Accounting services

Key benefits:
The most obvious benefit is for compliance purposes, although it can also be to meet internal rules and practices and to give a financial picture of the business at a set moment in time. Compliance is necessary for legislative reasons, to pay tax and to avoid late filing or payments that can give rise to interest or penalties. Accounts provide information necessary to monitor performance and potentially help with budgets and projections.

Main outcomes:
Clients receive a set of financial statements in a format relevant to the service, be it for compliance or management purposes. They can also have an analysis of the figures delivered in writing, by phone or video call or in a personal meeting, depending on the clients’ requirements and the level of service instructed.

Compliance
Accounts of various levels are a compliance requirement that varies according to the type and size of business. The smallest businesses only require a three line report (income, expenditure and profit or surplus) whereas the biggest businesses need a fully audited set of detailed figures to comply with legal requirements and their various duty of care to the owners and investors.

Alexander Accountancy’s process:
Engagement and instruction should ideally be as early as possible to allow for forward planning.

For a new business, the best time to engage us is before the business starts trading. This means everything can be checked in advance and makes it easier to offer proactive advice on strategy and structures. This is a key reason why the first meeting with us is free of cost to the client so there are no barriers to them getting the advice they need. Following the first meeting there will be a written quote and letter of engagement provided.

We will hand hold our clients through any processes or steps they are uncertain of and provide ongoing support in line with the level of service they have instructed which can include pre-year end strategy and planning.

All clients receive feedback on the completed accounts and offered a face-to-face meeting. We monitor year end dates and usually request information required for us to prepare the accounts to be supplied as soon as it is ready after the year end date. If any information is missing, we will advise the client of this and once we have all the information our aim is to try and provide draft accounts and information within two weeks.

Only after the client has checked the draft accounts and we have given our feedback and advice will we complete the final accounts ready for submitting to the relevant authorities by the relevant means. Whilst we prefer to deal with accounts as early as possible the outcome can be greatly influenced by the client.

For small sole traders that see this as a necessary compliance evil to assess their taxes, some will wait until the last minute. On the other hand, we have businesses that actively want the figures as early as possible to help manage their business, so it is not unusual to have their accounts ready within the month following their year end and in certain circumstances draft accounts have been delivered within a week of their year-end.

Our expertise:
What a lot of people miss is that we also run a business so we have inside knowledge of how businesses work. Over and above the tick box compliance knowledge you expect from all accountants, we also have a wealth of varied personal experience within the practice.

Our Directors have variously trained in industry and moved into practice; trained in practice, moved into industry and come back to practice; worked in different industries and then come to accounting as a career change later in life; and trained and stayed in practice as a tax specialist.

Through the practice we have staff with a variety of accounting qualifications and memberships across a range of different professional and members bodies. With an equally varied set of experiences and skill sets. Together with careers ranging from arriving straight from school and following the academic route to become fully qualified within the firm, to having 40 years plus of hands-on experience at every level, and lots of variations in between. Though probably the biggest differentiator is how we work as a team in an open plan environment designed to help us all share in the knowledge and expertise.

How we overcome popular misconceptions:
For many there is a feeling that accounts are a necessary evil and a cost they resent. For some they just see it as another professional service trying to dip their bread in someone else’s gravy.

We encourage clients to understand how our culture is very much client focussed. We want to help and not fleece them, so having up to date accounts in a timely manner can have a positive impact if used correctly. Alexander Accountancy adds value and our services can be an investment in the future rather than just another cost.