BOOKKEEPING

The regular recording of your company's financial transactions is the foundation upon which the Accounting, VAT and Taxation elements of our services are based. Furthermore the Companies Act places a duty on the directors of a UK company to maintain proper books of account in order that these records can disclose with reasonable accuracy the financial position of the business.

In addition to this statutory requirement, your company will have been established to generate profits. Regular financial reports are essential for you to maintain control over the finances of your company and to ensure that it is indeed trading profitably.

Naturally, there is much more to bookkeeping than mere record-keeping and the services we offer include:

• opening bank and trading accounts
• control of purchases and stock
• making payment to settle the company's liabilities
• preparation and dispatch of sales invoices
• credit control (collection of sums due to the company)
• management of cash and bank balances
• management of the company's relationship with its bankers

All of the foregoing are essential elements in controlling the financial health of a company and we recommend that you appoint us to manage these services for you.

Once the basic financial information has been compiled by the bookkeeper we recommend that a qualified accountant is appointed to compile financial reports for you and to interpret the trends so reported. Furthermore financial statements (whose format and contents are specified by the Companies Acts) have to be lodged at Companies House within ten months of the company's financial year-end.

Decisions based on misinformation, or even no information at all, have little prospect of being the correct decisions. Our accountants are available to assist with all the decision-making processes of a modern business.

A great deal of experience in a variety of businesses has been amassed by our accountants and they are well-qualified to advise on compilation of budgets and forecasts and on reporting of actual results against these, the calculation of standards and variances for production costing, and the generation of financial models to monitor and evaluate capital expenditure.

Once the eligible turnover of a business exceeds established limits all businesses are required to register for VAT and thereafter to act as an unpaid tax collector for H.M. Customs & Excise. It may be in your interest to register for VAT voluntarily - our staff will be able to assist you in this decision.

Compliance with the large number of VAT regulations is an onerous responsibility and the penalties for erroneous returns can be quite severe. We would not recommend that the untrained take this task on.

The obvious answer is to utilise our VAT skills and appoint us not only to register your company for VAT but also to make the necessary monthly or quarterly returns for you.