PAH Accountants

The importance of ‘Brand’

Every day you come across brands, probably without really noticing it. It’s the car you drive, the advert at the bus stop and it is the sign above your local shop.

A brand is an identity. It can be anything from a name, a sign, a symbol (Apple), a colour combination (Coca Cola, red and white) or even a slogan (“I’m lovin’ it”, McDonalds) yet a lot of businesses don’t feel the need to have a brand. In fact, a brand is often seen as “just a logo”. It really is so much more than this. A brand is also a work ethic, an ethos, a

What is Electronic Invoicing?

Electronic invoicing is the transmission and storage of invoices without the delivery of paper documents.

Why use this method?

This can offer many advantages over traditional paper invoices. The rapid electronic transmission of documents in a secure environment may provide for:

• An improvement to the traceability of orders
• Decrease in paper storage
• Reduction in paper and handling costs

Value Added Tax (VAT) is a tax levied on the sale of certain goods and services. There are different rates of VAT which apply. Suppliers are either exempt, zero-rated or chargeable. Currently chargeables supplies are at 5% or 17.5%.

Do I have to?

Registration for VAT may be compulsory, depending on the level of current or future turnover of the business. A business can voluntarily register for VAT; however, in order to register, a business must either be making taxable supplies (sales where VAT would apply) or intend to make taxable supplies in the future.

The two most common cases where a business must register and charge VAT are:

• A non-registered business making taxable supplies whose value exceed £70,000 within the last twelve months or

Hopefully you were here with PAH Accounting where we were reporting live the key fundemental budget points that affect small business. If not I have produced a handy summary into these factors below with some commentary and opinion to go with it!

George Osborn, the new chancellor presenting his first Tory budget.  He got stuck straight into Labour, commenting on the perceived errors of the past. He stated that this was an ‘unavoidable’ budget and that he is aiming to ‘balance the books within 5 years’. Some bold predictions for sure!

In the his summary Mr Osborn wanted stressed his pre budget talk that this was to be  ‘tough but fair ‘. Again getting at the previous regime this budget intended to ‘Pay for the past and plan for the future’. On key element also was his aim to

I recently attended a marketing seminar, presented by Robert Craven, and it was an interesting point, but not a surprise, to see that the best place to get referrals is from your existing customers. This is something we all want so we make a big effort to ask our customers for recommendations, referrals and testimonials.

However, do you return the favour and recommend your suppliers? At the end of the day they have given you a good service so it is a great way to say thank you.

Giving referrals and testimonials can actually be good for your own business. If you post a link via social media such as  twitter and facebook or independent testimonials on places like 4Networking these are like having a mini advert for your business. Whilst you are singing the praises of someone else it shows that you are a willing supplier and ‘busier’ in your

As many regular followers of this blog and clients/ contacts of PAH Accounting will know Social Media is a big influence on this firm and how it markets itself. Roland Millward has kindly given permission to include a guest blog which is copied from his own blog site – The Entrepreneur Club.

Social Media vs Traditional Advertising

We are all used to traditional forms of advertising. Newspaper, magazine, TV, radio, billboards, fliers and sponsorships. These of course all work in different degrees and some are extremely costly. It is often the case that the effect of such advertising can not always be accurately measured. There is the well known saying that 50% of advertising costs are wasted but which 50%?

The above methods of advertising are very much what I would call ‘in your face and tell ‘em’ what you are selling’ and of course some ads are designed for building the brand name.

How does Social Media work when compared to the time tested methods of advertising? In some ways it is very different. Most forms of Social Media are about building relationships, it is more like networking than advertising. The cost too is

It seems like only a few weeks ago, ………………………..well it was!!!

Due to the election we will be seeing the first budget from the new Tory government. The date has been set as 22nd June.

Join us here for some live Blogging and tweeting. I am sure there will be a few interesting changes afoot!

What an exciting week last week with a hung parliament causing an almighty stir for the nation! We now know who the new government is; however, we are still not fully aware of how it will function. The Liberal Democrats and Conservatives are now working together to govern the country. But, what will this mean for small businesses?

There is to be a budget within 50 days of the new Prime Minister, David

An exciting day as ever when the Chancellor, Alistair Darling announces the budget. Well, at least that’s what we expected. It was effectively a little bit dull with nothing significant happening (unless you drink Cider!) This has been commentated as being an election based budget to ensure Labour remain in power. We will see!

As is the norm, PAH Accounting have prepared a review of the key factors which affect small business, including commentary and opinion on the effect it can have. Feel

This week we have a guest blog from Geoff Davis of GRD Credit Control Services. Geoff is producing a series of Top Tips on credit control and how to ensure you get paid on time.  His weekly series will follow the process of making the decision to allow credit all the way through to debt recovery action. In this guest blog Geoff highlights tip number one -

DON’T OFFER CREDIT

OK – surprising perhaps for me to recommend this but there is very often a view, particularly from newer businesses, that they must offer credit to their customers. This is not the case and you need to consider the industry you are in.

If you are a plumber’s merchant supplying only to the trade then to compete you will have to offer credit terms. If you