Insights

Larking Gowen invite you to join them in the CLA marquee for lunch in celebration of Norfolk food and drink. All produce is locally sourced.

Maximise the value of your business and plan your exit.

Business owners and company directors are invited to join us for this exclusive half day seminar.  

Larking Gowen Business Breakfasts are a friendly and informal forum for local business owners. A chance to discuss ideas and gain inspiration from other like-minded people on how to make a business more profitable. The summer business breakfast will focus on how to grow your business through innovation; don't leave change success to chance.

Larking Gowen Business Breakfasts are a friendly and informal forum for local business owners. A chance to discuss ideas and gain inspiration from other like-minded people on how to make a business more profitable. The summer business breakfast will focus on how to grow your business through innovation; don't leave change success to chance.   

It’s a question I’m sure many farmers ask themselves at some point … should I consider doing something different? If you love farming then I’m sure the answer is a quick and confident no, but should it be?

Our Legal Benchmarking Report reveals a need for firms to focus on organic growth, improving the efficiency and billing processes as the sector faces the end of a three-year period of sustained growth. Read the full report here. 

For many years farm business owners have enjoyed a regime of capital taxes that have been extremely helpful in terms of planning for family succession. Wealth is largely protected on death with holdover relief to defer capital gains tax (CGT) to allow lifetime gifts to be made, or 100% relief for agricultural property and business property.

Meetings and their documentation are important. The minutes of your considerations and decisions are the evidence on which you’ll be judged as to whether you’ve fulfilled your duties as a trustee. Read our top tips for trustees' meetings. 

There are many sayings about managing cash in a business – “cash is king” and “turnover is vanity; profit is sanity; cash is reality” to name but two. With many farms and estates diversifying their businesses, how can you be sure which part of the business is contributing to the cash inflow?

Making Tax Digital for Business (MTDfB) is a key part in the Government’s plan to modernise the tax system – it’s the biggest change in tax administration in decades. It will affect every business in the UK, including those with rental income, and will change the way that businesses keep their accounting records, report profits and interact with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

We recently launched the results of our annual tourism and leisure business survey, which cover all sorts of tourism related businesses in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex. This includes hotels, sport and leisure, museums, pubs and visitor attractions.

The decision of how much, when and what to invest in can be a challenging one for trustees. What are a trustee’s responsibilities when making financial investments? What do trustees need to consider?

Recent research found that only 25% of law firms believed they were in compliance with the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that comes into force on 25 May 2018. What should law firms be doing?

Our 2018 Tourism and Leisure Business Survey was again well supported this year and we would like to thank all of you who have participated in it and all those who have helped to promote it. Download our brochure to read the full results. 

On Sunday 15 April just under 2,000 runners took part in the Larking Gowen City of Norwich Half Marathon.  Fifteen teams entered the Business Challenge, an inter-company ‘best time’ competition held within the main race. Click here to find out the results...

Some 300 tourism businesses completed the Tourism and Leisure Business Survey, co-ordinated by Larking Gowen - Chartered Accountants and Business Advisors. The survey enables voices from Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex’s tourism sector to be heard. Read the results here

Read the spring 2018 issue of AISMA Doctor newsline  - at the heart of medical finance

In February the Government published a consultation document entitled “Health and harmony: the future for food, farming and the environment in a Green Brexit.” The document runs to 64 pages and sets out possible options for the future of UK farming over the next generation. It should be regarded as compulsory reading (The NFU have produced a more manageable 14-page summary).

At this time of year, we accountants are usually getting excited by the annual Budget, poring over the small print to make sure our clients aren’t paying too much tax, and hurriedly trying to put things in place before 5 April.

The Chancellor has changed things around and has issued the first Spring Statement. To be honest it’s been a bit of an anti-climax, being very much pushed down the agenda by the media. Whereas the Autumn Statement would give us some budgetary meat on the bone, now this will be restricted to the Autumn Budget.

Chartered accountants Larking Gowen have announced that they have joined Elmer’s Big Parade. The trail of 50 large and 100 small Elmers will hope to raise vital funds for St Elizabeth Hospice and arrives in Ipswich in 2019.

LLP’s have been around for some time now so it begs the question why Larking Gowen has chosen now to convert?

There are three main reasons, read more to find out why. 

As one tax tear ends and another begins, there are employment tax issues that employers need to be thinking about. My previous blog covered reporting requirements for employment related securities. In this blog, I’ll look at some changes in legislation.

I’m guessing that most people’s answer to this is no. However, if you don’t plan to receive your income in the most tax efficient manner, you may well end up paying more.

Whilst time is short to get things changed prior to 5 April 2018, a review now may save tax in 2018/2019.

In the lead-up to 5 April each year there are plenty of employment tax issues to be thinking about, both in relation to reporting requirements for the tax year now ending as well as the legislative changes going forward. One area that employers need to consider is that of employment related securities.

As many charities are facing increasing pressure on their traditional sources of income they need to be innovative in either finding new sources of income or different ways to operate more efficiently. Read our blog to see how working with other charities could help.

Larking Gowen are delighted to announce that their Tax Advisory Group have today been shortlisted for an award in the category of Best Tax Practice in a regional firm at this year’s national Tolley’s Taxation Awards.

Download our spring 2018 payroll bulletin, in which we highlight some of the current issues employers should be aware of, including:

• National Minimum Wage increases and compliance
• Automatic enrolment contribution increases
• GDPR – Are you ready?
• Payrolled benefits in kind
• Childcare vouchers

VAT is an increasingly complex tax, particularly in the motor trade where mistakes can be costly due to the high unit values involved. HMRC continue to target motor dealers using specially trained officers, so it’s always worth reviewing your VAT accounting.

With the spotlight on governance it’s easy to overlook the clerk, who can be a vital resource, supporting the effective functioning of the governing body. The voluntary nature of governance makes the role all the more important as it provides a vital link to administrative, organisational and advisory support; contributing to the efficiency, effectiveness, productivity and compliance of the governing body.

Download our regular newsletter for academies and free schools. In this edition we cover:

• 2017 accounts and timetable for upcoming submissions
• ESFA proposal to name and shame
• GDPR - trustee responsibilities
• Gender pay reporting deadline
• Warning as fraudsters target schools