I’ve been around for a few years. In my opinion there is nothing worse than talking to a prospect whose business and mental health is in a pickle because they trusted their accountant to do their stuff once a year.  That’s where a decent accountant comes in. If you get a good one (and pay for the right service level), they should be working with you to, keep you out of trouble and save you a bob or two along the way. But picking the right one can be a right palaver. After all, so many of them sound the same. So here’s what to look out for:

Experience

You wouldn’t let some bloke in the pub operate on you, would you? Same with your business. Don’t get some backstreet bookkeeper fiddling with your finances. Make sure they’ve got the proper certificates and licenses, alright? A good way to check is look for institute and software logos on their website.

Are they qualified through one of the main accountancy bodies (the ACCA, ICAS or CIMA)? What is their speciality and what industry experience do they have? Whatever your specific requirements are, make sure that they have the experience and the kind of services that you need. (E.g. goal setting, tax planning or cash forecasting as well as compliance services).

Fixed Fee Basis

The next factor to consider when choosing an accountant is money! There are still some traditional accountants out there, who charge by the hour, like a meter on a cab. Others do a set price, no matter how much you bend their ear. By the way, we charge a fixed fee as we know our clients like certainty around what it will cost.

Accessibility & Proactiveness

The most common complaint about accountants is the disappearing act. Don’t get me wrong, they’ll be reminding you to send in your documents when your self-assessment tax return is due. Some may bill you a fortune to do nothing more than pop some numbers in their software. Then vanish again for another 9 months. Think of a decent accountant as financial partner, critical friend and the voice of sanity. After all, there isn’t much I haven’t seen in 30 years of working with construction and property company owners.

A good accountants should help you navigate those pesky growing pains, and keep your business on the straight and narrow, all year round. Not just when the taxman comes knocking! Or when that nasty unexpected brown envelope arrives.

When choosing an accountant, check their accessibility (referrals and reference checks is a good way to see whether you’re likely to be fobbed off to a junior). It’s also handy to see how proactive they are (e.g. suggesting ways to save you money and offering to introduce you to good contacts) all year round.

Personal Connection

You’ve got to feel alright with them. Like chatting with a mate down the pub. If explaining your business feels easy, that’s good. For example, we don’t make any judgement if a client turns up from a busy day on site with their dirty work clothes still on. Or if the air gets turned somewhat blue while we are talking.

You and your accountant will need to be a team. So find someone who gets your vision and what you are about, not some youngster with a laptop covered in stickers.

An accountant is a great investment

Whether you’ve been trading for a while or new into business, a decent accountant is worth their weight in gold. They’ll be your financial sidekick (sorry cheesy!), sorting the numbers and giving you the right advice. The sooner you get a good one on your team, the better. But remember, choose wisely, alright? Like finding the perfect partner for a game of darts – you have to be on the same wavelength!

Interested to find out more?

Call us on 01617 985789

Or book a meeting at https://calendly.com/d/ckfd-tzk-zbb

Self-employment can be tempting, especially if you’re fed up chasing the weekend or longing to be your own gaffer. Before you chuck in the towel at your day job and daydream about all the time you’ll have for brew breaks (because let’s be honest, that’ll be replaced with a different kind of hectic), take a good, long look at yourself. Self-employment is not for wimps or those who are work-shy – despite what you may think about the gaffer. If you are going to put food on the table and take your missus to a nice place for her holidays, you are going to have to work hard and handle pressure.

So, grab a cuppa, stick your thinking cap on, and answer these questions truthfully:

*Answer each question with a Yes or No*

1) Are you confident in your skills and expertise?

2) Do you have skills and passion for the business you’re considering?

3) Do you enjoy working alone?

4) Got the knack of prioritising tasks like a pro?

5) Got the get-up-and-go to crack on without someone cracking the whip?

6) Up for wearing all the hats – marketing, sales, the whole lot?

7) Sharp enough to pick up new tricks quickly?

8) Got the initiative to chase new ideas?

9) Can you single-handedly make the call when the going gets tough?

10) Are you able to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and problem solve in tricky situations?

11) Do you have the knowledge and skills to make your own product or service?

12) Do you know how to promote yourself so that others will buy from you?

13)  Happy to build potential connections in the business world?

14) Thick-skinned enough to handle a bit of a pay cut while you get your business off the ground?

15) Are you willing and prepared to put in long hours of graft at the start?

16) Have you given the family the heads up on the potential impact at home?

17) Can you live with high levels of uncertainty?

18) Can you take a knock and keep on ticking?

19) Good at turning a penny into a pound?

20) Are you a dab hand at setting goals and smashing them?

Give yourself a point for every Yes answer and give yourself a mark out of 20. If you scored 16-20, self-employment will be a walk in the park for you!

If you answered “no” or “maybe” to a lot of the questions, self-employment might not be your cup of tea right now. You may need to do some thinking and soul searching before you take the plunge.

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By no means is this self-employment quiz the decider for whether you choose to run your own business or not. However, it is based on the qualities, skills, and traits you will need to become a successful business owner! Even if your ambition level is to “only” work with yourself with a few subbies helping you out on jobs.

If you want to go for it and become self-employed, look at where your ‘No’ answers are. If you know you’re not a dab hand with money, consider getting an accountant or bookkeeper as early as possible.

Interested to find out more?

Call us on 01617 985789

Or book a meeting at https://calendly.com/d/ckfd-tzk-zbb

You all want your firms to thrive, don’t you? It can be a right handful sometimes, you know the feeling. You want to see it grow, not leave you feeling like you’ve been chasing your tail all day.

The key is taking control of your time, use it like a bag of gold. Here’s a few tips on how to do that…

• Invest in the right practice management tools

Let’s talk about simplifying your operations to get things running a bit smoother. We’re looking to identify any problems in your current processes, there’s always room for improvement.

On that note, one of the best ways to increase productivity is to invest in some decent practice management tools. We’re talking software that’ll make dealing with clients, working as a team, keeping track of jobs, and the day-to-day grind a whole lot easier.

• Prioritise high-value work

To stop spending so much time faffing about, start prioritising effectively. Use the Urgent Important Matrix to do this.

Group your tasks into 4 quadrants:

• Q1: Urgent and important – these are emergencies that arise (e.g. missed deadlines, client complaints, technical failures, pressing problems etc).
• Q2: Important but not urgent – these are the tasks you need to do to grow your business (e.g. goal setting, growth planning, networking, self-development, business development etc).
• Q3: Urgent but not important – these tend to be interruptions that take up the majority of your time (e.g. phones, texts, emails, unproductive meetings and reports etc).
• Q4: Not urgent and not important – these are distractions that cause you to procrastinate and have no value to your business (e.g. personal phone calls, social media, excessive or irrelevant emails etc).

Once you’ve grouped your tasks, you’ll know what you need to focus on and what you need to avoid.

• Delegate low-value work

Now you have identified tasks that need to be done, delegate the low-value work to your team so that you can focus on the ones that require your level of skill.

If you delegate effectively (i.e. delegating authority as well as tasks), you can take a step back knowing the day-to-day stuff is running smoothly. This frees you up to focus on the real game-changers, the things that’ll make the firm grow.

• Schedule time in the diary for business development activities

You need to invest more time in quadrant 2, doing the planning and budgeting and development activities that will grow your firm. It’s easy to forget things in the daily grind, chaps. Schedule those important jobs – it’s the best way to ensure they get done.

If you prioritise these tasks and appoint the rest, you’ll have time tosit down with a cuppa, and focus on them. You just need to find the days and times where you can work productively and without any interruptions.

Build your business

It really is as simple as that. To build your business, not your workload, you need to follow these 4 steps. When you do these consistently, you’ll find that each day follows a more chilled approach:

1. DO – those important tasks that need to be done today.
2. SCHEDULE – the important but not so urgent tasks, so that they will get done.
3. DELEGATE – the urgent but not so important tasks.
4. AVOID – the non-urgent, non-important tasks.

Interested to find out more?
Call us on 01617 985789
Or book a meeting at https://calendly.com/d/ckfd-tzk-zbb