As a result, the Taxman dispatched 30 staff in ‘Test and Learn’ Business Record Check (BRC) between April 2011 to July 2011.

As a result of the pilot, the Taxman is planning to come knocking at the doors of over 12,000 businesses over the next year aided by 120 staff to check that you are keeping your records up to satisfactory standards. You could technically find yourself with a £3,000 fine and possible further enquiry being raised for inadequate records.

So could you be one of the businesses that could be selected. You could be a prime suspect, if you have filed a late return in the past whether it is the Self Assessment tax return, corporation tax return, VAT or PAYE return. If you are chosen for a BRC, you will be contacted by a call centre and not your local tax office with a view of a visit.

The Taxman has implied that refusing a visit might be viewed as if you have something to hide. But do not be bullied into accepting a date to suit the Taxman. You are running a business and it may not be convenient and therefore can agree a date, time and venue that is more appropriate for you. If you are running a business from home, the visit does not have to be held at your house, but another location which is convenient for a local Tax Officer to reach (usually within 90 minutes travelling distance).

What kind of records will the Officer expect to see when he visits? This will depend on the structure, size and complexity of your business, but in general for tax purposes, you must keep records so that you can fill in the return fully and accurately and able to provide supporting documents. Examples of common records include:

• Accounting records – details of income and expenditure, assets and liabilities.
• Business records – bank statements, cheque book stubs and paying-in slips, business agreements and contracts, purchase and sales information.
• VAT workings – sales and purchase invoices, import and export documentation.
• PAYE records – details of payments made to employees, deductions of tax and national insurance, employee benefits and expenses.

The length of the visit by the Officer will depend on the size, nature and complexity of your business, but should normally take two or three hours. It will begin with a meeting and then a review of random sample of sales, purchases and other expenses. The Officer will rate your records in a traffic light manner.

• Green light – business records are adequate and no further action is taken.
• Amber light – business records are inadequate and the Officer will make recommendations, which will be followed up by another visit in three months time.
• Red light – business records are poor or incomplete. The Officer will recommend a full blown enquiry and you could be landed with a £3,000 penalty for not keeping proper accounting records.

If a full enquiry is launched and the Taxman finds errors to suggest incorrect returns have been submitted, you could be faced with a prolonged inquiry, penalties, interest and not to mention additional professional fees.

You should not wait until you get a call to decide whether your records are adequate, it makes good commercial sense to ensure that you keep tight control over your business, especially in the current economic climate. Contact your accountant to see if they provide a business record health check, if not contact us and we will carry out a health check with our proprietary software.

For someone who is in practice, I find it difficult to understand it, let alone you, as a purchaser of the service. Accountancy firms in London may charge more than practices outside, but this does not explain the huge variations you encounter today.

This is largely because all accountants are not created equal. The word “accountant” in the United Kingdom is not protected by law and anyone can set up an accountancy practice with or without qualifications or experience. The general public have the same level of trust with someone parading as an accountant as they do with a doctor, dentist or solicitor. Imagine if you found out that your GP was not qualified or competent? Would you continue using him?

This is perhaps a reason for the vast price variation in the market but moreover supply is starting to outstrip demand. In pursuit of a client some accountants are willing to charge untenable fees with a hope of charging for additional work down the line. This in itself is a paradox. Would you trust an accountant’s advice on business if he is selling his services at a loss?

For small businesses looking to change an accountant, new businesses starting out or individuals looking for personal tax assistance it is really hard to pick an accountant. Therefore before you seek an accountant, you should have a clear understanding of why you are looking to hire one. After all, unless your business operates in a regulated area or of certain turnover you do not by law need to engage an accountant. You could do it yourself and submit your own Self Assessment tax return, company accounts and related returns. Before starting to make contact with potential accountants make a checklist of what is important to you and some possible matters to take into consideration includes:

• Is the accountant qualified?
• Does the accountant have the expertise in dealing with your specific need?
• Is a professional relationship important to you over a long term?
• Are you looking for value added service or just a set piece of work?

The old saying ‘you get what you pay for’ holds true, but higher fees does not necessarily mean better advice. Everyone has a budget and a price that they are willing to consider acceptable. Too often many people who engage an accountant consider it as a cost and a burden, but a good accountant will work with you over time in helping you grow your business or mitigate the tax liability and thereby paying his/her way.

If you are in business and with the Taxman visiting 12,000 businesses next year with a potential fine of £3,000 and an inquiry for poor record keeping, can you afford to take the risk of not working with a good accountant?

At Numerion Associates we insist on a free initial meeting to see if we are right for each other and take stock of your specific needs before quoting a fee. The fee quote is transparent and clearly states what is and is not included, the quality of records expected and the service level. We believe in working with our clients over a long term basis and making a valid contribution to their business or providing input in better managing their personal affairs to mitigate the tax liability.

We offer a wide range of fantastic growth tools to help companies, and indeed individuals, develop. Our Business Coaching focuses on the things that are important to business owners and then converts them into a very effective plan. We have a wide range of Marketing Resources, so even if clients have their own Marketing Plan (and they should) a selection of our tools could make the plan even more successful. With Business Analysis software, Business Planning resources, and Sales Tools to name just a few, we are well placed to help our clients take their business to the next level.

It’s all part of our mission not just to offer good accountancy services, but to provide them with help when it comes to growing and developing their business.

Contact Us Now to arrange your FREE Business Growth Review and let’s see how we can help you.

We also help our clients grow their businesses with our Business Growth Service. We set up our practice because we became frustrated with the

way modern business was developing. We felt that too many accountancy firms were focusing on the numbers, ignoring the people behind these numbers, and not spending enough time helping their clients grow their businesses

Over the years we have offered a number of business growth services, so we have decided to introduce some of these via a Business Growth Seminar. This will take place at 8.00am on Thursday 6th October in the Central Meeting Room at the London Chamber of Commerce, Queen Street, London EC4.

During the two hour seminar attendees will receive some great tips and techniques in order to help them grow their businesses. It will be a fully interactive event, ensuring that everyone takes away useful business tools to help them think about their business in a different way.

We are limiting places to ensure that people attending the event get the most from it, so CONTACT US to reserve your place.

These last few years have seen an explosion in people recognising that we simply have to give back. Yet, staggeringly, corporate (business) giving accounted for only 4 per cent of all giving in 2009.

Buy1GIVE1 want to make EVERY business in our world a giving business. They believe that’s the way we create a more ‘connected’, happier and sustainable world -people simply sharing the joy of giving, every second, every day and in every way.

It’s just that we wanted to give something back to society and this fantastic initiative gives us that opportunity.

Buy1GIVE1 moves charitable giving from an ad-hoc, event-driven model to a very specific transaction-based giving model. It’s a world where every transaction gives back and makes a difference. This means that from now on when we carry out some specific work for a client, a less fortunate human being across the other side of the world will benefit.

The bottom line is that when we complete a tax return for a client, a Kenyan family will receive a sheep/goat to provide income and food for that family for a year.

We are so proud to be associated with this initiative. Click Here to find out more and literally help us change lives every day.

To get updates on our latest givings, visit:

www.b1g1 .com/buy1give1/businessstory?companyID=100115

The six month Business Growth programme (one morning per month) will be delivered by our business coach, who has over 30 years industry experience in a wide range of sectors. It is an exciting opportunity to help businesses in London develop and grow.

Spaces are strictly limited to a maximum of eight MD/Owners per Business Growth Group. It is an opportunity for like minded people to share experiences, receive fantastic business growth tools and ideas, and share the benefits of a very intimate and focused business networking group.

At the end of the programme MD/Owners will have a very effective and exciting One Page Business Plan they can work to, have ongoing support of a Numerion Associates business coach, and have marvellous business growth tools at their deposal. Not to mention new business contacts having been made with a group of like minded individuals.

This Business Growth Club is another example of how Numerion Associates provide added value business advice services to new and existing clients.

Contact Us Here for more details.

After graduating with an Economics degree, Graham joined and qualified with a top 50 practice specialising in SME businesses and has over 5 years experience in practice.

He comes with a broad range of accounting knowledge, having worked with a large number of clients in a wide range of industries.

We are looking forward to him assisting our rapidly expanding client base, as well as helping us deliver additional higher value services to our clients. Outside of work Graham enjoys foreign travel, music and is a keen follower of Wycombe Wanderers Football Club (well someone has to be!).

In my experience the main reason why small businesses are forced to write a business plan is to secure some funding. However in my time spent advising businesses, what has been clear, is that those who write a business plan for themselves tend to do much better in business. The reason for this is that it provides measurable time-related goals upon which you can gauge the performance of your business.

A more important factor that I have experienced is that having identified in a plan, where your business is today and where you want the business to be in, say two years time, it stipulates creativity. By creativity, I mean the ability to think outside the box, to overcome hurdles and your business brain is always working to see how you can achieve the goals set. If the business plan achieves this much it becomes an invaluable tool.

So, if having a business plan is an important factor in the success of a business, why do so many small businesses fail to prepare one? The easiest answer is that most either think it is a waste of time (pandering to number crunchers) or find it difficult to write one. For those who are in the waste of time camp, ask yourself why a business plan is so important to lenders and financial backers.

I accept that writing a good plan is not easy if you have not prepared one before and unfortunately with so many books and information on the internet it can become confusing and at worse template driven. The impression created by many is that the only thing standing in the way of spectacular success is a glossy plan with meticulous looking spreadsheets and projections. Nothing could be further from the truth. The biggest problem with most business plans is that they concentrate too much on the figures and very little on the business.

My advice on anyone thinking of writing a business plan is to start with your dreams and aspirations, looking at your business on how it can deliver this. This will involve asking hard questions to identifying key areas that you need to perform well to arrive at your destination. The figures (or projections) come afterwards fitting into this model and tells the story of the journey.

How should you then start writing your business plan? Firstly make the commitment to write one within a specific time frame. Secondly set aside some time during the day or week where you can concentrate on writing key headings that you believe are important to the success of your business. Thirdly start writing the areas that you find the simplest to write first. This will boost your confidence and should be the catalyst to finishing the project. If you feel that you are struggling with certain elements, enlist the help of your accountant who should know your business well.

Finally a word of warning, a business plan should not be set in stone but rather treated as a work in progress. You should come to it on a regular basis to amend certain elements, if events have not turned out to be as expected or new opportunities arise, these should be reflected in the business plan.

Ibrahim Aziz Numerion Associates

For Further Help Developing Your Business Plan email Ibrahim.aziz@numerion.co.uk