Tag: business advice

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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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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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Tax tip

Furnished holiday lets 

Back on 6 March the Conservative Spring Budget announced the FHL (Furnished Holiday Lettings) scheme but failed to included it in the Finance Act. 

On 29 July the new Labour government confirmed that they would proceed with this by publishing a policy paper and draft legislation. This is still not law but likely to become so. The key points are: 

  • Withdrawing capital gains tax relief on gains from trading assets 
  • Withdrawing corporation tax capital allowances  and allowing replacement of domestic items relief 
  • Restricting finance charges and interest to basic rate of income tax 
  • No longer including FHL income when calculating relevant earnings for pension relief 

There is anti-forestalling legislation to prevent advance action between 6 March 2024 and the effective date on 2025. This means that it is probably too late to take any action to mitigate the tax impact but please talk to us if you are affected. 

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How does your price compare?

Compare to what?

How would you compare the price of a dress from Primark to one from Prada? How would you compare the cost of a smart phone to an old flip phone?

Business owners might try to compare accountants’ fees because they don’t understand that there are very different types of accountants with different expertise offering a variety of services in their ‘standard’ package.

So how can you differentiate yourself from your competitors?


• Testimonials from satisfied clients allow you to demonstrate your quality. Encourage your clients to leave Linked In testimonials or ask them if you can use the lovely thing they just said/wrote about you in your marketing.


• Case studies allow prospective clients to picture themselves working with you. We don’t just fill in those pesky forms known as tax returns. Think about how you help your clients and then ask them to help with a case study. We use Angela at PR the Write Way – Getting you the recognition you deserve to write these for us.


• Awards. This one is tricky for me as I can’t enter the awards that, as an established accountant, I’m often invited to judge.


• Net promoter score. What percentage of your existing clients would recommend you to others? When did you last ask them? (Whoops, we need to get this up to date)


• Niche. If you have a niche you should share content specific for this audience to demonstrate your expertise eg I coach all sorts of business owners but about half of them are accountants so I my content (and 2 of my 3 books) at them.

What other ways can you differentiate yourself from your competitors?

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Don’t call it ZERO! 

One of my pet hates is people who call XERO Zero. 

I can understand it when business owners make the mistake but accountants and bookkeepers who claim to be expert enough to assist clients do it too. 

And too many of these accountants don’t understand Xero’s full functionality and use it like any ordinary desktop (some even ask their clients to print out the reports at year end rather than logging in themselves). For these people Xero is just a big cost whereas, for us, it can really help a small business to punch above their weight in terms of both management information and business efficiency. 

I’ve been using it since a random client came to me using Xero for their bookkeeping back in 2012. And I liked it so much that we became Xero partners in 2013. 

Being a Xero partner means that we get full Xero training FREE of charge. Xero pay the cost for us to get the most of their software. In turn we can pass that on to our clients which we do through online videos as well as advice on how they can use their Xero better and/or take advantage of many of the add ons to save them time. 

So, in our experience, Xero is worth a whole lot more than zero. 

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