones that are struggling. Or reversing the argument, businesses that create sound financial forecasts are far more likely to succeed over time than the ones that do not. What kind of questions can financial modelling answer? The short answer is – almost all types. Here are some examples: For start-up businesses How much … [Read more...]
Top Preparation Tips When Raising Finance For Your Company
Now that the economy is on the mend and confidence is rising, management teams are beginning to look at new capital expenditure and therefore ways of raising the required funding. The first thing to understand is not to rush into anything and to make careful preparations before applying for any type of funding at all. Complete a credit check on your own company; find out what the funding providers will see about your company. Make certain that any County Court Judgements, if any, are satisfied before you apply. Check that any debentures that other funders may hold are still applicable and if not have these removed. It is shocking how many funding providers and managing directors, fail to remove expired all asset debentures from the records. Also make certain that you are up to date with filing your latest set of accounts. It really does not matter what type of funding you require, most providers will want the same information from you, have it prepared in … [Read more...]
A New Lender who even likes start-ups
At the end of last year I had a meeting with an interesting lender. They do short term loans from just 3 months, but unlike most short term lenders they will also do loans of up to 10 years. They like new starts, adverse credit and sole traders. They will lend from £25,000 to £1m. It is quite quick taking around 2-3 weeks to get a loan. The interest rates start at 1.16% per month, which is lower than the usual adverse credit lender. The only stipulation is that the client must be a home owner with enough free equity in their property. The lender is happy to take 2nd, 3rd and even 4th charges against the property. Getting funding for start-ups is very difficult these days and most have to resort to equity Crowdfunding and therefore sell a % of their companies and usually too cheaply. Now there is an alternative, a lender who will happily lend to start-ups that have free equity in their homes. … [Read more...]
The Autumn spending review relating to property
Landlords and Second Home Levy New 3% surcharge on stamp duty for buy-to-let properties and second homes from April 2016, raising about £1bn in England and Wales will have to pay a 3% surcharge on each stamp duty band. George Osborne said the new surcharge would raise extra money. This change, would "choke off" investment in rented properties for the small investors and those who are thinking about investing as a pension plan for the future. This is likely to turn many new and existing landlords away from the sector and reduce the number of homes to rent and almost certainly driving up rents for the millions. Higher rents make it even less likely that those on low or modest incomes will ever be able to raise the deposit required to realise their dream of home ownership, despite new Help to Buy ISAs or capital loans for Londoners that were unveiled in the Autumn spending Review– first-time buyers will still need to find around 5% of the total purchase price as their share of the … [Read more...]
Are you making the most of the upsurge in Leasing?
Leasing is powering ahead in the funding marketplace. In 2013 43% of SMEs used leasing as a method of funding new plant and machinery, office equipment and cars, this increased to 51% in 2014. The survey of 3,000 SMEs from Germany, France, UK, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Poland, and Sweden found that SMEs financed 19% of their total investment via leasing in 2013, more than any individual form of bank lending. This figure showed the popularity of leasing among SMEs, as the leasing penetration rate for businesses of all sizes stood at 12% in 2013. SMEs focused on exporting and growth were found to rely on leasing to a greater extent than other firms. Exporting firms financed 20% of their investment via leasing, as opposed to 18% for non-exporters. Similar results were recorded for growth firms, with almost a quarter (24%) of their investment financed through leasing, significantly more than the 18% of non-growth SMEs. For further details contact: Peter.kelly@lgbusinessadvisors.co.uk … [Read more...]
Licence/Maintenance Finance and Construction Stage Payments Finance
There have always been two types of funding requirements that have historically been very difficult, if not impossible to find solutions for. The first was how do you raise finance against the value of signed contracts for products or services that are paid in monthly instalments, such as maintenance agreements, security agreements, subscription agreements, and most importantly Software as a service licence agreements. There is now a new type of finance that solves this problem. The companies that are applying for this type of funding must have a turnover of at least £300,000 and been trading for at least two years. They must have been trading with their client for at least 1 year OR they have sold the same type of service to different clients for at least 2 years. The downside is that their customer must have a turnover of at least £15m if based in the UK or £50m if based abroad. This type of finance will fund up front 80% of the client’s next 12 months worth of regular … [Read more...]
Using the right VAT number when invoicing EU customers?
Since the rules on charging and reporting VAT changed in 2010, HMRC has taken a lenient approach to errors in EC Sales Lists. But there are signs that it is now toughening its stance. When you send an invoice without VAT to a customer in another EU territory, you have to display the customer's EU VAT number and report the transaction on an EC Sales List. It is all too easy to obtain their VAT number, set up the customer account and use that number for all future invoices. If the VAT number is no longer valid, you should NOT zero-rate your sale of goods to that customer. HMRC are checking customer VAT numbers for the sale of goods to customers in other EU countries. It is looking at zero-rated cross-border sales and is raising VAT assessments if the numbers are no longer valid. It is also asking for evidence that goods have been sent out of the UK. So far it has only focused on goods, but we are expecting a similar change with regard to the supply of services. Regardless of whether … [Read more...]
Government Funding – SMEs get £70m
Small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) are set to receive a £70 million lending boost as part of government action to increase the availability of finance. Three new lenders – Market Invoice, URICA and Beechbrook Capital – will share more than £30 million of government funding to offer SMEs alternatives to traditional bank lending. They have committed to attracting additional funding from private sector investors, with the total expected to boost the pool of credit available to SMEs from the three lenders by more than £70 million. Business Secretary Vince Cable said on 22 March: “A lack of access to finance is still choking off too many small businesses, preventing them from growing, taking on new staff or investing in new equipment. “We are taking a range of actions to support SMEs and shake up business finance markets, including through the new business bank. “Today’s £30 million announcement is an important boost for non-traditional lenders with creative and … [Read more...]
Finance for Growth Seminar in Winchester
Are you a business looking for finance to grow but are uncertain of what sources would be right for you? If so, these FREE seminars are for you! Enterprise M3, the Local Enterprise Partnership for the wider M3 corridor, is hosting a seminar aimed at helping businesses both understand and access new and established sources of business finance. During this seminar, you will: Gain a valuable understanding of what you need to do to prepare for investment. Explore what types of finance are right for your business at this particular stage of its life cycle. Find out about the range of new and established sources of finance currently available to the market. Sources of funding covered in the seminar include: crowd funding (debt & equity), invoice financing, equity funding such as venture capital and business angels and export finance. Date: Tuesday, 19 March 2013 Time: 9 am to 12 noon (Registration from 8.45 am) Venue: Winchester City Council, Walton Suite, … [Read more...]
Forensic Accounting
Forensic Accounting is a branch of accounting that describes the work of an accountant who investigates and reports on the financial activities of a business or individual with the aim of producing information for the settlement of disputes. Forensic means “suitable for use in a Court of Law.” Some of the uses of Forensic Accounting information are:- Economic damages calculations, losses suffered from a tort or breach of contract. Post Acquisition disputes such as earnouts or breaches of warranties Bankruptcy, insolvency and reorganisations Fraud Business Valuation – Going and gone concern. Computer forensics and discovery. Family disputes for the valuations for divorce etc. A forensic accountant will: Collect all the data. Data preparation and processing Analysis of the information to produce information. Reporting the findings of the investigation. An example of forensic analytics would be to review … [Read more...]
Surprising results from SME survey
In a recent survey carried out by SGBA (Southern Group Business Advisors) amongst SMEs in the South of England some surprising information was gleaned. Firstly over 65% were optimistic about their business and its potential to grow with 58% of respondents saying that access to finance and the lack of skilled personnel were inhibitors to growth. When asked if, given appropriate support, would they consider exporting if they had not done so before, a surprising 67% said no. This is a key feature of the LEPs objectives -that is to increase exports. So from this survey they look like they will have an uphill, struggle to achieve this goal. More than half of all respondents did not have a business plan, nor did they have an environmental policy or energy and waste reduction plan. However interestingly the great majority stated that they would try to win business from the public sector (if they had not done so before) given appropriate support. This is a big change as previously many SMEs … [Read more...]
