Insights

73% of businesses in East Anglia experienced growth in 2016, up from 66% of sampled businesses seeing growth in 2015. The outlook for 2017/18 remains optimistic, with 84% of respondents in the region predicting growth of some kind for their business and 22% expecting this growth to be in excess of 10%. 

The landscape for Independent Financial Advisors (IFAs) has changed in recent years and this has set the tone for an expected flurry of corporate transactions in the market

Trustees have a duty to safeguard charity assets and to make sure resources are used wisely. A good system of internal controls is key to this. Sound internal controls can reduce the risk of loss through theft, fraud, bad decisions or error.

At MHA Larking Gowen we have over 300 employees across nine locations and ensuring their mental wellbeing is a very important part of our core values. We are training managers to support staff and identify any issues that may arise in their day- to-day lives that affect their wellbeing.

Land, of any sort, is difficult to value. As accountants we are often required to value assets of one sort or another, and various tools have been developed to do so. However, none of these tools is particularly helpful when we look at agricultural land. Rental yield, when you take out some management costs, is miniscule, and there are many uncertainties, of which Brexit is only one.

We have seen some unusual political times over the last few years and these have produced uncertainties for the many small businesses that are the lifeblood of the UK economy. I have written recently about Making Tax Digital (MTD) and how this would have a significant impact for these small businesses, including those with rented properties.

The Criminal Finances Act has introduced a new corporate criminal offence of ‘failure to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion’. The offence is expected to be enforceable from September 2017.

Following the end of election purdah restrictions, the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) has issued its annual revision to the Academies Accounts Direction (AAD) 2016 to 2017, which will determine the format of accounts prepared by Academy Trusts for the year to 31 August 2017.

Communication with the outside world has never been more important. Making sure you successfully communicate what you are doing and the difference you make to your beneficiaries can mean the difference between future funding being awarded or not. 

You may have heard that the Government recently announced a new timetable for Making Tax Digital (MTD). Originally, the start date for many businesses was April 2018, however, they will now not be asked to keep digital records, or update HMRC quarterly, until at least 2020. This applies to all taxes except VAT.

Most landowners know exactly what the family owns, including the finer details of boundaries, tenancies and history. However, they may be less clear about exactly who owns which property and what’s on the business balance sheet. It’s not uncommon for someone to think they own land when in fact it’s still held in the names of grandparents’ executors, or for them to think it’s owned jointly with a spouse when that’s not the case.

The annual government report on agriculture has recently been issued. At 110 pages it is not easy reading, but it certainly sheds light on an industry which we, as accountants, normally only observe on a piecemeal basis.

Overall the Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) market is still very active within the SME space, and this trend looks set to continue even with Brexit progressing in the background. Deal activity in some sectors has seen a slight slowdown in volume compared to previous years, but those deals taking place are of a higher quality.

Recently the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) released a consultation on the new rule book and code of conduct, which currently sit at over 430 pages combined. The consultation closed on 30 September 2016. In June 2017, the SRA released the outcome of the consultation together with their take on the comments received. 

Independent schools face many challenges, not least the pressure on fees, rising parents’ expectations and the need to deliver public benefit. We have decades of experience working with independent schools in East Anglia and can help you with a full range of services.

MHA Larking Gowen has been running a trilogy of business breakfasts on the theme of ‘How to make business fun, fulfilling and financially rewarding in 2017’. In June we presented part 2: ‘Invest in yourself’, and I thought that I would share some of the presentation with you.

Each year thousands of UK businesses receive a visit from HMRC. The vast majority are made through official appointments. However, increasing numbers of businesses are finding HMRC are making unannounced visits. If this happens to you, it is very important to know your rights.

East Anglian firm, MHA Larking Gowen, launched its Wellbeing programme with a Wellbeing week across the firm’s nine offices. The Wellbeing Programme has been introduced to support employees to achieve positive health and wellbeing in their work and personal lives. A range of activities, information, benefits and sources of support were available to promote physical, mental, social, community, financial and career wellbeing and employees were encouraged to participate in as many as they wished.

Data protection has always been considered a key concern for big business. High profile data breaches in recent years highlight the scale on which data is now gathered and the risks inherent with collection of data en masse.

When business owners are reviewing their exit options, the route of an MBO is often overlooked. However, having a strong management team in place not only provides short-term benefits of reducing reliance on business owners and allowing them more free time.

You’ve started your business, you’ve perfected your offering, now all you need to do is find someone to buy from you. Social media is an effective way to promote yourself, so why bother to network?

For the second year, chartered accountants and business advisors MHA Larking Gowen, as part of the MHA motor specialist advisory team, has conducted a study to understand more about the issues and challenges that dealerships face. 

The fifth MHA Legal Benchmarking Survey has recently been published. This year has been a positive one for most sizes of legal firms but they must make sure that they are profitable and efficient to stay competitive.

Charity trustees have well known duties of stewardship, which means ensuring that resources are used for charitable purposes and are not put at risk unnecessarily. There is also, of course, a duty to use them effectively.

Get to know our team better! Every few months we will bring you a snapshot of one of our team members. This month we feature Corporate Finance Manager, Kate Baines.

Paul’s Cycles Limited sell a range of bikes both online and instore to the general public. Established over 25 years ago and specialising in offering high quality bike brands at competitive prices, the business has grown considerably following the introduction of mail order and online sales services.

Now that we are in the new financial year it is perhaps a good time to consider the financial state of the agricultural industry in the UK. “Fragile” is a good word to start the assessment. Commodity prices have picked up over the last six months, but much of this is simply a currency movement following the Brexit vote and even so there is still relatively little margin when wheat stands at under £140 for harvest.

February marked the 75th anniversary of American troops arriving in the UK during the Second World War. The arrival of thousands of American personnel to the east of England changed the region forever. By 1943 there were more than 100,000 US airman based in Britain, mainly in East Anglia.

The major regional independent chartered accounting partnership and one of the UK’s top 40 accountancy firms, MHA Larking Gowen has this month announced a great result supporting two of the UK’s leading charities, CLIC Sargent and Alzheimer’s Society.

The New Wolsey Theatre are pleased to confirm that MHA Larking Gowen are to continue supporting the theatre’s busy Creative Learning department in their delivery of outreach, community and schools work and have now committed to supporting the theatre for the next 3 years.