Simon Healey

Many businesses stick with their accountants if they think they're doing a good job. But what if there are unseen issues, especially with HMRC? Incorrect figures, unexpected taxes, and unresolved arrears can trigger the need for a change. If you're facing challenges or just want a second opinion, leave a comment or send me a message. #Business #Accounting #Startup

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Today's market for interim ACA accountants in the UK is looking better. Looking at the current landscape, there's good news for interim ACA accountants. The demand for temporary financial expertise has seen a rise, driven by businesses needing flexibility, especially during periods of economic uncertainty. Interim roles offer a practical solution for companies looking to adapt quickly without long-term commitments. What's noteworthy is the range of opportunities. Whether it's managing year-end accounts or overseeing financial restructuring, interim ACA accountants are playing important roles across sectors. There's a significant need for these skills, particularly in helping companies stay compliant and financially sound. Plus, many businesses appreciate the fresh perspectives interim professionals bring. If you're an ACA looking for interim opportunities, the market has potential right now. Companies are keen to leverage your skills and experience. Why not explore new challenges and make a real impact where it's needed most? #findyourforte #accounting #careeropportunities

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THE IMPACT OF COMMUNITY The most challenging thing about branching out to become a fractional CFO for me has been the lack of community. I started doing this back in 2019 when: ❌ The term fractional hadn’t even hit the shores of the UK, ❌ Recruitment consultants looked at me blankly when I said part-time, and ❌ Remote work was not yet trendy because Corona was still only a beer and not linked to the pandemic we now refer to as COVID There was no community of fractional CFO. I had no support from people in the same profession as me, doing the same thing. But… before you feel bad for me, don’t worry - I was never alone. I have always been blessed with a huge community of entrepreneurs, founders, out-of-the-box thinkers. And it was them that helped me bring my business to life because they are my customers. Yet, there was still a missing element And that was a community ✔ A community I could ask questions and learn from ✔ A community that understood the challenges of balancing serving clients while generating client leads ✔ A community where we could share case studies about specific client wins ✔ A community to develop technology solutions with The good news story is, that gap has been filled!!! I am so grateful to Lisa Collins of Tenzing Search, for inviting me to her fractional CFO community and for hosting a wonderful event yesterday evening in London. An absolute pleasure to meet everyone there and to learn more about the existing P/E landscape from Chris Baker. Look forward to connecting with everyone more and learning from each other! #fractionalcfo #community #learninganddevelopment ______________ I'm Karen — I help CEOs and founders understand their numbers so they can make the business decisions that truly matter. Follow me for more business financial tips.

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Another role registered with Aila Recruitment | Certified B Corporation® this week. 🚀 This time it’s a £90,000 Finance Manager role in a FTSE Software Firm in Central London. ⭐️ Are you a technically strong ACA/ACCA Accountant? ⭐️ Have you worked in a Reporting/ Controls role? ⭐️ Is that in a SaaS or Financial Services? 👇🏻 Hear more about it in this short video below 👇🏻📹 #recruitment #financerecruitment

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"I find it fascinating and slightly worrying" — a reaction from one of our early adopters after a recent demo of Briefcase 💼 And it's not the first time I've heard it. Seeing AI handle complex bookkeeping tasks like categorisation and VAT (even picking up those pesky reverse charge transactions) can make anyone think, 'Is it taking over my job?' 🤔 Even if it feels like AI isn't quite there yet, the pace of development suggests it soon will be. So, what does this mean for bookkeepers and accountants? Here's my take — we'll need even more of them Back in 1979, when VisiCalc (the first spreadsheet) came out, people feared that it would replace accounting jobs, yet the number of accountants grew from 340,000 in 1980 to over 1.4 million today. 📈 It's a phenomenon called Jevon's Paradox: making a service more efficient increases demand for it and results in even more consumption. When bookkeeping becomes faster and more efficient, more businesses will want monthly reporting, and demand for skilled management accountants will increase. AI isn’t replacing accountants — but it is changing the role and unlocking the next era of high skilled advisory services. The bar is constantly rising; the role of AI is to help accountants stay ahead of the curve. Do you agree? 👇 💬

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Exits I joined a call the other day with a group of accountants and Liquidation Practitioners, who where discussing the current situation in the UK's SME world. Much of what we anticipated was going to happen when the flurry of covid loans were being dolled out, to all who fearlessly asked for them, has started coming to fruition. Money has gone from being free, to a very rare and expensive commodity for many of the smaller entities in the UK. This coming at a time when customers are feeling the pinch and stalling payments, creating a perfect storm of business failures. For many small business owners who are living from hand to mouth in this era of constantly rising costs and taxes, there seems to be little hope. The banks who they have trusted to keep their money safe for years and who, a few short years ago were clamouring over themselves to offer loans, are nowhere to be seen or heard. If you need a loan now and want to speak to a bank manager, you are probably going to struggle to get hold of anyone. Most of the high street banks have outsourced their Client manager functions to faceless AI bots, and left many a business owner with very few options for funding their struggling businesses. The Liquidators I have spoken to recently are indicating that things are starting to pick up in their industry, but it is not the tsunami that we are expecting - yet. The thing is, financial woes are not the only issue that cause business failure, or untimely exits, divorce, discontentment, death and disease can play a nasty role in causing problems for your retirement plans. But how about Unrealistic Expectations on the value of your business. Many owners believe that the blood, sweat, tears and sacrifice they had sown into their business for years has a price way higher than a reasonable buyer is willing to pay for it. So as a result, their ideas of a comfortable retirement are dashed, as they are confronted with retirement funds which are significantly less than they need for the remainder of their time on this mortal coil. Managing your expectations as well as those of your loved-ones is critical when planning the exit from your business. So where is the silver-lining in all this? There are a few things you can do as a business owner to give yourself a chance at a beneficial exit. Here are a couple of things to think about: - Know your business value now - Know your number (how much money do you need to fund the lifestyle you desire when you sell up) - Know what you are going to do when you have exited (there is little point in exiting to spend time travelling in a motorhome if you have never tried a holiday in a motorhome.) - Know how dependent your business is on you - Have a plan to extract yourself from your business, while still having the business create value for its stakeholders If this has sparked an cord of concern or interest for you, feel free to DM me and we can explore this further for your business. Until then, Be blessed

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#DearBusinessLeader, your budgets can be a useful and reliable tool for navigating financial decisions more comfortably. Looking forward to showing you how on December 17th! Secure a spot for yourself and/or your accounting team ⬇️⬇️⬇️

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Last week, our Head of Contractor Accounting, James Shaw, caught up with The Guardian to discuss how accountants can support freelancers and sole traders.   “Hiring an accountant allows you to focus on running your business while they take care of the complex, time-consuming details.”   You can check out the full article below 👇 https://lnkd.in/ePEp_gqq

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It no longer makes sense to hire internally in the UK. It comes as no surprise that fractional outsourced departments such as what we offer at Innovate Accountancy are becoming more and more of a number 1 choice. Look at it this way. With the new National Minimum Wage increasing to £24,126 PLUS associated costs of pensions/ ER NI etc it really does stand to put pressure on SME's. Let's put this into perspective. One full time Accounts assistant costs £29 723 per year plus associated costs. For the SAME monthly cost to employer (Average £3500pcm) with outsourcing you can have access to a TEAM. - Bookkeeper/ Payroll Tech - Tax accountant - Management Accountant - VAT specialist - CIS Specialist - Fractional FD No holiday or sickness cover required. No micromanagement. Fixed retainers - not driven by budget increases. 50 weeks of the year. Join the new wave of business exploring innovative ways to mitigate new cost increases. When you have a plan - you can overcome any obstacles thrown at you. I have spaces left to discuss how outsourcing to our UK based team could work for your business. Book below. ----- 👋 Hi, Im Zoe Goodchild and I am here to support construction and manufacturing business owners like YOU in systemising their finance function to unlock precious time, drive better business growth, and gain crystal-clear insights into your cashflow. 💥 My mission is to give business owners their time back, to focus on what truly matters to you! 💷 To implement SYSTEMS that save you £££'s on hiring in house finance teams - Drop me a DM! Innovate Accountancy #financefunction #efficiency #profitability #growth #ambitiousentrepreneur #sme #businessgrowthstrategies #construction #manufacturing #outsourcedaccounting 

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By involving your accountant early in the decision-making process, you can: · Optimise Tax Planning · Navigate Regulatory Changes · Support Business Growth · Manage Cash flow Efficiently · Avoid Costly Mistakes In short, proactive advice from an accountant not only helps you stay on top of your finances but also allows you to make better business decisions, maximise savings, and avoid unnecessary stress. The earlier you involve your accountant, the more time they have to guide you effectively. Need help with your accountancy? Get in touch today!

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🌊🌊🌊 3 top tips for anyone starting out as a bookkeeper. This weekend, I'm working my way through some of the nominations for this year's LUCA Awards. For anyone that doesn't know, they are the Oscars of the Bookkeeping world and are presented to the very deserving winners at the ICB UK (Institute of Certified Bookkeepers) Awards Dinner in November. I am so excited to be a guest judge this year, and it's wonderful to read all the amazing ways bookkeepers are helping and supporting businesses in the UK to thrive. Every business owner deserves to have a good bookkeeper supporting them and I am currently reading the nominations from the best of the bunch! So what would my 3 top tips be for anyone starting out? 🌊 Systemise everything! You might only be you in your business, but if you write down all your systems and processes now, before you get too busy, you will be future proofing your practice. So get those emails templated out, write down your workflows and decide what extra touch points are going to make your business special. 🌊 Pricing! Get your pricing sorted out right at the beginning. Personally, I advocate using fixed prices. Why should you get paid less because you've become better at the job and more efficient? Come to that, why should your client pay more just because you're having a bad day? Make sure you include enough margin in your pricing to cover things such as attending events and keeping your CPD up to date. 🌊 Get your branding sorted. It's more than just a name and a logo, it's your story, it's what makes you unique. It can really help with your social media and marketing too. You can find out more about how I've developed my brand by joining my webinar that's part of FreeAgent Bookkeepers Boost Week on October 10th. Applying for a LUCA Award may seem like a distant dream to you at the moment, but we all started out somewhere. I certainly never thought I'd be a judge! So start building your brand, nail your processes and have confidence in your abilities to start charging what you're worth. Who knows where it might lead! 🌊 So what would your top three tips be to anyone starting out? 📷 by Lisa Farrall taken on her recent workation. One of our core brand values is flexibility 😊🏖️ If you see me a Summit, come and say hi 🤗

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Does your accountants' manifesto say they are tech-focussed and use products like Xero and Dext? (Other products of the green variety available for use) Trying to be topical on election eve! But, much like our politicians, when the receipts meet the general ledger, things don't quite work out as expected. I would say far too frequently that we spend so much time tidying and making changes in the first few weeks of working together to ensure the financial function runs efficiently and, importantly, is not months out of date. - Opening balances being posted the day after the year-end - Balance sheets not matching to filed accounts - Bank accounts not checked correctly to bank statements, unreconciled transactions left in purgatory for years. - Fixed assets never moved to the balance sheet nor depreciation run in the ledger - in-consistent coding of suppliers never checked or reviewed - Incorrect use of VAT codes meaning Boxes 6 & 7 aren't accurate (Tell me you are an accounting nerd, without telling me you are accounting nerd 🤓) - VAT threshold checks, if on schemes, or if not registered - Lock dates never used etc.... If you use cloud products exactly like you used to with manual, outdated desktop products, I hate to break it to you; you are doing it wrong.

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The volume of CFO vacancies on-market or off-market is gradually increasing. Executive churn is on the rise. CFOs are moving - why? - In some cases, equity may be under water. - They may being replaced (CFOs often are those who suffer if a PE asset isn't performing) - Growth / Optimism: deal flow has seen a slight up tick, resulting in new positions being created. - Restructuring: CFOs with restructuring skills are in demand within struggling assets. I was speaking to an experienced CFO today about the PE market. They said it's a tricky dynamic. When selecting a role, you're putting all your eggs in one basket, hoping the business you choose reaches the exit they desire. Whilst an experienced CFO with multiple exits under their belt can afford to take a risk or for one cycle to not reach the successful conclusion throughout a challenging market, it's so important to make the right choice if you're looking at your first CFO role... As a CFO, it's important to really build your personal scorecard and that first CFO position carries a lot of weight when you look at your next role. Do... - Get to know the team really well. This is so critical. Are they good people? - Dive deep into the realism of the investment thesis. - Move laterally on comp. This first CFO role shouldn't be about cash. - Explore opportunities in a less glamorous / less preferential industry to prove yourself in the CFO seat. Don't... - Take a hugely risky role just to become a CFO. Patience is key! - Work with leaders you don't rate just because of the CFO title. - Believe figures without seeing the numbers yourselves. - Take a role because it is the best paying position you can find. Any thoughts? Camino Search

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😵 Staggering how many companies are formed annually. Great for accountants😄, but this puts pressure on resources in the industry and yet again pushes up the cost of the commodity which is accountant time...🤨 When will software come in and reset the industry? https://lnkd.in/gaM67Y3X #accounting #company #business #finance

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Reward card schemes are gaining attention, but all that glitters is not gold, especially regarding tax clearance. At RJF, clients often ask us about these, and our stance is clear: if there's no explicit HMRC approval, it's best to avoid it. Got questions about a scheme you've encountered? Leave a comment or send me a message. #Business #Startup #LeanStartups

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VC funded Jenesys AI is creating a really interesting application of AI to (a) automate some of the basic input work of capturing invoice detail (which many basic accounting systems are not great at) and (b) adding a level of automated variance analysis. If it works in practice, this could definitely help keep admin costs down in an accounting department (although it appears for now that the product is being primarily marketed to book-keeping firms). Has anyone come across any similar AI tools that take a step beyond the normal accounting system functionality? The accounting system vendors might have to up their game going forward. Looks like Jenesys AI recently raised $1.1m of pre-seed funding from 4 VC firms to create this offering. Like Xero, they seem to be focussing on using book-keepers as their starting client base. From what I can see as an accounting system, Xero is very similar to the entry level offerings from other accounting system vendors, but they have been hugely successful in incentivising book-keepers to put their clients' books on the system (e.g. offering commissions on annual fees, an integrated advisor view of all their clients, etc.). Like many other successful software firms Xero have focussed their own efforts on creating a basic core platform, whilst encouraging partner firms to create (and compete on) a wide variety of add-ons. EG Expensify is a tool for tracking employee expenses that can be added into Xero, or several other accounting packages (thus spreading the costs over a wider client base). #Xero #AI #CFO

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I'm late with this week's Xero post, but here goes: Changes to Xero invoicing. On 1 September at 10pm BST, all invoicing users will automatically default to the new version each time they log into Xero. You will be notified at the time and introduced to the new version of invoicing prior to 1 September when you create an invoice to gradually get familiar with the new experience. Xero have extended the availability of classic invoicing, so users can choose to switch back to it until 19 November at 8pm GMT. Since January, a number of features have been added to the new version of invoicing, including: - being able to attach files from Xero’s file library to your invoice - the ability to view detailed history and notes, including when the email was first sent and the email address the invoice was sent to - improvements to the layout, designed to make it easier to navigate and tab through fields - new features like an improved invoice send experience which includes a live side-by-side email preview and new CC and BCC functions   A comprehensive list of all new invoicing updates including many more features which have already been released, information on what features are yet to come before classic invoicing is retired, and how the two versions will compare is available on Xero Central. #xero #XeroAdvisor

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