Running a business means making decisions every day. Some are relatively straightforward, while others can have a significant impact on your business, your finances and your future.
As your business grows and develops, you may find yourself asking questions like:
- Should I restructure my company?
- Can I afford to take on more staff?
- Is now the right time to invest?
- What is my business actually worth?
- How do I prepare for a future sale?
- How do I protect the wealth I’ve worked hard to build?
There isn’t always a straightforward answer and the right decision will depend on your circumstances, your objectives and what you want to achieve.
That’s where good advice can really help. Our advisory services are about helping you understand where you are now, where you want to go and what you need to consider to get there.
Our expert team works with business owners to provide practical, forward-looking advice, to help you identify opportunities and risks and make informed decisions.
Here are some of the areas where we can help:
Review your tax planning
Tax planning isn’t just about looking at your tax bill at the end of the year. Taking a proactive approach can help you understand what tax you may need to pay and whether there are opportunities to plan more effectively to reduce your tax bill.
Changes to tax legislation can also affect you personally as well as your business. Reviewing your tax planning regularly can help you understand how changes may affect you and whether there are steps you should consider taking.
If you’re considering changes to your business, extracting profits, selling your business or planning for the future, taking advice early can give you more options.
Plan beyond your business
For business owners, personal and business planning often go hand in hand.
The wealth you have built through your business may form a significant part of your overall wealth, so it’s important to consider what happens to it beyond your involvement in the business.
Inheritance Tax and estate planning can help you consider how your wealth will be passed on, and what steps you can take to protect it for the next generation.
Planning early can give you more time to consider your options and put appropriate arrangements in place.
Structure your business for the future
The structure that was right when you started your business may not necessarily be right for you today, or for the future.
As businesses grow, ownership changes, new companies are established or circumstances change, it can be worth reviewing whether your existing structure still supports both your commercial and personal objectives.
Our corporate restructuring advice considers your circumstances and objectives and helps you explore an appropriate structure, while taking into account tax efficiency, compliance and the practical implications of making changes.
We can also advise on share incentive schemes. Attracting and retaining the right people can be one of the biggest challenges facing a growing business, and share schemes can be one way of aligning employees with the long-term success of the company. The right scheme needs careful consideration from both a commercial and tax perspective.
We can help you understand your options and consider how a share incentive scheme could fit within your wider business objectives.
Understand your numbers
Understanding your numbers means more than knowing whether your business made a profit. It means knowing what is driving that result, how your performance is changing and what your figures could mean for the decisions you need to make.
How much cash will you have available over the coming months? Are your margins changing? Can you afford to take on another member of staff? Is the business on track to meet its targets? Having the right information can help you answer these questions before making important decisions.
Cash flow forecasting and budgeting
Profit and cash are not the same thing.
A profitable business can still find itself under pressure if cash isn’t managed carefully. Equally, having a clear understanding of your future cash position can give you greater confidence when considering whether to invest, recruit, expand or make other important decisions.
Budgeting and cash flow forecasting can help you understand your financial position, anticipate potential challenges and set realistic targets.
Management accounts
Waiting until the end of the year to understand how your business is performing can leave you making decisions with outdated information.
Regular management accounts can provide a much timelier view of your business, whether that is monthly or quarterly.
They can help you understand performance, identify trends and spot potential issues earlier. They can also provide a valuable foundation for proactive business and tax advice, giving you greater visibility and more information to support your decisions.
Plan your exit
For many business owners, selling the business isn’t something they’re thinking about today, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t start planning for it.
A successful exit rarely happens overnight. Preparing your business well in advance can give you more options, help address potential weaknesses and put you in a stronger position when the time comes.
Whether you’re considering a third-party sale, a management buyout or another route, early planning can help you understand what needs to happen and when.
We can help you consider your objectives, prepare the business for sale and plan for a successful transition.
Know what your business is worth
Do you know what your business is worth?
You’ll need to understand its value if you’re considering selling, bringing in an investor, buying another business or buying out another shareholder. Or you may simply want a clearer picture of the value you’ve created.
A professional business valuation can give you an objective starting point for those conversations.
Understanding the value of your business can also help you identify what is driving that value and where there may be opportunities to strengthen the business further.
Looking beyond the numbers
Good business advice isn’t simply about looking at what has already happened. It’s about understanding where you are now, considering where you want to go and helping you make informed decisions about the steps in between.
Whether you need support with tax planning, your personal wealth, your business structure, financial forecasting, management information, succession or understanding the value of your business, our Business Advisory team can help.
If you would like to talk through your plans or explore an area where you could benefit from additional advice, get in touch to arrange a free, no-obligation advisory meeting.
Thomas Blow, ACCA
