Tag: business advice

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I hate DLAs! 

Many of our small business clients make a reasonable profit but still get into financial difficulty because they don’t thoroughly track their DLA (directors’ loan account) throughout the year. Well, it isn’t really that. Often they track the amounts they’re taking out but they don’t track how much they SHOULD take out.  

When we get to the year end and work out the actual profit we find that they have taken too many ‘dividends’ and the DLA is overdrawn. There are many reasons for this. 

  • They have taken a ‘salary’ without a PAYE scheme so we have to choose between setting up a late payroll and the associated penalties or reclassifying these as DLA 
  • They kept their books up to date but forgot to allow for tax before seeing how much profit was left for dividends  
  • They’ve taken the same amount of salary and ‘dividends’ as in previous years but forgotten that their income and profit are lower this year 
  • They put excessive personal transactions through the business that need to be reclassified as DLA 
  • Paying their personal tax from their business 
  • They haven’t even bothered to do their bookkeeping each month but taken whatever money was in the bank without any thought of taxes due 

The year end situation, with all the bookkeeping up to date and the appropriate accounting and tax adjustments, shows that there are not enough profits to cover the withdrawals or ‘dividends’. The clock is ticking and the client has nine months after the year end to repay the overdrawn amount (and not replace it with another loan from the DLA!) If they are continuing the pattern into the next year this is not often possible. 

This means a penalty tax (under Section 455) of 33.75% 

This is on top of the normal corporation tax which means that the company has even less cash for the business activities.  

The best clients pull their socks up and reduce their spending to stay within their available profits AND repay the DLA. But they still can’t reclaim that penalty tax until 9 months after the end of the tax period the DLA is repaid.  

So, after all that doom and gloom, how do we prevent this? 

  1. Educating our directors. When setting up a business there is no training given to directors so we run two courses on ‘Finance for Directors’ and ‘Directors Responsibilities’ 
  2. Regular bookkeeping (easy with modern software) 
  3. Bespoke reports that estimate the after tax profits available for dividends 
  4. Encouraging directors to take regular salaries rather than dividends (now that the NI and corporation tax benefits of low salaries are negligible). This means that the personal tax is paid each month 
  5. Prompt year end accounts so that the director time has time to repay any overdrawn amounts 

In tough times, when business is hard, these systems will allow business owners to react and avoid further penalties. 

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Building a business that works for you 

When I take on a new client, whether for Minerva Accountants or for coaching, I always start with WHY they started their own business. They usually fall into one of three categories: 

  • Freedom 
  • Flexibility 
  • Control 

A few want to make a difference to the world. Only once have I taken on a client whose primary motivation was financial. But somewhere along the line they have lost this in the business of making a living. They might be growing, but they’re growing in the wrong direction. 

After founding five businesses and successfully exited two, as well as coaching numerous business leaders, I’ve found that the measures of success are different for everyone. For some it is time with their family, for others it is the freedom to travel, and there are some who just want a few luxuries without killing themselves working long hours. 

There’s no single blueprint but there are definitely principles that work across all sorts of businesses.  

I’m fortunate to have a space to share this in my books and from stages around the world but I particularly enjoy coaching owners and nurturing individual businesses where I can see the results of my advice and support. 

The best business isn’t always the biggest one, it’s the one that works for you.  

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How I won my first clients and what I’d do differently today

Looking back on when I first set up my first business I didn’t have a clue about marketing.  

I’d read all the books (okay, maybe not ALL of them) and even taken a few courses but reality is very different when you start day one of your business. Running a business is a real roller coaster of fear and exhilaration and nobody is there to guide you. 

I found my first clients for Hudson Accountants (my second business) by hand delivering a mailshot to local businesses on the High Street and a local trading estate. They were individually addressed as I’d walked down the road making a note of the business names. I’d even included a reply paid card. When I received the first (and only) one of those reply paid cards we celebrated with a glass of bubbly. 

Networking was another terrifying experience. These days it comes much more smoothly as I enter a room where people often know me from social media or other connections and I even bump into clients at some events. But my first Chamber of Commerce lunch in Manchester in 2009 I didn’t have a clue what to say!  

As you can see, I’ve survived, moved the business from Bolton to Bristol and then sold it. I now run three other fully remote businesses including Minerva Accountants. 

For business owners looking to avoid the same learning curve, the 30 Day Start Up course provides practical guidance on the key skills needed to build a successful business, while Minerva Accountants helps entrepreneurs stay on top of the financial side as they grow.

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The 7 Biggest Mistakes Business Owners Make 

Most of the mistakes come down to a lack of confidence and uncertainty.

1. Undercharging – you don’t know how much to charge and aren’t confident of your value 

2. Taking any client with a pulse – you’re desperate to build that million pound business and you don’t know what a good client looks like and who is ideal for you 

3. Selling everything – whatever your clients or prospects ask for, you try to sell it. But which work or products are profitable and which should you say “no” to? 

4. AI paralysis – you can’t tell what is hype and what is helpful so you do nothing 

5. Avoiding marketing – ‘build it and they will come’ doesn’t work unless you tell people about it. You may even need to tell them before you’ve finished building it. 

6. Trying to do everything themselves – you may be trying to bootstrap but some things are worth investing in. 

7. Waiting until everything is perfect – paralysis by perfectionism. Bryony Thomas says it best when she suggests that you start when things are ‘functional but not embarrassing’. I’ve founded 5 businesses to date and even sold one of them for 32% above average and none of them are perfect but they’re profitable.

The good news? Most of these mistakes are avoidable. Building a business is a skill in itself, and it’s not something many of us are taught.

That’s why the 30 Day Start Up course was created: to give business owners practical guidance on the key areas that matter most, from marketing and pricing to finance and strategy.Prefer to learn live? A live Start Up workshop will be taking place later this year. I’d love to see you there, so reply if you’d be interested. 

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Borrowed years 

Most business owners set up with a purpose, with an end in mind. Whether that is a £million business or a particular income or just a decent work-life balance. They start off full of energy and enthusiasm and many achieve a degree of success. 

And then they hit a glass ceiling! 

They’re working too many hours for not enough profit and borrowing time from the future as their original goal remains just out of sight.  

It’s not uncommon to work silly hours when setting up a business but, if you’re three years into your business and you’re still working those silly hours, or your growth plans have gone out of the window (assuming you had a business plan to start?) then something needs to change. 

Burnout is real. It may be time for a chat. 

As an accountant AND a business coach AND an award winning business author AND the founder of five businesses with two successful exits to date I have the skills to review your business analytically, to help you to get back on track, and to measure that progress.  

Further down the line you may have a board to share the burden with you and to bring in expertise but, for now, that’s not affordable (if that was ever part of your vision). So we have lots of ways to help business owners (and accountants and bookkeepers who run businesses too). From strategic planning days, to monthly or quarterly Clarity reviews, from online courses and workshops (because you’re not the only one who needs to know this), to coaching and mentoring sessions we can provide business advice and accountability to get you to your end goal faster. 

Stop borrowing time from future years and take some action to get back on track.  

Let’s do better business.  

Together.

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I love you, I love you, I love you … 

I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve come off a call or received an email and commented ‘that’s one of my favourite clients’.  

And it’s no accident that we have the best clients.  

I used to do it in my first practice too. 

At Minerva Accountants we’re very clear on who we enjoy working with and only select clients who are a good fit. That means that we give them a better service so everybody wins. 

So I encourage you to: 

  1. Identify your ideal client 
  1. Adapt your marketing as if speaking directly to this client  
  1. Triage your existing clients A-D. My D clients may be your A clients or vice versa but it’s usually based on profitability (not fee), how easy they are to work with, and whether you smile when their number comes up on your phone. 
  1. Ask your best clients for referrals  
  1. Deal with your D clients. They may need a price review or a bit of retraining or it may be that they’d be better suited to another accountant so you need to let them go 
  1. Stop scrabbling around for business at any cost and refer to 1 above when deciding whether to take on a new client. 

Don’t settle for what you have, build the business that you first dreamt of. 

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When was the last time you worked on your business?

We have a July year end, a legacy from when my children were small and my life revolved around the school year. 

August is my quiet planning time and, with three businesses, there’s a lot to think about. 

It is important to take time out of your business and we run strategic planning days for businesses and accountants for just this purpose. It’s now time to take some of my own medicine. 

When do you take time to plan? 

(Our next group strategy days are in Sep, Dec, Jan, Feb, and Mar or we can run a bespoke day for your business) 

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Xerocon benefits 

I’ve just spent this week at Xerocon London. So what was the benefit of 3 days out of my business? 

  • listened to all sorts of interesting talks from the best accountants that will help me to improve my business 
  • getting beyond the AI hype to some practical ideas for embedding more AI into Minerva Accountants 
  • hearing about the Xero roadmap and all sorts of new features to help accountants and business owners 
  • chatting to other software companies about how they can help Minerva Accountants and our clients 
  • chatting to other forward thinking accountants from around the world about the issues that we face in our businesses, what works, and what doesn’t 
  • being invited to speak about accountant/entrepreneur/high performer 4am waking and what we can do to help ourselves 
  • breakfast with the Small Business Commissioner (Emma Jones who wrote the foreword to my second book) to discuss the problem with late payments and new legislation that is making its way through parliament 
  • generally relaxing knowing that my business was in safe hands with my fabulous team 

I now have a head buzzing with ideas on how to improve Minerva Accountants so that we can offer better advice and more efficient services to our clients. 

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How to pay zero inheritance tax 

Statistically most people won’t die leaving enough assets to need to pay inheritance tax. Although, to be pedantic, it isn’t the deceased person who pays the inheritance tax anyway.

For those with a little more wealth then you can avoid inheritance tax completely by giving away anything over the current limits and then living for another 7 years. (This means that you shouldn’t leave your tax planning to the last minute) 

The snag is that you need to give away those assets UNCONDITIONALLY. I.e. you can’t give your house to your kids on condition that they continue to let you live there. You have to TRUST them to do the right thing.  

So, the question is, how much do you trust your potential beneficiaries? 

(I’ll share a little more serious inheritance tax planning next time) 

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How to survive a crisis 

After spending a couple of years working in an IT department and part of the Disaster Recovery business resilience is always high on my agenda. And having been being responsible for the IT department preparing an engineering company for any potential Y2K (Year 2000) crises means that I am quite used to risk assessing businesses.

But these days I run 3 small businesses without anything like the level of resource available to me back then. We are small but strong because we use a lot of technology and employ a brilliant core team. We are therefore hugely dependent on both the technology and the people.

Which is what prompted this post.

I was just about to set off on a two week holiday followed by 3 days at Xerocon when my Business Manager, the ever efficient Kate, notified me that she would be off for a major operation. While I was away! And while our newest team member has only been with us for a month!

When I finally uncurled from my foetal position I assessed the situation and realised that we were actually in quite a strong position because of all our ‘usual’ preparations and processes.

So here are the things that we do right:

  • We keep documented procedures on our shared drive. They’re not as up to date as we’d like but they’re a good start and Kate has a few days to refresh anything. This means that we’re not too dependent on any single individual.
  • We always try to stay well ahead of deadlines. As at today (22 June) we only have one year end due 31 July and two for 30 Sept. We’ve chased these clients enough times that it is now entirely their responsibility. Confirmation statement information is chased early so we have a few weeks in hand. Bookkeeping is updated monthly, if not weekly. As part of my holiday I had even written 3 of these blogs in advance so this makes the fourth one.
  • We all work fully remotely so, if I need to log in while abroad, everything is set up.
  • We operate a shared Inbox so everybody can see client messages 
  • We have a fabulous answering service (I highly recommend Emma Fryer and the Answer It team) who will answer and pass on messages to us and also call back our clients if required 
  • We have VOIP phones so we can call from our business line anywhere in the world.
  • Our practice management system holds all client info and emails so that any member of the team can see what has been going on. We encourage the team to add permanent notes and current reminders too. These can always be improved.
  • Our practice management system tracks all client deadlines and send automatic reminders so nothing is missed. 

So, I think we’re going to be all right, and our small team will be able to run without one of our key people and with just the lightest of touches from me. So I’m going to enjoy my holiday.

(TLDR we survived Y2K and the National Grid continued to provide power to all UK homes during my employment)