Frequently Asked Questions

Your company year-end is the anniversary of when you registered your business with Companies House, brought to the end of that month. For example, if you registered your business on July 14th, your annual accounts would correspondingly need to be submitted by July 31st each year. This date is also known as the 'Accounting Reference Date'.

You have a period of nine months and one day following the end of the year to finalise your accounts. If these are your first annual accounts and these cover a period exceeding 12 months, you have either 21 months from your date of incorporation or three months from your business's anniversary—whichever gives you more time.

Complete statutory annual accounts: Your Annual Accounts are a comprehensive report gives a summary of your business's financial activities during the year and outlines your business's tax obligation. It must then be delivered to Companies House, HMRC, and all shareholders and participants of your business's general meetings. Company Tax Return: Your tax return should be dispatched to HMRC online (unless you're dispatching it in Welsh or have a well-grounded reason).

You're still required to submit your accounts by this date. Otherwise, you will be penalised for late submission. In some restricted cases (like after an unexpected event), you can ask for additional time to submit your accounts if the submission deadline hasn't passed yet. But, you will only be given more time if the reasons are extraordinary.

You will incur an automatic late filing penalty of £150. The penalty will rise depending on how late the accounts are submitted: 1 – 3 months £375, 3 – 6 months £750, Over six months £1,500. If your accounts are filed late in 2 consecutive fiscal years, this penalty amount would be doubled.

In 2017, the law required limited businesses to make digital tax submissions. From April 2026, all self-employed individuals and property owners with an annual income exceeding £50,000 will be obliged to send their financial figures to HMRC via suitable cloud platforms. Our cloud accounting software tools offer robust security. We have invested in the most secure and easy to use software. As a leading chartered accountancy firm for barristers and solicitors, we understand the importance of safeguarding your data. Our software is fortified with firewalls, multi-factor authentication, and data encryption.

As a leading Chartered Accountancy firm for barristers, solicitors and doctors, we understand that our clients lead busy professional lives, and require a software solution, which is not only secure but efficient and easy to use. We have invested in cloud-accounting software which empowers our clients to rapidly upload documents from their mobile devices at the point of purchase and send them securely through our client portal, accessible instantaneously via a two-factor authentication process from either their mobile device or laptop.

Many clients switched to our service because they were dissatisfied with their current accountant or their current cloud accounting system. Switching is a very easy process, and we have vast experience in quickly and securely moving clients' data to our cloud-based systems. Once you have accepted and signed our proposal, we will introduce you to your own dedicated client manager, who will liaise with your previous accountant to retrieve any necessary data.

The first step is to do a Budgeting and Forecasting session, which clients always find highly beneficial. This breaks it down to a granular level and allows business owners to see their business from another perspective. There's something very refreshing about figures because they are black and white. You can't argue with them. Once you have the figures, you can set your targets. Various psychological studies have shown that targets can have a huge impact on a company or an individual's performance, especially when you have someone holding you accountable. If a client promises our director, Nick that they're going to make a change and they know that he'll be sitting down together at the next quarter and asking how they get on, they're much more likely to have achieved their targets. Nick always advises his clients to share these targets with their team, as if your team understands why you need them to make more sales within a specific time limit, they will make more effort to do so.

If you're a letting agent and you have 40 houses on your books, you charge the landlord a set amount based on the total. So, let's say you have ten houses where you make £500 profit per year, 20 where you make £600, and the remaining 20 where you make £700 profit per year. We would thoroughly analyse your financial records to assess how your performance this year matches your performance in previous years. Have you got any new landlords in? Have you lost any landlords that you're aware of? Did you let out all the stock you had last year? We also compare your performance against that of your competitors. We discuss whether you will increase your profits, either by raising your prices or by increasing your number of properties. We would then calculate the difference this would make. If you didn't let out all of your stock, then that's your focus.

It's best to book a review meeting a couple of months before your year-end so that you have a clear strategy for your next business year. Even if you don't have a team, focusing your strategy in your own mind makes such a difference. Ideally, you will look three years ahead. Of course, this can be adapted or revised along the way, but it's imperative to have a plan.

About 30% growth! Sometimes it's even more. The business owners we work closely with via our management accounts package usually grow exponentially, especially if they quickly take our advice on board. Our management accounts package can also be an essential wake-up call for business owners. One client I worked with was doing well, so he cancelled his regular revies and management accounts service. However, he then took his eye off the ball, and his business got into trouble, as he'd overspent and, in some ways, became complacent. Luckily, we created a crisis management plan for him, and with tremendous dedication, his business is now back on track. However, this was unnecessarily stressful, costing him more in the long run. He now books in for regular business plan reviews. Many owner-managed businesses would benefit from management accounts, and I'm always surprised that more clients don't take this option. I've had clients who have gone bust, which is really sad, especially when they didn't see it coming. It's always much better for your employees and customers and, of course, for your own peace of mind to wind up your company properly. As your chartered accountant, we do everything in our power to keep our clients informed, especially if something doesn't look right. Still, if times get hard, a company director can become swamped, and they might not be able to provide our team with the basic information they need to complete their accounts. Even with our timely reminders and understanding time, we can only complete the accounts when we have all the information, so by the time we get this, it can often be too late for us to help. Unfortunately, then, it's just a case of damage limitation.

This is a common question among entrepreneurs and company directors. It's a tough decision to make, especially when you're under pressure and if lots of people are relying on you. You don't have to shoulder this decision alone. Statistics show that business owners with a business plan are more likely to close their business at the correct time. While this may seem counter-intuitive, we can clearly analyse whether the business can improve with a new strategy or whether progress is unlikely. Closing down a business is never a decision taken lightly; most of the time, we can develop a new strategy together.

HMRC requires employers to submit RTI—Real Time Information—each time they run payroll. This must be submitted on or before the date that the employees are actually paid. This ensures that HMRC has accurate information and helps prevent errors and fraud. PAYE deductions are due to be paid over to HMRC by the 22nd of each month. At the end of the tax year, we also provide a P60 for each employee, summarising their annual pay and deductions.

Good record keeping is essential as this forms part of your annual report to HMRC each year, which summarises the annual pay and deductions for each employee. It’s imperative that all financial records are held securely with a robust cloud-accounting solution, which ensures that your data is backed up and incorruptible. If we run your payroll then this is automatically the case and our dedicated team have vast knowledge of tax laws and legislation. However, if you are running your own payroll then tax law specifies that accounting records must be kept for at least six years from the end of the last financial year they relate to.

Several assets attract Captial Gains Tax. These assets could range from tangible assets, such as property, high-value personal possessions, business equipment, machinery, and vehicles, to intangible assets, including company shares or stock. If you sell a capital asset for a price exceeding its original purchase cost, you will be taxed on your sales profits.