New Year System Review

Did your New Year resolutions include sprucing up your business systems? Whether or not you feel they might need it, now is a good time to review them, when you and your staff are full of good intentions for the year ahead.

One of the ways you could approach this is to look at the different functions within the business separately, and then consider how they all fit together in the bigger picture. Everything that the functions rely on to perform efficiently and effectively must be well oiled and linked smoothly into the overall system of a profitable and developing business.

Hardware and Software

Is everything up to date and compatible? Is it all in good working order? Does it do everything that is needed at a reasonable speed? Do you have enough workstations in convenient places? Do you have enough free hard drive space? Do you and your staff find it easy to use or does it slow your productivity? Do you need to adjust your budget in this area or is there a time when you should plan to do so?

Training and Development

While you undertake the review, consider whether there are new areas in which you or your staff need to be trained. Make notes about this as you go so that arrangements can be made as soon as possible.

System Documentation

Do you have a disaster recovery plan documented and kept off-site? Have you documented all procedures so that someone else could pick up where you or your staff left off? Do you have all the written policies that your business needs?

Security Procedures

Are you confident that you have done all you can to keep your systems secure? What access controls are in place? Do you change your passwords regularly and insist that your staff do the same?

Being Your Own Internal Auditor

In a small business the owner often has to perform the role of internal auditor. You have to keep a finger on the pulse of everything that is going on. Reports from an outsourced bookkeeping service could be a really helpful element of your business systems.

Corporation Tax Changes in 2011

If you are in a limited company, or other organisation that pays corporation tax, are you on target to be ready for the new requirement to submit your company tax returns and payments on-line from this coming April? Some companies have already started doing this; others haven't yet, but from April 2011, it is mandatory.

Corporation Tax Returns

Because returns must be made within 12 months of your last accounting period, you only have to comply with this regulation this year if it ended after 31 March 2010, but it will kick in for the next one, so you need to consider when and how to plan for it if you haven't already done so. Returns must be submitted in the Inline XBRL or iXBRL format, so you will need to use HMRC free downloadable software or purchase software applications or services that produce iXBRL accounts and/or iXBRL computations.

The HMRC filing software is suitable only for SMEs with simple returns. If your tax affairs are more complicated you will need to procure commercially available software. Your outsourced bookkeepers should be able to advise you on what is appropriate for your business.

Corporation Tax Payments

The majority of companies already pay their corporation tax on-line by direct debit. This is easily the simplest way to comply, but you can choose various other methods of payment.

No changes have been made to deadlines, so your payment will be due nine months after the end of your accounting period, unless your profits for the year have reached £1.5 million, when you will be required to make four quarterly instalment payments.

Save yourself all the hassle and anxiety by taking the advice of your outsourced bookmakers. Let them make all the agreed arrangements and report to you in good time that all has been taken care of.

Business Support in 2011

Have you used a Business Link adviser? From November this year, no-one will be able to do that. The government has decided to scrap that side of the business, retaining only a new Business Link website for online information.

A government document released this month recognises the importance to the economy of small businesses, but believes that the current method of delivering support through Business Link is not effective enough. It doesn't give enough value for the public money that pays for it.

Local Support

The paper states that “the best advice for business comes from other experienced business people”. So support will still be provided locally, but by volunteers instead of paid advisers. These will be accessed online through a “Mentoring Gateway” online.

National Telephone Contact Centre

Over 20% of small businesses are believed to operate without web access. Any who can't find what they need online, will be able to get help or find out how to get it on a national telephone number.

Encouraging New Businesses

A range of other measures are planned to encourage a greater proportion of the population to become self-employed, including a continuation of the National Enterprise Allowance (NEA) for unemployed people who come off benefits to start a business. They will also provide specific support for aspiring entrepreneurs leaving military service, women and people in minority ethnic groups. And they are liaising with social housing landlords to find ways to allow and assist new home-based businesses in their premises.

Encouraging Small Business Development

Established small businesses will be selected for the Business Coaching for Growth programme, to help them achieve their potential and their development ambitions.

What About Now?

So we know about the government's plans. But 2011 is an interim year in which little of this is in place, while current support systems are dropping away. It's more important than ever to use your outside bookkeepers to help you keep up with developments and keep your business on-track.