Tax Implications to Consider When Starting a New Business

It has always been the custom that any business activity that generates income attracts tax. The amount payable and the type of tax will depend on a variety of factors, the main ones being the amount of revenue collected, the nature and the legal status of the business. If you have no idea where to start, tax accountants will help you find your footing.

All UK businesses are required to pay taxes on their net profit. This tax could either be income or corporation. If you wish to start a sole proprietorship or a simple partnership, the income generated by the business is part of the owner(s)’s personal income. This personal income is subjected to income tax. On the other hand, if the business operates as a registered company, then the income is the company’s own and is subject to corporation tax. Read More...

The Importance of Effective Cost Management

What is Effective Cost Management?

Are you familiar with the costs that are associated with every aspect that you oversee, whether it is in your home or at the office? Do you truly understand the financial impacts of every decision that you make? Healthcare! Transportation! Travel! Insurance! Energy! Overhead! These are just a few of the costs that companies as well as individuals and countries face. These costs are constantly rising, forcing all of us to become more cost conscious. Effective cost management has therefore become a necessity to those of us with limited financial resources. So what exactly is effective cost management? Effective cost management is the process of implementing effective strategies and providing the resources and process discipline needed to enable and ensure the highest level of productivity, reliability and quality at the lowest possible costs. Most people think of cutting costs when they think of effective cost management; however, cost management is more about optimizing performance than it is about actually cutting costs. 

The Seven Principles of Effective Cost Management

There are seven main principles of effective cost management. If these principles are implemented properly, they become the key to a running a successful business.

Determine clear and consistent performance objectives

As stated earlier, the process of managing costs efficiently is a strategic as well as an operational process. It starts with setting out clear and consistent performance objectives that are focused on finding and correcting the underlying causes to ineffective cost management. Read More...

Avoid Unforeseen Costs in Business

Be Prepared for Unforeseen Costs

Running a business is no easy task. It requires proper management from the very beginning i.e planning. From starting a business, executing its daily activities, giving it shape, making it run and ensuring its sustainability, everything requires proper planning. The business owner has to be ready mentally as well as financially to take the financial burden of starting up a business.

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National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) Tel 0844 850 0152

Work for money, work for love

In a world where everything is money - including time itself - and all work activities are measured in how much income they provide, doing things for free sounds quite absurd. Why would anyone be willing to give up the little time and energy they have left after a full shift of work plus house chores and everyday stuff, and get not even a single penny in return? The way we see it, progress and success are strictly linked to money, so any effort that doesn’t produce some - unless it’s a hobby or something like that - is nothing but a waste.

However, not all people think the same way. Some are willing to take some time and effort, even resources of their own, to do something just for the sake of doing it, something that can help other people. This is the essence of volunteering, being kind to some person or group and providing some sort of aid just because it is the right thing to do, or for the pleasure of making someone else happy.  Read More...

Banks with A High Street Presence

What Type of Bank Is High Street?

The term ‘high street’ is of UK origin. Banks of this kind are those huge retail banks with many branches. They are known as high street because they have a large capital base and their operations are mostly spread throughout the country. Such banks are located in the CBD of cities and towns. The term ‘high street’ means almost the same as what the Americans refer to as ‘Main Street’.

The main banks of high street nature in U.K. are The Scotland Group of Royal Banks PLC, Barclays PLC, HSBC PLC Bank and Llyods TSB PLC. These highly used banks usually have a wide range of services to offer, such as savings, mortgages and online banking. Read More...

Why each Company should have an working information security program

Security – A Core Business Function

Every company, no matter how large or small it is, should see security as a core function of the business. An information security program is a plan to ensure the security of the information assets within the company by assessing the security risks and deciding how to mitigate them. In addition, an information security program ensures that the security practices within the company remain up to date. Security should be seen as a core business function because the most valuable assets of a company is its data. This is why it is important to protect your data by implementing data security measures. If you fail to protect the confidentiality, availability and integrity of your data, the consequences could be devastating. It could result in business losses and legal liability.  

What makes a good security program

There are certain elements that makes up a good security program to ensure that your company’s data will remain secure. A good security program should be preventive in nature. It should define which data it is in place to secure, the risks that data faces and a mitigation plan. In addition, it provides details on re-evaluating and updating the program. Every good security program also takes data protection regulations into consideration and ensures that the program is created in such a way that all regulations are met. 

Below are some key elements that every good security program should have. Read More...

The Successful Startup | Getting the right investors

Setting up a new business venture

Setting up a new business venture is never an easy task, more so if it’s your first time. Mistakes are bound to occur and a lot of details are overlooked. However as most business pros say, that’s just a part of the very long learning curve on the way to operating a successful business.

Based on the word of successful business persons and a lot of extensive research, this piece aims to give the budding entrepreneur a few things to look out for when trying to set up a business and choosing the best investors who can carry and share the dream you visualize for your start up. Read More...

The Start Up Diary; Jewellery Business Essentials

Turning your passion into a successful business

Most successful business ventures are as a result of people using their skills and talents to passionately develop them into something much bigger. If you’re into jewelry making in this case, this is just the thing for you.

As an industry, the jewelry business has steadily been growing due to a number of factors. One factor which has greatly impacted the jewelry business is the internet which has exposed the many available designs and options available from a number of jewelers. Top on the list however is the desire and need for people to put some pizazz in their fashion sense and jewelry does just that.

For the budding jewelry entrepreneur, let’s take a look at some of the things you can do in order to take off and grow your brand in this vast market. Read More...

Where is the best place in the UK to store your data?

Data storage is growing and it doesn't seem to stop

We are living in a society of information, and producing inimaginable mountains of data every day. They pile up and soar, and need a place where they will be stored. Users might have no idea of how much data they produce by just living their daily lives with the help of electronic devices, or how many bytes of information it takes to generate all the content and all the functions they use every day. All of that needs a physical support, storage hardware with a complex and complete infrastructure, safety systems and backup in order to stay as it is, and on demand from anyone with access to the databases.

Information is worth money, and whoever holds more information, has more money, and a better capacity to offer services and optimize systems, which is as well very monetizable. Hiring data storage centres is fundamental for basically any company, because very few successful businesses nowadays can aspire to work without a proper data storage system or some sort of outsourced host for their digital content. Read More...

Protecting your empty office buildings

London has a serious vacant property problem

As one of the biggest cities in Europe, London is among the top destinations for people who want to relocate in the search for better job opportunities, a better education or all around better life conditions. However, the prices of rent and properties in general, as well as other factors, make it quite difficult for people to buy or even rent a place to live in. Even if the demand is high and difficult to meet, there are thousands of empty properties in London, including many commercial spaces and offices that could be put to a productive use but instead are left empty for months, or even years. Government buildings, police posts and other places of the like are in the same situation.

Tenants and potential buyers asking for more affordable housing is nothing new in London, but the problem of housing is still a big one both in the city and in the county. Job opportunities and businesses are blooming in London, and that attracts people who move in the search for better life conditions, but they often find it terribly difficult to get a place to stay. Even some businesses are moving out of the city due to the extremely high business rates, but instead of selling their old grounds and offices they keep them empty, mostly for speculative purposes. Besides, it is forbidden by the law to sub-let property for commercial uses, so that si not a way out of the situation for business owners. This helps to the problem of too many empty spaces in London. Read More...