Assets and Liabilities

An asset is something valuable which a business owns or has the use of, such as factories, office buildings, vehicles, computers, stock and so on.
A liability is something which is owed to somebody else.  A liability is a debt of the business, such as a bank loan or overdraft, amounts owed to suppliers or taxation owed to [...]

How to Save on Accountant’s Fees

If you hire an accountant, you will want to make sure that you are getting value for money.  Here are a few tips which may help you bring down your accountancy fees, which may or may not work for your particular business.

File your invoices and receipts and reference them to your records.
Fill in your cheque book stubs, keep [...]

Other Employee-Related Costs

Here are some other employee-related costs: 

“Overhead” costs of office accommodation.  You will still have a certain amount of costs even if they work from home, such as phone call costs, an internet connection, travel and possible contributions to heating and lighting.
Depending on your business, cover for holiday, sickness and absence.
Initial training.
Ongoing training and development opportunities.
Insurance.
Payroll costs

Yet, after [...]

HR Cost of Employees

Once you employ someone, you need to consider a whole range of Human Resource issues.  Most of these will also have financial implications, whether that be the cost of your time or someone else’s in terms of becoming aware of everything you need to, to the explicit cost of running or oursourcing an HR function.
The [...]

Pensions and Benefits in Kind

On top of their pay, you may offer your employee “perks” such as a company car, clothing allowance, relocation expenses, childcare vouchers and private health insurance, to name a few.
Some of these benefits will be taxable in the hands of the employee: that is, the employee will have to pay tax on the financial benefit of [...]

Gross Pay and Employer’s National Insurance Contributions

The cost of employing someone in your business obviously includes their basic wage or salary.  It may also include various bonuses and enhancements, such as double-time for working on a Sunday or bank holiday or an attendance allowance to discourage absence through sickness.  All of these items add up to the employee’s gross pay.
On top of the employee’s gross pay, an [...]

Naming your Company

I came across this article about naming your company, at Vitamin, by Michael McDermot
which identifies five critical steps in naming your company.
It recognises just how important naming your company is. You might not agree with everything, but it’s a great starting point.
Of course, with some businesses, the name doesn’t matter as much as others. If [...]

Articles of Association

The articles of association deal mainly with how the company is run, such as the issue and transfer of shares, capital structure, general meetings, directors, dividends and accounts.
The majority of limited companies adopt a generic form commonly referred to as ‘Table A’. This Table is presented as a series of numbered paragraphs and determines such [...]

Memorandum of Association

The purpose of the memorandum is to say what the company is and what it does.
It needs to state:

the name of the company
the registered office of the company
the objects of the company (what the company will do – it’s purpose)
a statement of the limited liability of members (shareholders)
the authorised share capital

Certificate of Incorporation

The certificate of incorporation is an official certificate issued by the registrar of companies on successful incorporation of a limited company.  The certificate states the company number, name and date of incorporation.

The Role of the Company Secretary

Company secretaries do not have specific responsibilities or powers but they may be criminally liable for company defaults (such as late filing of returns and so on).  They are also allowed to sign most of the forms required by Companies House.
A company secretary usually performs the following tasks:

maintains the statutory registers (such as register of members, [...]

The Role of a Director

Every company director has a personal responsibility to make sure that the company files its statutory returns to Companies House on time.  Directors can be prosecuted if they fail to do this – and it’s a criminal offence, so if you are convicted, you will end up with a criminal record and possibly a hefty [...]