Case Studies

The challenge

Help! I’m in a mess with my tax returns. I’ve not submitted a tax return since I started!

The solution 

This had actually happened to one our oldest clients when he first approached us. He hadn’t submitted a tax return from starting up several years before!

We felt the best way forward was to come clean. We know from experience that HMRC always like people who come forward voluntarily.

With careful handling he got away with no nasty penalties from HMRC and no more hassle. Peace of mind…….no more worries. Everything submitted on time ever since!

We help reduce worry from late submission of tax returns and also help keep any penalties to an absolute minimum

The challenge

Jason wanted to launch his own PR business but worried about how he was going to look after his family whilst he set up the business; inevitably income would be low in the first few months. 

The solution

Jason found an accountant who actually understood his affairs and also understood tax credits!

We helped Jason maximise his tax credits income through his limited company; this entailed constant review of financial performance and required income levels in the last and current tax years.

Now Jason has brought on a business partner who also benefited from maximising his tax credits income. The business has been a massive success meeting all its targets in its first year and we continue to monitor the tax credits income position carefully.

We help business owners reduce their tax bills legally and even maximise their income by claiming tax credits….

The challenge

Stuart and his fellow Director had a great idea for a new service for their web design business but there never seemed to be enough time. For one thing they never had time to keep on top of their bookkeeping; also although he had a reasonable understanding, Stuart wasn’t comfortable about getting a grip of the financial numbers and how they were doing up to date. It was all keeping them back from moving their business forward.

Our solution…

To sort this we agreed to do all their bookkeeping for them, bang up to date and with the minimal amount of hassle involved for them.

First, we put their bookkeeping online so that we could all see the same information right up to date. Second, they now scan their bookkeeping information each Friday and upload it to our secure portal so we can download it to our systems the same day. Thirdly, we input the information to the online bookkeeping system within 2 to 3 days.

This all means that the bookkeeping is up to date each week, we can review and discuss financial information up to date whenever required and VAT, accounts and tax returns are prepared very quickly and submitted on a timely basis. Because everything is up to date best advice can be given. Additionally Stuart has commented on how great the business reporting is from their online bookkeeping package.

Now they have peace of mind, are free to spend time completely on their business and we help explain to them how the business is doing on a timely basis.

With the help of the time they freed up they’re now ready to launch their new exciting product on the world!

We help save time by smarter use of IT. We can also help you understand your business better and reduce the worry about not getting things done right.

The challenge

The business is facing closure. It’s not profitable.

The solution 

We can help improve your profits and grow your business 

When you think of profit improvement and accountants do you automatically think cost cutting? Of marketing, training and staff – in fact anything of any long term value? 

Well that’s understandable – in Jan’s previous incarnation as a Finance Director he had to play the grim reaper a few times. 

In Jan’s first job as a Finance Director his Company had a major “profit improvement exercise” – yes, staff numbers and also other costs were cut – indeed marketing was slashed! 

It was a mail order business and at the time they were losing lots of money; in fact, Jan learned later that if the exercise wasn’t successful the Company was going to be closed. For mail order now read eCommerce. 

By careful analysis of the company’s performance it was discovered that a key part of the operation - catalogue mailing order segments - weren’t performing. Also, by carefully targeting profitable segments only, huge amounts of money were saved. Finally, by investing in a policy of sending out orders part complete, and the rest of the order only when it was in stock, it transformed profitability. Previously the Company waited until the whole order was in stock and therefore “complete” before despatching the order. 

Although postage costs went up, yet so did customer satisfaction and profits with the business quickly going on to make a lot of money in the next few years. 

Through our profit improvement exercises we look not just at overheads but also examine customer retention, getting more from each customer, getting more from your marketing, maximising production efficiency, managing your stock and debtors and buying better. We help prioritise the important. 

We can help you come up with an action plan for saving you money and building your business.

The challenge

We met with James for a chat and we discussed his very interesting business history and current situation. His last business had gone out of business after a very exciting period of growth and he had just started up a new business. He faced a major headache where he was really short of money and worried how he was going to survive. 

Our solution

We suggested he could claim tax credits, which he did; the near £3,000 per annum made the difference between success and failure. 

And fast forward two years! 

His web design business in the last year has taken off and he is growing fast. He’s really excited about the future……he discussed with us ways we could be part of that.  

The challenge

What if business performance is poor and you suspect a fraud?

We went into a business a few years ago which was a subsidiary of a group of companies; business performance had collapsed from £2m profit a year to a loss of £1m. The local Managing Director had been sacked and the local finance officer had resigned. Everyone who worked in the business had lost direction. It became apparent as we started to work in the business with the new Managing Director that staff morale had been decimated under the direction of the previous Managing Director.

We also suspected there might have been fraud going on. In particular we had a major sub-contractor supplier who suffered from persistent quality issues on parts supplied, threatening the future viability of our client.

The solution

We suspected that the former Managing Director was connected to the owner of the sub-contract business. After a review of the books of our business we found that the equipment in the sub-contractor’ business was in fact the property of the business we were working with!

We negotiated to gain legal control of the sub-contract business and improved quality issues dramatically. We also got the staff working together and turned the business back to making a small profit in less than 9 months.

The business went on to make good profits for a number of years and was eventually sold by the group for a good income.

We can help business owners get control over their business and get growing again.