Management Accounts
An important part of our service is the preparation of periodic management accounts. Monitoring and controlling the financial performance of your business is of paramount importance and regular management information is vital to the continued success of your business. We can either carry out this function for you or help you set up internal systems to generate the information.
We will also take this service one step further by interpreting these figures for you and making suggestions to help you improve your profits or to help your business grow.

Bookkeeping
We can relieve you of the burden and boredom by taking care of all your bookkeeping and accounting needs. This ranges from making use of our in-house bookkeeping function, to the preparation of your annual accounts. We will treat every business individually so that we can tailor our approach to your requirements.
Besides the core bookkeeping, we can also maintain your VAT records, prepare your payroll and take on ad hoc projects, such as cash-flow forecasts, to free up valuable time for your staff.
We believe that our high level of IT literacy can help improve our efficiency and help our clients to set up their accounting systems to be efficient and effective. We are Sage Accountants Club members and can supply software.

We also work closely with freelance bookkeepers who can often provide a more economical link between the client's in-house accounting and our service. We are happy to discuss your requirements, so we can recommend a suitable bookkeeper for you.

TAX
Taxation and National Insurance
This will represent a substantial cost to any profitable business, not only in terms of the tax itself but also in compliance with reporting obligations, investigations with tax authorities and penalties for non-compliance.
We can help you minimise your tax payments and relieve you of the administrative burden of complying with tax legislation.

We will deal with all business tax matters, including:

• Tax Planning
  
• Tax Investigations
• Tax Returns
• Estate Planning
• Capital Gains Tax
• National Insurance Reports
• Investment Advice
• Company Car Tax reports

Tax Investigation Insurance
We offer a comprehensive insurance for tax investigations and enquiries. This is available to clients at highly competitive rates.

The government’s commitment to ‘no tax increase’s means the pressure is on to collect additional funds from politically safe targets.

Obviously, you have our professional support, but the problem is that you can be investigated by the Inland Revenue without any grounds being given.

The risk is high, with projections suggesting that in the next 10 years all businesses will have undergone enquiry. Whether you are a sole trader, partnership or limited company, both your business affairs and personal finances are subject to scrutiny.

This includes not only HMRC accounts investigations, but also VAT disputes, National Insurance Contributions Agency investigations and Employer Compliance investigations into PAYE and P11D returns.

Tax enquiries are renowned for their length and complexity. They may take years to complete and cause a great deal of anxiety, even when you don’t actually owe any additional tax.

This can be extremely costly to you. In fact, there’s a considerable chance that accountancy and legal fees incurred as a result of disputes and investigations will outweigh any extra tax you may have to pay.

The simple solution

We offer clients value for money fee protection insurance covering professional fees up to £50,000 through Abbey Tax Protection. Prices vary depending on the complexity your business and tax affairs. We will happily provide you with a quotation. The first year’s cover is free for new clients.

Please contact Linda Hulme at our offices on 01527 872888 or
email linda@kennethmorris.co.uk

If we still haven’t convinced you that Tax Investigation Insurance is a good thing, read the letter below from one satisfied client:

“Dear Richard
I wish to thank you and your team for your invaluable help and expertise during my October tax inspection.
What began as a routine PAYE visit lasted over six hours and encompassed nearly every corner of my business. Although well prepared, without your support, I dread to think of the consequences of this visit. Had we not been able to finalise all business on the day I believe that it would possibly still be going on now.
Like many small businesses, I do not have the resources to cope with emergencies away from the office and this was only a routine PAYE visit! Having had a glimpse of how HMRC operate, I can say that I will definitely be taking out your insurance for full tax investigations. The savings made on that day alone will cover my premiums for several years to come.
I believe that your efficiency saved my business thousands of pounds. I was further relieved when the tax inspector waived a possible charge of £600 because he could see that everything was in order.
I must take the opportunity to urge your other clients to take out this insurance, as often you can only truly recognise its value when you need it.
Yours sincerely
Sean McKeon, Managing Director, Christian Alexander Recruitment Ltd”

VAT
Keeping up to date with VAT legislation can cause you problems and our department is designed to assist you with:

• Set-up and registration
• Preparation of returns
• Assistance with VAT enquiries
• Dealing with VAT compliance visits
• Assistance with scheme adjustments, such as the Flat Rate VAT scheme.

Payroll
Running your own payroll can be time consuming and complicated, particularly with the ever-increasing complexity of taxation and employment legislation. There is an increasing burden on business to comply with these issues and non-compliance can lead to substantial penalties. We have a department dedicated to running client's payroll requirements. Our confidential service includes:

• computer generated payslips
• administration of PAYE, national insurance, statutory sick pay, statutory maternity pay, etc
• completion of statutory forms (including year end returns)
• summaries and analysis of staff costs
• administration of incentive schemes, bonuses and ex-gratia termination payments.

Even if you only have a few employees, you will make savings by engaging us to administer your payroll.

Cash Benefits for Clients
In line with government recommendations, we are now using the internet to file our clients' PAYE forms and Self Assessment Tax Returns on-line to the Inland Revenue. By having their PAYE forms filed online from April 2005, clients may qualify for a TAX FREE sum from the Inland Revenue.

There are clear advantages of filing tax returns online. Apart from the obvious benefits, such as Tax Returns no longer getting lost in the post and reducing input mistakes made by the Inland Revenue, our clients benefit the most from having their tax return processed immediately. This means that the majority of income tax refunds should be back with clients within 14 days; a massive improvement on the three to four months it would often take to receive a tax refund based on a return submitted by post.

We will also be submitting Corporation Tax returns (CT600) on line, as soon as this is available.

FREE Tax Updates.
It has been said that only two things are certain in this life—death and taxes.

Albert Einstein was reported to have said, “The hardest thing to understand in the world is income tax”.

This sentiment is shared by many of our clients. Finding the time to stay abreast of changing legislation is very difficult when running a business. Many clients are therefore left feeling that there is more they ought to know in order to avoid lost opportunities.

So, each month we email a Tax Newsletter to clients and close contacts, providing up to date information on changing tax issues. The articles are straight forward, easy to read and in plain English. No technical jargon!

If you’d like to register for these TaxEzines – please click here.

BUSINESS SUPPORT
Strategic Planning
Every business must plan ahead in order to ensure success, but it is too easy to succumb to the daily pressures of work and delay or ignore strategic planning. The result of poor planning is often rushed and misinformed decisions, over/under capacity, inefficiency and missed opportunities.
Every business owner needs to invest time in developing a long-term plan, starting with what you want to achieve from your investment and what your reasons are for being in business; and then developing a plan to help achieve these objectives.
Contact us today for a strategic planning review.

Business Start-Up
Most people who start up in business do so because they have a good business proposition, not because they are experts in the financial aspects of running a business. These factors can often be quite daunting to the entrepreneur and this is where we can help by evaluating your ideas and helping you develop them into a feasible business.

We can also help you:

• decide on the most suitable structure for your business (i.e. sole trader, partnership, limited liability partnership or limited company)
• prepare business plans, cash-flow projections, budgets and trading forecasts to assess the financial viability of your ideas and demonstrate this to the bank / potential investors
• assess your finance requirements and establish the most appropriate source of finance
• help you establish relationships with banks, solicitors, etc via our well established network of contacts
• carry out registration procedures with Companies House, Inland Revenue or Customs and Excise
• set up an accounting system which complies with statutory requirements. We can even help you choose the best software for your system.

Call us for a free initial consultation to find out how we can help your ideas become reality.

Company Secretarial
When running a busy business you cannot afford to spend valuable time making sure you are complying with the Companies Act. However you do need to be aware how this legislation affects your company and its directors. We can help by carrying out the company secretarial duties for you.
Our services include:

• company formations
• preparation and filing of statutory returns
• preparation of all documentation (such as minutes and resolutions)
• maintenance of statutory books (share register, minute book, etc)
• general advice on company forms
• Registered Office facility

Employment Issues and Health & Safety Support
As the owner or manager of a growing business, you know better than anyone how valuable your time is. You probably don't have time to keep current with the ever-changing legislation concerning employment law, HR and Health & Safety. However, with the threat of tribunals, fines or even imprisonment, you can't afford to ignore them either.

With more and more Employment related legislation coming in, we urge clients to seek advice to ensure that are complying with the law, that their documents are up to date and that they are fully aware of disciplinary procedures.

In response to this growing need, we have teamed up with Abbey HR Services who are able to offer our clients a fully comprehensive HR support service. The service covers the following aspects:

1. Online Document Management: customise your own policies and procedures to suit your organisation, whilst ensuring they are up to date and legal.
2. Consultant Support: With this service, not only do you get online support, but importantly you will have access to a dedicated H.R. consultant, who will be on hand to advise you and to help you develop the best H.R. practice for your company.
3. Telephone Advice: 24 hour access to a telephone advisory service manned by qualified solicitors, who will give advice in a common sense and commercial way, so you know what course of action to take.
4. Insurance: Abbey's commercial and legal expenses policy will ensure that you are indemnified against the costs of a Tribunal and awards (conditional upon taking and following Abbey's HR advice).

At KM we also continue to offer clients the ‘Beprofessional’ Online HR support service, for clients who don’t require such comprehensive cover, as our Abbey HR service can provide .

Our endeavour is to ensure we are able to offer a wider choice of solutions to clients who seek help in this growing area.

Graphical presentation of accounts
This is a 12 page report for incorporated and unincorporated businesses that shows yearly comparisons in graph form of:

1. Financial review - Turnover
   Gross profit
   Overheads
   Net profit
   Each section includes explanations and highlights areas where potential savings and improvements can be made.
   
   
2. Breakeven
   This identifies the annual turnover level required for your business to produce a no profit no loss result.
   
   
3. Where did the money go?
   You've made a profit but still have no money in the bank? This provides a clear answer. This is a funds flow statement and graph explaining where the money in the business was received and how it was spent.