If you own or manage a small or medium sized business, you’ll appreciate the importance of having access to the right funding options. Business funding is needed to operate and to invest in your company. Business funding in the UK is available in many forms to help your business achieve its goals. These include small business grants, commercial finance arrangements, equity investment, and business loans.

A grant is money given to your business which is often to be used for a specific purpose. With a grant, you often don’t need to pay it back so long as you continue to fulfil the conditions of the grant award. There are several types of business grants for small businesses you might be eligible to apply for:

A common form of Business Funding, often referred to as debt funding. With a business loan you agree to borrow an amount of money from a lender. Which you then pay back with interest over an agreed period of time. In addition to traditional banks, the British Business Bank Start Up Loans scheme provides government backed unsecured personal loans from £500 to £25,000 to start or grow a new business.

Sometimes the right mix of Business Funding for your business may include Commercial Finance arrangements such as:

Looking to the future is one of the most important elements of growing a successful business. As a business owner you’ve built your company from an idea into a fully functioning business that people recognise and invest in. Whether that’s through buying your services or products, supplying goods or services to you, or by providing Business Funding.

Creating and maintaining your business plan should be an important part of your management regime. You can use it to track progress against your goals and objectives. As well as serving as a key reference point. Against which you can make important decisions, and measure their impact on your business’ performance. Looking at what worked, and – often more importantly! – what didn’t.

Typically your business plan will cover a number of years, often 3 or 5. It’s good practice to review and update your Business Plan on an annual basis. Using it to set a detailed Budget for the coming year.

Planning and forecasting your revenue, costs, and profit margin helps ensure your business is meeting the targets you’ve set for it. If your performance is not as expected – better or worse – you need to understand why. You need to analyse the data, and then predict what’s going to happen going forward so you can adapt your plans accordingly.

Whilst some people consider it to be boring, investing time and effort upfront and on an ongoing basis will ensure your records are always up to date and accurate.

Leaving everything to the last minute and trying to go back and do things at the end of the year will be much harder. And there’s then a much greater risk of making mistakes.

Bookkeeping is the name given to the process of recording all financial business transactions. It’s a vital and fundamental business discipline. It improves organisation and coordination, and provides the information you need to understand how your business is performing.

It helps with future planning. And makes tax and accounting admin far easier. Whether you do it yourself or you decide to employ an accountant or bookkeeper, Bookkeeping is one of the most important investments you can make. And it is a prerequisite for the following:

● Summarising financial transactions in informative reports
● Sending out and paying invoices
● Submitting VAT returns
● Preparing and completing annual financial accounts for your business. In the case of Limited Companies, these need to filed at Companies House.
● Preparing income tax returns and helping you to understand business tax.
● Training relevant employees on how to manage business finances.

isme|&|co was set up to provide easy access to the information small business owners and managers need.

The world of tax and accounting can seem daunting to the inexperienced. Especially if you’ve recently established your business, and you’re not a trained accountant or bookkeeper. Whether you like it or not, financial reporting and tax is here to stay, which is why we provide access to helpful insights and articles on subjects such as accounting advice for small businesses and understanding business taxes.

Financial Reporting requirements differ for UK businesses depending on the size of the business. It is important you are familiar with the specific requirements for your business and seek advice from a trained accountant if this is not an area in which you are skilled.

The tax your business needs to pay will depend on a number of factors including the legal structure of your business. As a small to medium-sized UK business you’re likely to need to account for the following taxes:

● Corporation tax
● PAYE
● National Insurance
● VAT
● Business rates
● Dividend tax