The wonderful wefinda weekly small business news - June 28th

Top of the agenda for the week has to be the Budget.  By now most of us have read and calculated how the change in tax, personal allowances and VAT will affect us as individuals.  However at Wefinda we are more interested in what the budget means to businesses.  Whilst we are not corporate tax accountants and will leave the number crunching to those who are, there are a few headlines that caught our eye.

Headline number one is that the CBI approves of the measures taken in the budget.  The CBI Director General, Richard Lambert, commentated that "There was clear recognition in the Budget of the role that business needs to play in getting the economy back into shape, and generating the jobs and wealth needed to sustain economic recovery.”

The realignment of corporation tax has to star at the top of the good news tree.  With the main tax, currently at 28%, being cut by 1% next year with three further annual cuts of 1%, and with small business corporation tax being reduced from 21% to 20%, this  gives a strong signal that the government is looking to business to drive forward economic recovery.

Small businesses win out in a number of ways including the cutting of business rates so that 345,000 businesses will pay no rates at all and incentives for new businesses which are set up outside of London and the South.  Businesses looking to invest and grow will also benefit from the doubling of the annual investment allowance to £100,000 and an increase in lending to small businesses by Lloyds and the Royal Bank of Scotland.

 The sting in the tail for all businesses is the increase in VAT to 20% from 4 January 2011.  Whilst the experts disagree on how much this will affect spending, all businesses will face the hidden costs relating to the change in their pricing and accounting systems. 

Elsewhere in the news, Defra have announced the awarding of contracts to six companies to carry out technical feasibility studies into developing more energy efficient lighting in homes.  The contracts have been awarded through the Small Business Research Initiative which regularly runs competitions that result in research contracts.  For more information see http://www.innovateuk.org/deliveringinnovation/smallbusinessresearchinitiative.ashx

 So what do we have to look forward to?  At the beginning of the week we can expect to see the formal announcement following the G20 summit held in Toronto over the weekend.  In the EU we have a conference on how technology can benefit the Health sector as well as workshops and debates on subjects as diverse as primary care and cable TV receivers in the 800mhz band.

In Parliament, look for the conclusion of the Budget debate on Monday together with a statement on Limits on Non-EU Economic Migration.  On Wednesday there is a debate on energy efficiency whilst on Thursday Parliament continues the energy theme with questions on energy and climate change.

Elsewhere, on the 30 June the Law society is holding a debate to discuss proposals for cutting the cost of civil litigation, something that may affect all businesses at some time.

And finally, if Wefinda has helped your business to grow and you now have some spare cash to invest, how about buying a village in New Zealand.  The whole village including hotel/pub, school, railway station and 16 houses is on the market for one million New Zealand dollars.  You even get 40 residents thrown in to the bargain.

Feedback on our buyers guides

Thank you to one of our customers for sending in some great feedback today. It is still early days here in wefinda and we appreciate the feedback very much.

"I was very impressed with the amount of detail under the subject heading of Video Production, and that is why I wanted to sign up. For a website covering a whole range of work areas you had some very specific points that I thought would be very helpful to someone looking to acquire the services of a company for the first time. Hope you do well!

Cheers

Ben
--
Ben Rogers
Director
http://www.potentialproductions.org
FILMS THAT MAKE A DIFFERENCE"


Choosing a supplier for your business can be a intimidating task. What questions do you ask? How do you know if the business is reputable or know what they are talking about?

At wefinda, we want to ask our suppliers or service providers the questions that get to the heart of the matter:

So for example, in the website design category we ask:

1. What can a website designer do for my business?
2. What questions should I ask the web designer when we speak?
3. What will a website designer need from me?
4. Finally, what will a website designer cost?

So when you need a website designer, feel free to use our website design buyers guide. Hopefully it will help you find the right supplier for your business.

wefinda business news - weekly catch up 21st June 2010

In a speech at the Mansion house on 16 June, the Chancellor, George Osborne, sounded the beginning of the end for the Financial Services Authority.  Saying that the authority had become a “narrow regulator, almost entirely focused on rules based regulation”, the Chancellor announced that the FSA will cease to exist in its current form and that a new prudent regulator will be formed as a subsidiary of the Bank of England.  In addition a new Consumer Protection and Markets Authority will be formed to take over regulation of conduct of “every authorised financial firm providing services to consumers.”

This shake up in regulation will eventually affect all of us from those looking to borrow and invest via banks and other institutions to those of us with pensions, ISAs and other investments. 

Elsewhere in the city, on 17 June Ofcom announced that it had come to an agreement with BT, TalkTalk and Virgin Media to cut charges for early termination of contract.  This will affect landline and landline + broadband contracts.  This means that it will become cheaper to cancel services which are uncompetitive in terms of price or client satisfaction and give greater freedom of choice to consumers and businesses alike.

Many of us remember and were affected by the fire and explosion at the Buncefield Oil Storage depot in 1985.  The trial into the fire ended this week with the jury issuing guilty verdicts on charges including failing to protect workers and members of the public, and failing to prevent a major accident.  We can all learn lessons from this incident, including the need to have a proper business continuity plan which will cover all possibilities.  Further details regarding the trial can be found on the HSE website.

 So what do we have to look forward to?  Well, for a start on June 22nd we have George Osborne’s first budget.  At that point, all the rumours and leaks stop and we get a chance to find out just how painful the Government’s plans to sort out the economy will be.  One thing we do know is that the plans will affect every business in some way.

For a bit of light relief after the budget, on June 23rd we have the European Parliament’s public hearing into the future of European standardisation.  The hearing is to be broadcast live on the internet and you can tune in on http://www.europarl.europa.eu/wps-europarl-internet/faces/live/live-video.jsp?language=en.  The agenda includes items such as standardisation of ICT and the roles of SMEs in the standardisation process.

And finally, with thanks to Reuters, one thing we do know is that whatever George Osborne comes up with next week, it won’t match the Japanese city of Isesaki.  Civil servants there were pleased when the city authorities suggested they stop wearing jackets and ties in a bid to cool staff down and save on air conditioning.  However, the workers feel that officials have now gone too far as they have banned the wearing of beards for the same reason. 

Customer Testimonial

Received some great feedback from one of our customers today, always great to get feedback in our early stages so please keep it coming.

"Great service from Wefinda and I would recommend it to anyone."



Kind regards

David Waterman

Feedback - we love it

From time to time we will publish emails, tweets, newsletters and facebook promotions. These little bits of information will contain great wefinda deals for our customers and always contain requests for feedback! We hope you don't mind us asking, the thing is that we love feedback and we listen.

So far, our customers have made countless suggestions about the wefinda service and how it could work better. These suggestions have since gone live and our customers are much happier as a result.

We always list down the suggestions (no matter how crazy!) and evaluate how effective they would be. When they are ready to build, we send them to our development team who take care of the hard work!

Our goal is to deliver a service that is loved by our customers, a service that really makes a difference to all our customers. If you have any suggestions as to how we can do that better, please let us know.

We love feedback and are happy to return the favour if ever asked.

Thanks for reading,

dave@wefinda.co.uk

What can an accountant do for my business?

When we start out in business we all try and do as much as possible ourselves to save costs.  With lots of self-help books around and HMRC being a lot more human than they used to be it is easy to think that an accountant is one expense that we can do without.  After all, to quote a revered television presenter, “how hard can it be?”   In truth, getting the sums wrong can be the end not only of your business but of your home and potentially your liberty.  Saving by not having an accountant is no saving at all and in fact most good accountants will save you more than the cost of their fees in tax and business advice.  So what questions do you need to ask when considering appointing an accountant?

1. The golden rule when choosing an accountant is that there is no such thing as “one size fits all”.  You have to start by being clear on what type of business you have, what markets you are going to move in and what specialist needs you may have.  Start by asking yourself the following questions:
2. Am I trading as a sole trader, a partnership or via a Limited company?  Each of these trading styles will bring their own accounting challenges and you need an accountant who can deal with them.  In general most accountants can cope with all trading styles but a few are little more than book keepers and may only deal with the simple accounts of a sole trader.
3. Is my turnover likely to be more than £68,000?  If it is then you will have to register for VAT and you will need an accountant who is up to date with VAT regulations.  Even if your turnover is likely to be less than £68,000 it may pay you to register for VAT and your accountant will advise you on this.
4. Am I going to have employees?  If you are then your accountant can give you advice in calculating National Insurance (NI) and pay as you earn (PAYE) tax deductions.  Better still many accountants run a payroll service and will undertake all the calculations for you.  If you have employees on maternity leave your accountant can interpret for you the complexities of statutory maternity pay and what tax exemptions you may qualify for.
5. Am I going to trade overseas?  Your accountant will need to be able to advise you on the implications of VAT for overseas trade, cross-border agreements, how to manage your currency trades and how you reflect this in your tax return.
6. How large will my company grow?  There are different regulations for filing tax returns depending on the size of a company and whether it is stock exchange listed.  Your accountant needs to be able to advise you on and fulfil the regulatory requirements for your company.  Remember a large PLC is likely to have separate tax return accountants, VAT accountants and auditors (although they may be separate divisions of the one firm) whilst a simple one-man band may be able to get away with a bookkeeper.

Accountants will also advise you on such varied matters as stock control, how to calculate depreciation, whether it is better for your business to buy or lease or hire equipment, what insurances you should consider and on the financial implications of any contracts. And remember if you are involved in a specialist trade such as building or financial services there are a lot of extra financial regulations that you have to obey and you need an accountant who has experience of these.

If you would like help finding the right accountant for your business, please  visit wefinda @  http://www.wefinda.co.uk/local/accountant/ where you will find the rest of this business buyer guide which includes answers to the following questions:

What questions should I ask the accountant when we speak?
What will an accountant need from me?
Finally, what will an accountant cost?

Best wishes,

dave@wefinda.co.uk