Other Things To Do when Renaming your Company

People to tell: 

Your customers
Your employees
 Your suppliers
Your bank
HMRC (the tax man)
Professional bodies/trade associations

 Other things to do:

maximise the marketing opportunity
change your business stationery
obtain a new domain name and relaunch your website.
update all your advertisements

Choosing an Accounts Package

I’ve recently been in the position of choosing accounting software, so this has been forefront of my mind.  This is a (by no means exhaustive) list of things to consider (in no particular order). 

price
functionality
ease of use/user friendliness
accounting knowledge
upgradeability
upgrade cost
ongoing support costs
flexibility
does it meet your legal obligations

Why use Accounting Software

The whole point of using accounting software is to make your life easier by saving you time and money.  Therefore, if it doesn’t and you can meet your legal requirements without it, you should question whether it’s worth the effort.
It should save you time because:

the whole process of bookkeeping should be faster (although setting up a [...]

Financial Planning

A business plan should always include an analysis and forecast of the company’s financial position.  It will detail things such as:

start up costs
personal investment
additional sources of finance
cashflow forecast
profit & loss forecasts
balance sheet forecasts
historical financial information (if the business is an existing one rather than a start up)

Just as important as the figures themselves are

details of [...]

Business Strategy

This is the area where, if you haven’t already covered it elsewhere, you can demonstrate your deep understanding of the business, marketing and sales, as well as areas such as capital expenditure, recruitment, statutory compliance and timing (as it applies to your business).

Production

If you are a manufacturer, you need to detail how you are going to produce the goods, literally.  For example: what sort of equipment is required?  Where will manufacturing take place?  What are the costs involved?  What are your timescales? Where will your materials come from? Who are your suppliers?
This section also encompasses things like [...]

Market

This section of the business plan assesses the market that you are pitching for.  It covers things like:

price
competitors
where the gap in the market is assumed to be
substitute products or services
Your unique selling point
How will you react to your competitors
legal protection (such as patents, copyright registration)
market share
marketing strategy

Management Team

This section outlines the key people who will be responsible for delivering the plan.  These might be directors, non-executive directors, managers or employees. It normally includes a brief CV for each person demonstrating their relevant experience for their role in the plan.  The purpose is to show that the team is competent and experienced.  It is [...]

Background

If  there is a history to either the company, the idea or product, it could also be included in the business plan.  It might detail the company’s past performance, successes or other notable information.

The Executive Summary

This sums up, the key elements of the business, and may include:

what the product or service is
the market it is aimed at
why they will buy it
what the result will be
key reasons for success
barriers to entry to the market
risks and how they will be managed
strategic objectives
potential for growth
key strecths of the management team
summary financial projections

The Business Plan

Reason One
The first reason for writing a business plan is to formally decide what the company is doing, where it is going and how it will get there – kind of a “focusing the mind” exercise.
Reason Two
The second reason, which is possibly the primary reason why people call in accountants and business advisors, is to [...]