Operating business within the UK is an interesting financial journey- between the shifting taxation regulations, to the tightly controlled HMRC requirements. Although it is easy to see how most entrepreneurs begin by doing the accounting themselves to avoid paying a lot of money, at some level, doing the accounting yourself becomes a liability rather than a cost-saving exercise.
Using the services of a professional accountant is not just a matter of outsourcing number crunching but rather finding a smart partner to take your business further and more profitable and prevent you making your business come to an end due to costly errors.
Not sure whether you need to consider hiring an expert?
Below we’ve enlisted five main signs that you should take into account when thinking of hiring a specialist working on professional accounting services.
Introduction
A business owner must make the best use of time, which is one of the greatest assets. When you spend your time as business owner on bookkeeping, payroll or pursuing late pay receivables you are not focusing on getting revenue.
Financial administration is one of the most underestimated areas of concern, as a lot of small entrepreneurs get engrossed in the everyday tasks before it dawns on them that there is no more time to think about business development, building a customer base, or product innovation.
These time-consuming tasks are left to the professional accountant who boasts of accuracy and allows you to look out into growth. In modern accounting programs (Xero, QuickBooks, etc.), a lot can be automated; however, an accountant will interpret the data, identify patterns, and come up with suggestions of what to do.
A survey conducted by Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) indicates that enhanced efficiency and profitability is attained by businesses using professional accountants since they are in a position to channel their energy into strategic decisions instead of paperwork.
You Are Spending too Much Time on Accountancy, rather than taking Your Business Forward
The UK taxation system is a well known trouble, and tax may have many layers of laws that shift regularly. The terrain of the VAT thresholds as well as corporation tax rates, dividend taxation, and claims on the R&D relief arenas is continuously changing. It is difficult at the best and even catastrophic to follow these changes and run a business simultaneously.
There are a great number of business owners, who unwittingly make expensive tax errors. The most typical traps are the failure to claim all the allowed expenses, misremember the VAT regulations, the inability to review the tax-efficient payment systems.
Such misrepresentations may cost a company a lot of money either in paying excessive taxes or facing fines due to license lapse.
Tax filing is not the only thing that the professional accountant will be offering. They provide pre-emptive taxation that will effectively minimize your taxes but to the fullest compliance. They keep abreast with changes in the legislation, and may be able to advise how to time the receipt and payment of income and expenditure to maximize tax efficiency.
Tax Complexity Is a Cause of Stress and Risk
The growth of business sees thrilling prospects along with novel financial complications. The solution that sufficed a few years ago when a company was a small start up is usually not enough by the time the volume of transactions goes up, as does the number of employees and the complexity of its financial reporting.
Indications that you need the assistance of professional accountants in your development are problems in maintaining cash flows, difficulties in obtaining financial resources, or inability to adequately understand financial aspects in various sectors of your operations. These issues can negatively affect your decision-making process and they can even jeopardize your so-far acquired expansion.
Scaling of businesses requires the services of accountants. They install powerful financial systems that develop as your business expands, give you the right management reporting and are available to advise you on strategies that help you to grow on a sustainable basis.
Your Financial Systems Are Not Keeping Up with Business Growth
Compliance checks and HMRC enquiries are on the rise, especially at the small and medium-sized firms. Be it a standard VAT inspection, some PAYE audit or a personal inquiry into your self-assessment returns, without professional help dealing with HMRC can be quite stressful and time-consuming.
The impact of non-compliance may be drastic as it may entail financial repression as well as reputable loss. There are many business owners who do not actually think that they may be at risk until the dreaded letter lands in their door from HMRC. These warning signs are usually an incomplete reporting of various amounts between various tax returns, abnormal expense patterns or late filing of documents.
You are Dealing With Problems of Compliance or HMRC Enquiry
Interpretation of any financial statements plays an important role in getting sound decisions, in business. In case you do not know how to evaluate the profit and loss reports, balance sheets, or cash flow projections, you may fail to discover some important details about the performance of your business.
Accountants do not merely record transactions, they interpret data so that they can come up with recommended actions. They are capable of finding trends, e.g. increase in costs or decrease in profit margins, and suggesting remedial action.
This can include recommending that you renegotiate supplier contracts, get your invoicing more organised or change your prices, to take just a few illustrative examples. They provide you the clarity of your financial status and have the ability to come up with long-term strategies to succeed.
You Do Not Feel Secure About the Business Finances of Your Business
Even though there are business owners, who postpone engaging an accountant to save money, it is worth the money in the long run. Professional accounting services can make your business succeed without worrying about whether you are meeting your taxes and financial management.
When you feel that any of these indicators are relevant to you, you have to start thinking about professional assistance. At the Ask Group UK we really know when it comes to assisting UK based businesses streamline their finances, remain compliant and grow sustainably.
