I started to read Boom! by Emma Wimhurst on the tube. I felt slightly embarrassed as a man because I think cover is targeted at the female market.

Having said all this, this is a practical and helpful business book with substance that will be read by both men and women rather than just be displayed on a book shelf to be read some day. The layout and style of the book makes it a very easy to read and refer to it time and time again. It covers all the key business disciplines to run and expand your business.

Emma’s explanation of Business Strategy is one of the better explanation I have read. Thinking strategically is crucial to business success.

I will be recommending this book to all my clients to be used as an accessible business bible. Furthermore, it will also make my life easier since Emma has done a great job of explaining how to manage business finances and also how best to work with accountants.

The following link provides information about the book:

http://www.boompreneur.co.uk

I did not learn anything new from this book. It has all been said before- to be financially successful, invest in property and go into business rather than work for someone else. Rehash of books like Rich Dad, Poor Dad.

I did not like the approach Shemin took on people with education – they think in a straight line rather than thinking differently to others. This clearly is a gross generalisation since in all fields they are a variety of thinking types.

Overall this book not is not worth the read.

Gifts to Your Customers

These are not an allowable business expenses unless you are giving free sample of products or your gifts have conspicuous advertising and the cost of the gift does not exceed £50+VAT per person per year. Further, food, tobacco, drink or gift vouchers are not tax deductible.

You can reclaim the VAT as long as the cost is no more than £50+vat per gift to each customer.

Gifts to Staff

Taxman says trivial benefits to staff as staff welfare are tax deductible and VAT can be claimed by the employer. Further, employees are not taxed on these trivial benefits. Examples of trivial benefits include turkey, box of chocolates or bottle of wine. Taxman has not set financial limits on these trivial benefits but he has said that value of these gifts should be reasonable.

Third Party Gifts

Employees can receive gifts from third parties (eg suppliers and customers) without being taxed as long as the gifts are up to the value of £250 (including VAT).

Virtually every potential client I meet fees are one of the critical factor in employing an accountant. Fees should be a factor in a decision but it should not be an only factor. An appropriately qualified accountant may save you tax that could more than outweigh their fees. His/her advice to further your business could be invalauble to your business.

I have come across many accountants who are incredibly busy since they have to do far more work because they charging fees that are not a reflection of their time and skill involved. This means they are so engrossed in routine accounting tasks, they just do not have the time to be proactive for their clients. Potential clients inform me time and time again – “my accountant is not proactive and I only hear from him/her only once a year”. How can you expect an accountant to be proactive when the fees are so low? We as accountants are not blameless here. We fail to communicate this point to clients. This is because of the fear of losing them to another cheap accountant.

My point is if your are looking for purely compliance (routine) accountancy work, fair enough they are many accountants who provide a low cost service. Southside also provides this level of service as well. If you would like a proactive service providing tax and business advice you will need to pay more. Accountant fees are based on time and skill involved in doing your work.

The old adage applies – You get what you pay for folks. With Southside there are no hidden fees, the fees we quote are the fees you pay.

The tax treatment of a van is far more favorable compared to a car. A question we are often asked what are tax advantages of a van and what can be classed as a van by the taxman.

In response to a Free Index question on the subject, I provided a full response. Rather than repeating this information, here is the link to this information:

http://www.freeindex.co.uk/business-advice/claiming-tax-costs-of-cars-versus-vans_1175.htm

This can only be described as a fantastic audio programme. It is worth every penny and deserves to be listened several times.

Anyone who has any doubts of leaving their secure job with a pension for a risky life as an entrepreneur should listen to this programme. Further, if you are an entrepreneur listen to your successful colleagues and learn from those who have actually done it. Cordock got together self made multi millionaires to talk about their experience. They have all failed on their road to success. It is how they handle failure that is an important factor to their success. Furthermore, it was great to hear these multi millionaires are no better than you or I. Another key factors to their success is their absolute courage of their convictions.

This programme is available from http://www.audible.co.uk/aduk/site/product.jsp?p=BK_MMBA_000001UK&BV_UseBVCookie=Yes

As a Free Index Finance and Accounting Expert I respond to tax questions on FreeIndex.

One of these question was about records that a cash based busines needs to keep for tax purposes. Here is the link that provides this information http://www.freeindex.co.uk/business-advice/what-documentation-to-keep-for-your-tax-return_1144.htm

LLP

In a LLP the partners liability is limited to the amount they have invested in the business plus any personal guarantees they have given.

Partnerships (none LLP)

In partnership partners liability is not limited (their personal assets are not protected) they are joint and severally liable for partnership debts.

The procedures of setting up a Partnership and LLP are well explained by the Business Link -http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?type=RESOURCES&itemId=1073789611 .

Dissolving a Partnership is straightforward – paying all your creditors and informing HMRC. There is a formal process of dissolving LLP: http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/about/gbhtml/gpllp3.shtml#ch1

This is a well known Covey’s book. I found it a heavy read. I forced myself to complete the book. It made a lot of sense, but I did not apply his suggestions. After a few months, I heard the audio version of the book. This again was not an easy listen. I found his ideas and concepts very helpful. To fully understand Covey, I will need to listen to his audio book several times.

The area that I related to most was his inside-out approach – my interpretation of this – to be successful we need to start looking at ourselves first . “The way we see things is the source of the way we think and the way we act.’’ These paradigms are the source of our attitudes and behaviors. We cannot act with integrity outside of them. We simply cannot maintain wholeness if we talk and walk differently than we see. To try to change outward attitudes and behaviours does very little good in the long run if we fail to examine the basic paradigms from which those attitudes and behaviours flow.

Covey says achieving insight involves making a ’’paradigm shift’’ which causes us to perceive things differently. He notes that life threatening experiences or a major role change in a person’s life can change a person’s paradigm. Sometimes, just a little more knowledge might help us examine our paradigms.

The difficult part on changing accountants for most clients is breaking emotional ties with their current accountants. They have been with their accountants for years and find it difficult to inform them. This is understandable. It would be a lot easier if clients think of this as a business decision. To further your business, this needs to happen. Furthermore, this is a normal course in any business. We can make the process easier by drafting a letter for you, thanking your previous accountant for their services and letting them know that you have decided to make the move.

Once this is done we will contact your previous accountant asking them if they are any professional reasons why we should not act for you. We will also request last set of accounts, tax returns and backing schedules. It is normal practice for accountants not to charge you for this.

Watch out for “accountants”

Do you know it is perfectly legal for you to set up and call yourself an accountant? You do not need any qualifications or training to call yourself an accountant.

Anyone can call themselves an Accountant and many do! Accountant is not a legally protected term. This means they are more than a few people working and calling themselves accountants. These people have not passed relevant accountancy examinations, are not regulated and are not required to undertake any Continuing Professional Development. This means they are not best placed to handle your financial affairs. Furthermore, they may also have impressive looking initials after their name -do not be fooled by these. These initials are gained by completing a simple form, providing two references and paying a membership fee.

Please do not accept a person as an Accountant without checking their credentials.

Right Person (Accountant)

Accountants that are appropriately qualified to act for you include:

• Chartered Certified Accountant – ACCA or FCCA – Member or Fellow of the ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants)http://www.southsideaccountants.co.uk/Acct-Role.pdf
  

• Chartered Accountant – ACA or FCA – Member or Fellow of the ICAEW (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales).

• Chartered Accountant – CA – Member of ICAS (Institute of Chartered Accountants in Scotland)

• Chartered Management Accountant – ACMA or FCMA – Member of CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants)

Before employing an Accountant belonging to anyone of the above bodies, please call the body to confirm if he/she is a member of the body.

I read Eat That Frog by Brain Tracey a few months ago and only this week I listend to unabridged audio book read by Brian Tracy. I found it a very helpful business book. It is far more than just about time management; it is about ensuring tasks that really matter to our success are done first.

Tracy rightly says we can all be busy with tasks that are easy and do not contribute to our main goals. To achieve what we want we should list everthing we need to do and then rank the “frog” tasks in order of worst frogs. Frog tasks are important to our success. They are also the ones we keep putting off since they are challenging. We need to plan for frog tasks (worst frogs take a higher priority) and do these first- before doing anything else. Your day can only improve after this. The link below to a video is a good introduction to the book.

http://www.eatthatfrogmovie.com/

The cost of providing the Christmas lunch for staff will be tax deductible.

The lunch can be tax free for the employees if it is in the form of an annual event or number of events to which all the staff are invited. However, you should try to limit the annual cost to £150 per head, counting all those who actually attend the event. If the costs exceed £150 per head (including VAT) your employees will be taxed on the total cost per head (not the excess above £150) as a benefit in kind.