One of the complaints we hear most often from clients is that they need more time, so how would you like an extra 14 hours per month? Yes that’s right, 14 extra hours is exactly how much time one of our contractor clients saved herself every single month by handing over her bookkeeping and other accountancy responsibilities to us! Let’s face it, running a small business can be time-consuming – Each day business owners need to deal with a variety of tasks, such as, managing their team, running the business and growing the business – the list is endless. Accounting is one of those tasks that can quite quickly swallow up a large amount of time when you take into account: invoicing, record keeping, banking, keeping track of changes in taxation laws and tax deadlines.
What would you do with those additional 14 hours?
Over the years we have come to the conclusion that, accounting tasks probably take up about 14 hours a month – which is a lot when you think about it. So, if you handed your accounting tasks over to a firm of contractor accountants think of all the things you could do with that time.
Well we did a straw poll here of clients and our team. The answers ranged from walking the dog properly, playing footie with the kids, to getting fit, kayaking (in Stockport?) and even sky diving! No-one said they wanted to spend more time sifting through receipts or researching the finer details of tax rules and regulations.
Tax worries
Indeed, tax can be quite worrying for many people. Business owners worry they will land themselves in hot water over the amount of tax they have to pay and about putting enough by to pay their tax bill. If you are also unsure of the best way to extract income from your business, then that is another task that could take up your time and ‘headspace’.
Even if you didn’t want to do more fun things in life, with what amounts to nearly two working days a month, you could surely spend more time attending more networking events or scheduling more appointments meeting potential new clients to grow your business.
Saving time and money
Handing over your bookkeeping tasks to a firm who specialise in tax and accounting will not only save you time but can also save you money. The first thing we would do is to review your paperwork and prepare an interim set of accounts, looking at whether your business is set-up in the most profitable way or not. For example, if you are a sole trader, it may be more profitable for you to consider setting up as a Limited Company.
We will also look at things, such as, whether you are registered for flat rate VAT or not. If you are not aware of what flat rate VAT is, please read our guide for more information. We will also advise you on all of your filing and payment deadlines and what expenses you can claim from your company too. Using all of this information, we are then able to advise clients on what to put aside for tax at the end of the year and how best to draw money from the company.
As a team of contractor accountants, we work with a wide variety of contractors – be it sole traders, partnerships or limited companies. We are not an umbrella company; we act as an accountancy service specialising in the complexities of tax that surround contractors.
For more information on our contractor accounts service, and how we could potentially save you time and money each month, please call us on 0161 456 9666 or email us at askus@in-accountancy.co.uk
You may not be aware that for every referral we receive, we donate £50 to Francis House Hospice when we are engaged to provide services. The hospice cares for children and young adults with a short life expectancy. They need over £3.6 million in charitable donations each year to continue to provide their services.
All you need to do is pass the contact details of your friend, colleague or family member by ringing 0161 456 9666 or email askus@in-accountancy.co.uk. There is no limit to the number of people you can refer to us. We will make a donation for each and every new introduction upon our appointment.
We also have a handy Tax App that is free to download for both Android and iPhones at https://www.in-accountancy.co.uk/taxapp-page/
