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Tax Tip – Casual staff 

If you’re taking on seasonal staff over the Christmas period then the normal employment rules apply.  

  1. They must go on the payroll and NOT be paid ‘cash in hand’ 
  1. They may be eligible for a pension under autoenrollment. You can defer this for 3 months which may mean that you don’t need to provide a pension if they are with you for less than this 
  1. If they are self employed you should have a contract to this effect confirming that THEY are responsible for paying their own taxes 
  1. Use the HMRC employment status indicator to see whether they should be employed or whether they can be self employed Check employment status for tax – GOV.UK 
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How to work faster 

Why do some people work faster than others? Sorry, I have no idea but I did hear of a study that discovered that manual work rates could double between slow and fast workers. The more complex the work, the higher the multiple so that a software engineer might be 16 times faster than a peer.  

When I set up my first accountancy business my plan assumed that everybody worked at the same pace as me. When I started recruiting (good) staff I found that this wasn’t the case and that I was a lot faster than others. I had to adjust my business model accordingly. We still keep approximate timesheets to track individuals’ work rates for planning purposes. 

So how can you help slower workers to speed up? 

  • Have proper processes so that everybody knows the most efficient way to do things 
  • Training and processes help people to get started sooner on each task with less planning time 
  • Help them to find the best time of day and working environment for them to do their ‘deep’ focused work and fit simpler tasks around this 
  • Build in controls and reviews so that faster work doesn’t become sloppy work 

When building your business cost model consider cheaper, slower trainees/junior staff vs more expensive but faster qualified/senior staff. When could you use different staff? 

Plan your work and your resource accordingly. Most of our accounts work is carried out by other members of the team and I only review it. This also means that all year end accounts have the benefit of at least two sets of eyes. BUT if a client needs something quickly, I often do it myself. The costs are passed on to the client if the extra speed is needed because they have delayed. 

Any other ideas on how to speed up work rates? 

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Tax tip

Capital gains tax when selling your home.

If your home has always been occupied as your principle private residence then any increase in value is probably covered by Private Residence Relief so no tax is payable. BUT, if your property has ever been rented out, left unoccupied, or served as your second home then you may have to pay capital gains tax within SIXTY DAYS of disposal.

Estate agents and solicitors don’t usually mention this to their clients so it’s up to you to remember to avoid late filing and payment penalties.

There are various exemptions and allowable costs so we’re happy to do the calculations for our clients to see if they need to pay. (We don’t do them for non-clients as, frankly, they’re done manually so they’re a pain.)

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The benefits of a military life

No, this isn’t about conscription, it’s about moving around all the time and meeting strangers.

My father served in the army for 24 years so I had had 25 different homes by the time I left home aged 18. This itinerant life meant that, in spite of being a natural introvert, I have no problem walking into a room full of strangers and introducing myself.

It’s great practice for networking as a business owner.

  • Hold your head up and look people in the eye
  • Smile (as naturally as you can)
  • Practice a firm handshake (not a crushing vice but not a wet fish either)
  • Rehearse your first line
  • Have 3 questions prepared to start conversations

Focus on introducing people to each other then they can make the conversation while thinking how sociable/helpful you are.

Incidentally we offer 10% discount to military and their ‘dependent’ family or 15% to REME (as my Dad tells me they’re the best 😉)

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You could bury a body on the balance sheet

A fellow accountant made this comment and I think there’s a lot of truth in it. Most business owners don’t even look at their balance sheet!

Instead they focus on the profit and loss account to understand where their money is coming from and going to.

When preparing accounts we focus instead on the balance sheet at month/year end. We carry out 61 checks; most of which are on the balance sheet.

The balance sheet is a snapshot at the end of the period. The difference between the balance sheets at the start and end of the period is the profit (or loss); even if the expenses are miscoded.

Directors are responsible for safeguarding the assets of the company. This is easily done by checking that you understand the assets (what you own) and liabilities (what you owe) on the balance sheet eg stock can easily be counted to something physical or you can see the car that you bought this year. Outstanding loans can be checked to a bank statement or trade creditors to a list of invoices.

I talk about the main parts of the profit and loss and balance sheet in our Finance for Non-Financial Managers courses. Whilst everybody at Minerva Accountants tries to speak plain English I also think that it is important for business owners to speak a little of the language of business, accountancy, and our FNFM course is free to all our clients.

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Do you struggle with travelling for work?

Although I usually work from my home office (our whole team are remote) I do a fair amount of travelling for speaking at conferences or attending ICAEW Council meetings in London. In the last week I’ve slept in 4 different beds; my own and 3 different hotels.

Here are a few tips for simplifying your travel life:

1. Start your packing list early so that you can pack in 5 minutes without forgetting anything.

2. If you travel regularly keep a separate travel wash kit always ready.

3. Stick with one hotel chain as much as possible so that you know what to expect, but also so that there is less stimulation from different décor which will help you to sleep.

4. Carry blu tack to cover those annoying lights on TVs, chargers etc

5. Carry a bull dog clip to keep curtains closed without chinks of light

6. Carry a small extension lead to provide extra sockets and enable you to have them next to your bed.

7. Use cloud apps so that you can still access everything if you lose your laptop/phone etc.

8. Keep copies of your passport and other essential documents in the cloud in case of loss.

9. If you need your favourite brand of tea or other home comforts then restock your case when you get home each time.

10. Wear comfortable shoes if you need to do a lot of walking and change when you get there.

11. If you will be using public wifi please use a VPN (especially if you’re an accountant handling confidential client information)

12. You might want to tag meetings onto events; do this in advance

13. If you’re an introvert you might want to build quiet times into your day/evening. Perhaps eat a meal in your room.

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Do you feel embarrassed chasing unpaid bills? 

If somebody left a shop without paying for the goods you would probably chase them down the street and rugby tackle them to the ground (or at least consider it) so why is it so hard to chase payment for our services? 

There may be an embarrassment in having to discuss money with clients. Or you may not want to risk upsetting them when we have been told, so many times, that the customer is always right. 

But … Are they clients if they don’t pay?   

We set invoice reminders on Xero which act as a polite reminder from the moment that the invoice is overdue.  

I then try one phone call, one 7 day letter, and then legal action. 

No embarrassment. They haven’t forgotten. They are intentionally withholding payment.  

If you want to improve your own cashflow and financial position you have to toughen up and chase. Feel free to blame me as your accountant/business coach. I’ve raised two teens, I’m used to being the bad guy ? 

Reply to this message when you’ve done it. 

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Are you running a profitable business?

Are you sure?

What if you had to replace your own time with a suitable qualified/experienced alternate salary? Would you still be making a profit then?

Whilst I’d like to think that the answer is ‘yes’ there are a few reasons why it might not be the case.

  • You might be prepared to accept a lower ‘salary’ (perhaps a mix of salary and dividends) in exchange for more flexibility or being your own boss. Make sure that you don’t lose more income than you are intending.
  • You might be in a start up or growth phase of your business when you are working longer hours than expected. Make sure that this doesn’t go on too long or you may burn out. If you’ve been in business for over three years and aren’t happy with your profitability per hour then it may be time for some business advice.

I see far too many business owners (including accountants!) earning less than minimum wage. You may be doing something you love but you also deserve to earn a living from your work.

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How do you deal with staff who are damaging your business?

You take great care in recruiting for your business but somehow you still end up with somebody who is not suitable. They may be actively damaging your business or just not up to scratch. Either way there are some difficult decisions to be made.

Hopefully you have already given them an employment contract and a disciplinary procedure that you can follow. If not then ACAS have useful procedures that are best practice.

If the employee is still in their probationary period then the process is much simpler. If they have completed less than two years (including any periods recognised under TUPE Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment) the employee has limited employment rights but they still have some and you should do things legally and as kindly as you can.

The actual actions that you take will depend on the severity of the damage done to the business and it is useful to document all your conversations as well as to retain other evidence such as performance appraisals. This assumes, of course, that you carry out regular appraisals for your team but even if not they can be introduced if an employee’s work is slipping. You’re not just looking at the employee’s behaviour but at what you can do to help them to improve things.

Sometimes there doesn’t seem to be any reasonable route to recovery. As a small business owner you have put blood, sweat, tears, and probably a fair amount of cash into your business over the years and it may be hard to keep emotions out of the process. It is worth involving an independent HR professional to conduct any disciplinary meetings in order to ensure that the correct process is followed. They will also ensure that things remain calm and professional.

These could save you a lot of pain in the future:

  • employment contracts
  • disciplinary procedure
  • grievance procedure
  • regular performance appraisals

If you’re a member of the FSB then you can use their templates and limited advice free of charge.

Hopefully you will never need them but better safe than sorry.

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How to get your new starters up to speed faster

You’ve spent a great deal of time and energy in recruiting your perfect (you hope) employee but it will still take a while before they’re ‘up to speed’. Well, there are a few things that you can do to get them there faster. 

1.Onboarding. We use an onboarding checklist to make sure that new starters are welcomed on the first day with things like: 

  • Contract 
  • Confidentiality and ethics agreements 
  • Laptop and accessories 
  • Licences and log in details for all software 

If you’d like a copy of our full list just reply to this email 

2.Training. A lot of the software that we use, such as Xero and XeroTax, comes with training and certification so we have a list and links of what we need our new starter to complete in their first week/month 

3.Procedures manual. It’s a bit of a glorified word for our shared folder of procedures and checklists but everything is in one place to explain what and how we do things. Even qualified accountants from another firm don’t do things exactly the same way. 

4.Client information. Every client is different so we keep a few notes on each business so that a new client manager knows the basics. We update this each year as we complete the year end.  

Next week I’ll talk through how to handle toxic team members  

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