Running a business costs money. There are always costs, overheads and supplier bills that mount up – and these expenses will gradually chip away at your cash position, making it more difficult to grow and make a profit. So, what can you do to reduce your spend levels? And what impact will this have on your overall margins, profits and ability to fund the next stage in your business journey?

You know that an accountant can look after the books and keep your numbers in good order. But have you ever thought about the additional services and advice that an accountant can bring to you as a fully fledged business adviser, coach and mentor? Let’s explore what other business-critical services your adviser could offer:

To understand the financial position of a business at a specific point of time, look at the balance sheet. The balance sheet may also be called the statement of financial position. Together with the Profit and Loss Statement, and possibly other reports such as the Statement of Cash-flow, these reports provide a complete understanding of the financial position and business performance. So what’s involved: The balance sheet has three sections: assets, liabilities and equity.

From April 2026, Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax is in effect for sole traders and landlords with qualifying income over £50,000. But what does ‘qualifying income’ mean, and how is it calculated?

How often do you get to the end of a working day and wonder where the time went? Perhaps you never got to item 3 (or even item 1!!) on your to-do list. How can you solve this problem without working longer hours? The answer is very simple, but the art in the solution is where the gold is. The answer to free up time is to delegate more – either to existing team members, new people you recruit, or externally to outside contractors. However, if delegation were that easy, everyone would be doing it now, right?

The average business owner needs an additional four hours in their working day to complete their admin, according to research by OnePoll. If your people are spending 20 hours per week wading through tedious and unproductive admin, that’s bad for the business and for your efficiency. Fortunately, technology and software automation can go a long way towards automating these low-level admin tasks.

“Q: I’ve heard there are some upcoming amendments to Statutory Sick Pay. What are the major changes I should be aware of?” One of several changes introduced by the Employment Rights Act 2025 was an amendment to the way that Statutory Sick Pay will function for UK employers. “A: In short, SSP will be available for more employees and will also be available from day one of sickness absence.”

As a small business owner, do you need a bookkeeper, an accountant, or both? Bookkeepers can seem a little mysterious. In fact, they deal with the organisation, the recording and the reporting of financial transactions of a small business. A well-run business is likely to make use of both accountants and bookkeepers. Simply put, a bookkeeper clears the way for the accountant to work with your business strategically. This means: keeping track of daily transactions, sending and managing invoices, handling the accounts payable ledger, keeping an eye on cash flow, and preparing the books for the accountant.  When you’re hiring, make sure you ask whether a bookkeeper has an area of specialisation. Some bookkeepers may be able to help train staff in using online accounting or POS systems or give you advice on business processes. Want help setting up bookkeeping for your business? Get in touch for help from us.

In a business environment that's currently highly volatile and changeable, it pays to scenario-plan for all eventualities. What is scenario planning? Scenario planning is the process of using your existing business data to project and forecast the future path of your finances, sales and growth as a small business. By running various scenarios, you get an overview of the potential opportunities, threats and financial pitfalls that lie ahead, giving you time to plan for these eventualities.