Why your business deserves a great audit and how to find a great auditor!

A great audit delivers an objective assessment of your business accounts and your current business circumstances. When your audit gives you peace of mind from knowing your financial reporting is accurate, you have robust internal controls and are aware of and have minimised potential fraud, it’s a great audit.

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7 Reasons why producing Management Accounts will help grow your business

Do you want to be in greater control of your business? Make decisions based on facts such as when you typically increase sales and, therefore, need to employ more sales people or to change tack and boost your marketing spend in a particular sector, for instance. The answer is a set of accounts that is not required by law and does not have to be filed with HMRC – known as management accounts, these are numbers that give you a true picture of your business and will put you in greater control of your business than ever before.

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Cash is King – Here’s how to generate cash right now

Covid-19 has hit many businesses hard. Many of us are working long hours to keep solvent: others are failing through no fault of their own, whilst a few are flying. The reason is simple: As a nation, we were not spending during lockdown. This means limited or non existent cash flow for impacted businesses.

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Five Reasons Why You Should Be Networking For Your Business

Networking events help local businesses make connections. If you want to achieve business growth, then networking amongst local business people will be a valuable contribution to your success.

At HB Accountants we organise and host networking events, as well as attending local groups. Are looking forward to getting back to face to face networking? We certainly are… our popular Networking Lunch, which we run to enable local business women to meet and do business, will be back soon. We are proud to assist Love Hoddesdon BID with their monthly Networking Breakfast too (again soon to start up post lockdown). We are also proud to organise a dedicated networking session for young professionals called SNAP Networking.

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What does the ‘Roadmap to Recovery’ announced by Boris Johnson mean for my business?

The Prime Minister has announced the Government’s roadmap to reopening the economy entitled Covid-19 Response – Spring 2021. A copy of the full guidance is here

It introduced a 4 stage plan for reopening the economy starting on Monday 8th March with the reopening of schools and colleges. Then subsequent stages will follow at 5 week intervals provided the following four conditions are met at each stage before proceeding to the next one:

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New one-off Lockdown grant just announced (on top of the discretionary grant funding for Local Authorities & Local Restriction Support Grants & Furlough) – could be worth up to £9k

Businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors are to receive a one-off Lockdown grant on top of grants already being paid out. This is in addition to the discretionary grant funding for Local Authorities & Local Restriction Support Grants & extension to Furlough.

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What happens when you change accountants?

Many businesses and individuals change accountants. Maybe your needs have changed as you’ve grown and you want to work with an accountant offering multiple services. Or maybe working with an accountant based nearer to your offices will give you the benefit of a more personal service? Whatever the reason, once you know what you need, you can begin the search for a new partner. But what happens when you find the accountancy practice that’s right for you? And what do you do next?  Here’s the answer.

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Shout out to Payroll!

It was estimated earlier this year that £4.46 billion* would be collected through income tax and National Insurance (pre-Covid, of course!). Payroll is integral to the workings of your business and the country. Last week was nominated National Payroll Week, and we’re giving a big shout out to all payroll managers, especially to our own, very special Payroll Jane.

*https://obr.uk/efo/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-march-2020

How can payroll help keep your employees happy & save your business money

Were you aware that payroll can play a strategic role in saving your business money? And it always helps you create happy and motivated employees. Yes, payroll. Many people are unaware that the payroll function is far greater than pushing a button to pay salaries or send information to HMRC: it also processes a whole host of very useful data and it supports your team.

Paying your employees on time and correctly is so important as it shows them that you value all that they do for you. There are a whole range of benefits that you can offer your team – from cycle-to-work schemes, salary sacrifice and eye test cover – most of which are monitored by HR and payroll, that will add to your employee proposition.  When your payroll is managed by qualified professionals – either in-house or outsourced to experts – you can be assured that your most important assets are being paid correctly on time and you are complying with all relevant regulations.

How can payroll help with compliance in your business

Payroll also helps by ensuring compliance and managing reporting – so by including these as objectives and measuring their success within this department, you can carefully manage another important aspect of your business.

Strategically, your payroll can also help with strategic planning. Salaries and expenses are likely to be the largest combined costs faced by your business. They show leaders very quickly where their budget is being spent and understand how much money they have to invest in other areas. This is particularly important for companies with multiple departments or where employees are scattered across the country or even the world, operating in different time zones and subject to different tax regimes. 

From happier employees who can enjoy a range of benefits that boost morale – to unique insights into your business expenditure that can be used as part of your strategic decision making, payroll clearly has a very important role to play in your business and it may be worth taking another look at what is currently in place.

Payroll: tax & legislative requirements

If payroll fills you with dread due to the ever-changing tax and legislative requirements, consider outsourcing your payroll for considerable cost savings, efficiency and enjoy happy loyal employees. It allows you to concentrate on your business without this additional administrative burden. 

HB Accountants’ very own Payroll Manager Jane could be the answer to your problems – do get in touch to see how we can work with you – directors@hbaccountants.co.uk

Payroll Manager Jane

Our Covid19 hub is still available to any business that needs accounting support and our team is on hand for bespoke consultations.

Visit our COVID19 Business Hub for more information

For financial and accounting guidance and support, please contact Keith or Karen. We’re still working hard to help you make the right decisions.

Or call 01992 444466 or email directors@hbaccountants.co.uk for help. We look forward to hearing from you. 


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The information contained above is for general guidance purposes only. Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the contents are accurate, please note that each individual has different circumstances and it is essential that you seek appropriate professional advice before you act on any of the information contained herein. HB Accountants can accept no liability for any errors or omission or for any person acting on or refraining from acting on the information provided in the above