Accountants aren't just for the year end

Many business owners have a 'once a year' relationship with their accountants. They do their own bookkeeping and VAT administration in house, maybe with a part-time bookkeeper and their accountant is engaged to prepare the year end accounts, possibly with a bit of payroll thrown in.

This arrangement can work fine, especially if you have a good and reliable bookkeeper. It may be more problematic if the in house bookkeeper is not very good or if they decide to move on. In the latter case, finding a replacement can be difficult and an overhead as the newbie learns the ropes and settles in.

So what about outsourcing as an alternative? Outsourcing all of your financial administration including booking and VAT to your accountants can have a number of benefits, including:

• Continuity - the firm you engage should have cover so that if there are staff changes, it's their problem, not yours
• Scalability - if you business grows or contracts they can adapt the level of resources (and costs) to suit your needs
• Synergy - as your accountants are dealing with your bookkeeping they should gain efficiencies on year end work, reducing costs
• Familiarity - with regular contact they get to know you and your business and what makes it tick. They can add value by preparing monthly or quarterly management accounts on the back of the bookkeeping work
• Certainty - you should be able to agree a fixed monthly fee for all the accountancy work so you can budget with certainty

For a small business, outsourcing can be a cost effective and attractive alternative to 'bookkeeper plus accountant'.

A high proportion of the accountancy support we provide at Base52 is as a comprehensive outsourcing package. We like it because we get to know our clients better and we think we can provide a more proactive service with regular contact with our clients.

Please see our website and video for more details

www.base52.co.uk/services/outsourced-accounts-and-tax

Another busy January

I was just thinking about our January tax return workload and reflecting on how things have changed over 14 years at Base52.

In the early years there were just a handful of tax returns, mainly for our business clients. I did the tax returns myself along with most of the business accounts.

14 years on we now deal with a range of tax returns from the routine with self employment profits or PAYE and dividend income, to the more complex with capital gains tax computations, entrepreneurs' relief, foreign income, enterprise investments schemes etc. We have also seen the rapid growth in buy to let ownership. Nowadays, many of our clients have buy to let income on their tax returns. Another change has been the requirement for 'high income' taxpayers who earn more than £100,000 per annum to file a tax return.

One thing that hasn't changed is the January rush. Almost inevitably a high proportion of our tax return work still falls in December and January. There is a nothing like a deadline for focussing minds and helping everything to come together before HMRC penalties apply.

We do try and keep a little in reserve however so despite being a very busy time we are still, 'open for business' in December and January and delighted to welcome new clients.

There is more change on the horizon with the introduction of a dividend tax and changes in buy to let tax from this tax year and Digital Tax Accounts and quarterly reporting from 2018. We are already making plans for the new digital reporting regime and want to be in the best position to support our clients and help them adapt to the new requirements.

So it's heads down for a busy last few weeks to the end of a another tax season. Roll on January 31!

www.base52.co.uk