Working capital is the amount of money that you have in your bank account compared to the amount of that you need to pay. If the money in your bank is more than the money that you need to pay you have a good working capital amount, if it is less then you will be having problems.

Is your finance function fit for purpose? Do you get all the information that you need to make informed decisions about your company? Do you have access to forecasts so you can see where your business will be in the next few months and what will be paid in taxes?

A business advisor is someone that you can engage to work with you and your company when you are looking to grow and make your company more efficient. They will work through with you a series of improvements that you need to make that will move your business forward.

Are you looking to grow your business? You need to look at the key numbers in your accounts to help you and to monitor your progress.

You may be wondering each month where all your money goes. You have a successful business but each month you face the same problem, your bank account is always running low. You never seem to have enough money to pay your bills and your taxes. It never seems to be enough.

A virtual finance director is a service offered by Pisces that they work as your own outsourced finance director. They do all the things that you would expect of a finance director.

Are you doing work that you are simply not getting paid for? Work that continually gets added to by your customers that you do and don’t invoice? Or when you do invoice them you struggle to get paid? The customer either objects and thinks it should be done for free or that you staff don’t realise it is work that you need to charge more for?

As we get to the end of the year its natural to see and compare we you were at the start of the year. Have you managed to move your business forward compared to last year? The answer is as always in the finances for your business

Why struggle to understand something that you can’t or never will? Give your business the best present this year and get a outsourced virtual finance team to manage all of your agency’s finances. Collect all your debt, know what you are spending, get paid for your work and get clarity in your finances..

Are you struggling to get your invoices paid? Are you sitting on a pile of unpaid invoices that is damaging your business? Do you see the money that you are owed not getting paid and is that affecting your ability to pay wages for you staff and to be able to grow your business?

Are you doing work that you are simply not getting paid for? Work that continually gets added to by your customers that you do and don’t invoice? Or when you do invoice them you struggle to get paid? The customer either objects and thinks it should be done for free or that you staff don’t realise it is work that you need to charge more for?

A director’s loan account is an account that deals with transactions between a director and their company. What this means is that if the director pays an expense on behalf of their company, the company owes them this money. The reverse can also happen, if the company pays an expense on behalf of the director they then owe the company this money.

Not having a clear understanding of that you need to earn each month to pay the bills will impact the profitability of your business. When you get clear on what you need to earn each month you can plan your team’s work each month. You can plan what they need to do and what work will need to be completed.

Unless you get a grip on your finances you will be more than likely losing money like a leaky bucket. All the hard work that you are putting in is going to waste because you are not seeing the benefit for it. You don’t know what you are owed by your customer and what you are spending each month on staff, bills and taxes.

To motivate your staff by involving them in your financial plans they need to see what they are buying in to. They need to be able to see what they need to do each week to meet their targets and what you expect from them each week. They will need to see part of the financial plans for your business. You need to have this in a way where you can explain the targets that you need to meet and how they fit in to it.

Do you struggle to understand the money that is coming from your bank account each week?  Do you hide behind the sofa when you check and see that you don’t understand how your bank balance can be that amount? It doesn’t make sense!

All business owners have the same issue, there are not enough hours in the day. There is not enough time to produce amazing creative work for your customers and to spend time growing your business. You don't have enough time to do both tasks at the same time. You need to choose between helping your clients or growing your business.

Almost always the source of these frustrations are financial. You don't know where your money is or how to understand it!

Whenever you speak to your accountant do you always feel that something is missing? That you are not getting the help that you need from them? That you are trapped in a cycle of not knowing what you are doing or where your business is?

For many businesses the reality is that they stay small and don’t grow beyond a certain point. This may be for a number of reasons it may be choice of the owner or it may be involuntary, the owner has big plans but they never come to fruition. The owner always trapped in the hope of one day I’ll get to where I want to be.

We all start our businesses for the same reason. To give ourselves a better life. To have more freedom, more time to enjoy our life and to have the money to do it. But somewhere along the way life takes over. We get busy with work and the reason why we started our business gets forgotten as we work long hours evenings and weekends trying to make our business successful.

Having too much money owed can also damage your business. This is cash that you need to have in your business and to be able to use to grow and expand. Having them money tied up by being outstanding form customer will stop you from investing in to your business and cost you money to finance your working capital for your day to day expenses.

As a creative agency owner, you will have quickly realised that you need help with your bookkeeping. You don’t have the knowledge to do this yourself and your staff aren’t accountants—they are creative people and struggle with anything finance-based. You need help from your accountants to manage your finances for you and get everything in place so you can concentrate on running your business.

There may be a time in the life of your limited company that you decide to close it. This may be for a number of reasons, you may want to retire, stop trading or your company is experiencing financial problems and you decide that you want to close it. This is never an easy decision to make and needs to be made with the agreement of the directors and shareholders of the company.

When you’ve decided to start your own business you will need to decide what legal structure you will use for your business. Will it be a limited company, limited liability partnership or a sole trader. Deciding on the legal structure you use will impact the amount that you pay in tax and national insurance and also the amount of risk that you have in the business.

Under the Pensions Act 2008 every employer has an obligation to put eligible members of their staff in a pension scheme and to make contributions into this. These obligations are called automatic enrollment.

The help to grow digital is part of the Government's Plan for Jobs scheme, to help the UK back to work and to recover from the effects that COVID-19 has had on the UK economy. The scheme is aimed at small to medium sized businesses looking to adopt digital technologies and software products to help make their business more efficient.

Because the benefit in kind tax is so low at the moment on electric cars it can make it attractive for owners of companies to make them available for their employees. The benefit in kind rate for pure electric cars are significantly lower than they are for petrol and diesel cars.

Invoice factoring is a way that you can get extra finance in your company. As a company you will have many ways to make sure that you can meet your working capital requirements. This is even more so now with finance marketplace’s like Capitalise where you can connect your accounts and search for finance that is suitable for your business.

The UK officially left the EU on the 1st of January 2021 and since then the vat rules for charging vat on goods and services to EU countries has changed slightly. The EU is now treated as being outside of the UK vat system.

A mission statement helps your business have a focus outside of the normal commercial world. It gives the business a greater relevance in the world that we live in. It is a statement to define how the company seeks to make the world a better place.