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News & Articles

Profit & Loss Basics

28/7/2021

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The Profit & Loss Statement (also known as the Income Statement) is one of the three key financial statements for your business, along with the Balance Sheet and the Cash Flow Forecast. Individually & collectively, these statements provide important insights into the health or your business and inform decision makers with the information needed to drive positive change, such as increasing profits and operational efficiency whilst maintaining quality and ethics.  

Let’s dive in and look a little deeper into what the Profit and Loss Statement is, and how to produce & and use it.

What is a Profit & Loss?

A Profit & Loss Statement (P&L) shows the total of your business’s Income (money coming into your business) & Expenses (Cost of Sales & Operating Costs) (money that relates to your core business operations going out) over a set period of time, whether monthly, quarterly or annually. At its core, the purpose of the P&L is to reveal whether or not your business is making money, as well as providing insights into the financial effectiveness of your business operations and overall health of your business. It differs from the Balance Sheet in that it reports on different financial activity types; this is why the different financial statements can be used collectively to build a full picture of your business. 
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In the world of accountancy there is a “P&L Formula”, which looks a little something like this:
Revenue - Expenses = Profits or Losses  

An example Profit & Loss Statement is provided below:
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​How to create a Profit & Loss

Accounting Software
As with the balance sheet, all figures that appear on your P&L are fed through from all of your day-to-day double entry bookkeeping transactions, and therefore if you’re using an electronic accounting software, your P&L is very quick and simple to create.

For instance, using the Xero accounting package, the process looks like this:
  • Go to Reports - then, Profit and Loss
  • Set the date range (the time period for your P&L)
  • You can select comparison period/s to identify trends in your data (this is an optional step) 
  • To customise the report, further optional items include:
    • Accounting Basis - either Accrual or Cash
    • Show account codes
    • Show decimals
    • Show percentage of trading income 
  • Click Update

It can be a very simple process.

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Manual Approach
A manual approach will require you to pull together the key information from your prime bookkeeping records, and outline them in the suggested structure here, or via other online sources. You can build the P&L using a spreadsheet or by hand - either way, the following elements should be included:

INCOME
A summary of all of your business income generated from sales within the time period. This may come from different revenue streams, such as products, services, resells or other sources, and all should be detailed on your P&L. 

LESS COST OF SALES
This section outlines all of the costs attributed to the production or sale of your business’s products or services. This may include raw materials, manufacturing costs or product purchases for resell. 

GROSS PROFIT
Your Gross Profit can be calculated by deducting your Cost of Sales from your Net Income. 

LESS OPERATING EXPENSES
A summary of all expenditure that relates to running your business, including rent & utility costs, payroll, hardware, advertising, etc. 

NET PROFIT 

Your Net Profit can be calculated by deducting your Gross Profit from your total Operating Expenses. This is known as your bottom line, and shows the financial result of your efforts for the time period, before tax.

How to use a Profit & Loss

Business owners can analyse their Profit and Loss Statements, and identify trends in their data over time to understand what actions they can take within their business to increase operating efficiency and drive profits. 

The P&L holds the “Top & bottom line”, which literally means the top line of the statement, which holds the Total Revenue for the time period, and the bottom line of the statement, which reveals the Net Profit (The example above can be used for visual reference). The bottom line, net profit, shows whether your business is generating profit or losing money.

The statement can also show your;
  • Gross Margin - The return you generate on business sales, taking into account the costs that goes into generating them, e.g. raw materials, manufacturing, etc. 
  • Operating Margin - The profit generated after the costs of goods and the spend that goes into the day-to-day operations of your business. The higher the operating margin, the healthier your business is. 

A review of your monthly P&Ls over an annual period may reveal trends in the numbers, such as:
  • A reduction in sales over time but an increase in profits - upon further investigation, it may be clear that you’ve gradually refined your operating expenditure to maximise profits. You’ve decided that a slight increase in your marketing budget may improve revenue & profits over the following period. 
  • An increase in sales but a continual overall loss on the bottom line - A deeper dive into the figures may show that your operating costs are far too high and an immediate cut to any unnecessary spending is of vital importance to bring the business back into profit. 


We hope that this has provided some useful insights into producing and using a Profit and Loss Statement. Stay tuned for the final article in the financial statement series, Cash Flow Forecast Basics.

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Balance Sheet Basics

20/6/2021

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The Balance Sheet is one of three key financial statements for your business, along with the Profit & Loss Statement and the Cash Flow Forecast. Together these statements provide insight into your business’ robustness and financial sustainability, as well as it’s potential for growth. Whilst these reports should be used collectively, we’d like to dedicate the next few articles to go a little more in depth into each one, starting here with the balance sheet. ​

What is a balance sheet?

A Balance Sheet is a snapshot of all of your business’s Assets (what your business owns), Liabilities (what your business owes) and Shareholders’ Equity (Your business’s long-term investments), at a specific point in time. This is unlike the Profit and Loss Statement, which shows different data pertaining to your business’s level of profitability or the lack thereof, and accounts for all activity within a period of time.  

In the world of accountancy there is a “Balance Sheet Equation”, which looks a little something like this:
Assets = Liabilities + Shareholders’ Equity 
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And this forms the basis and structure of the balance sheet, which is made up of two columns, the totals of which must equate to the same value. For example:
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The balance sheet is appropriately named because an entry on one side will create a subsequent entry on the other, which results in both columns balancing. For example - a business owner takes out a loan of £50,000. This increases his business liabilities by this amount, whilst simultaneously also increasing his cash assets by £50,000, and therefore leaving the two columns in symmetry. ​

How to create a balance sheet

Accounting Software
​All figures that appear on the balance sheet, as well as the other financial statements, are fed through from all of your day-to-day double entry bookkeeping transactions. This means that if you’re using an electronic accounting software, your balance sheet can be created with a tap of a few buttons, as the report is built into the software package and uses data stored in it’s database to populate it. 

For instance, using the Xero accounting package, the process looks like this:
  • Go to Reports - then, Balance Sheet
  • Make selections for the following data fields: ​
            >  Balance Date: The point in time, in which you'd like to view your balance sheet
            >  Compare to: Which previous period you’d like to compare the current balance sheet with (this 
                 will typically be the last month)

            >  Compare Periods: How many previous periods would you like to compare with this one (For
                 example, if just the previous month, then “Previous 1 Period”
  • Hit the "Update" button. 

It can be that simple! 

Manual Approach
If however you’re using more manual methods, then you’ll need to build them from your prime bookkeeping records, and use the structure as suggested here, or via other online resources. You can build the balance sheet using a spreadsheet or by hand, but a spreadsheet would be the most cost-effective of the two.

Include the following elements in your balance sheet:

​ASSETS
  • Current Assets - These are ​assets that can be easily converted into cash, and includes cash itself. Accounts Receivables may be included - this is the money that is owed to your business for its goods or services, as well as Inventory - the products you have available to sell, or the raw materials that are used to create your products. 
  • Non-Current Assets - These are assets that aren’t so easily converted into cash, and tend to include equipment, patents and land.

LIABILITIES
  • Current Liabilities - These are​ the short-term debts that your business holds - debts that are due to be paid in the near future. Accounts Payable may be included - this is the money the company owes to others for their goods or services, or the current portion of a long-term debt. 
  • Long-Term Liabilities - These are the long-term debts that your business owes, such as a 5-year bank loan.

SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY
This is the initial amount of money invested in the business by its owners or external investors, as well as
Reserves, such as  business profits accumulated over the years.

How to use a balance sheet

Whilst the balance sheet provides key information on it’s own, it should ideally be used alongside the other financial statements to provide a full and clear vision of the business’s current financial health and operational efficiency. At a quick glance, the balance sheet alone offers insight into your business’s net worth, how liquid it is - how able your business is to cover its short-term obligations, and how indebted it is. This information can then be used to assist the decision process for investors and lenders, in accepting a financing application from your business.

Here are a few pointers on how a balance sheet can be used.

Balance Sheet Comparison
​A balance sheet can be compared with previous balance sheets to identify trends in the data that may only be visible over a longer period of time.  It can also be compared with the balance sheets from other businesses within the same market. Here are a few examples of trends you might identify:
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  • An increase in the money owed to you from your clients could indicate a growth in sales, or on the other hand, a need to tighten up controls to bring in payments.
  • An increase in your stock could indicate an increase in trading, or that you have raw materials and products sitting in warehouses not being sold. 
  • No increase in assets might have you question if your equipment is up to the appropriate standard to maintain your operational effectiveness, enabling your workforce to provide great outputs.
  • You can discover if your business funding structure is typical of your competitors, or if it could be more efficient by finding cheaper sources of finance. ​

​Financial Ratio Analysis
Business owners, investors and lenders can use a variety of ratio equations, referred to as “Ratio Analysis” to deduce key information about the business from the business’s financial statements. Whilst the term itself can seem daunting for many, in particular new business owners or financial novices, the equations themselves are relatively simple and straightforward to apply. 

There are a wide variety of financial ratios, and often they are used alongside others to show a more rounded story of your business. Here are a few that are specifically associated with the balance sheet to get you started:

  • Debt to Equity Ratio: Can be used to shed light on the financial health of your business. Typically, it’s desirable to have a low debt to equity ratio. 

            The equation is: 
            Total Liabilities / Total Shareholders’ Equity

  • Working Capital Ratio: Shows your business’s operational efficiency and short-term financial health.

             The equation is:
             Current Assets / Current Liabilities 

  • Quick Ratio: Indicates the business’s capacity to pay its short-term liabilities without having to sell its inventory or obtain additional funding.  

            The equation is: 
            Current Assets - Inventory / Current Liabilities 


All of these metrics are known as “Financial Strength Ratios”, because they show the financial strength of your business. 

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We hope this has helped to demystify the balance sheet somewhat. Stay tuned for our next article on the Profit and Loss Statement.

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6 steps to creating a business budget

22/5/2021

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Before we get into things, let’s first take a look at what a business budget is and why it’s essential to start creating one.

What is a business budget?

Budgeting is an essential part of business planning. It empowers business owners with full insight into their current financial situation and what actions they need to take to meet their short and long term financial goals. A business budget outlines all of your anticipated income and expenditure, as well as your profitability, over a defined time period - whether monthly, quarterly and/or annually. 
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With a detailed roadmap like this, you’ll be able to identify where to cut unnecessary spend, and where to refocus your money to have the most beneficial impact on your business. A budget will help you take control of your business finances and make faster, better-informed decisions on how to tackle potential future challenges and grow your business. 

Whilst it’s common for new and small business owners to put off building their budget, the sooner you get started, the sooner you can start guiding your business towards financial success and scalability. 

Ready? Let’s get down to business!
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6 steps to creating a business budget

1. Prepare yourself
The first step is to prepare.

Decide upon a system: What will you use to build your budget - are you already subscribed to a financial accounting software, such as Xero, that’s suited to the purpose? If not, a spreadsheet is likely to be the best solution to get started. 

Set up the chosen system for your budget, allowing space to map out each of the elements outlined in steps 2-5 below, and set an appropriate timeframe that makes sense for your business. This can be monthly, quarterly or annually, or could track all three in one budget plan - either way, keep in mind that for maximum impact, your budget will be reviewed and updated on a monthly basis, comparing your plan with your real life results, and adjusting it as appropriate.

Gather your data: Next, pull together all of the financial statements and reports you’ll need to outline your expected income, expenditure and profit for your chosen timeframe. ​

Take Action: Regardless of how long you’ve been trading, how much information you have available to you about your business finances, or what you know about budgeting - get started! Take action from whatever position you’re currently in, and the clouds of mystery will start to evaporate.


2- Outline your estimated income
Begin to map out your estimated income - how much revenue you expect to receive within the defined timeframe - and from where. The sales information on your Profit and Loss statement, and your sales pipeline is a great place to start. Then consider what other sources of income you may have in the upcoming period that may not yet have been accounted for, and outline them on your budget plan. Total all of your expected income for the period.

If you’re just starting out, why not begin by setting some sales targets that are reflective of your existing business situation, then work out your expected income based on these, alongside the cost of your products and services.


3- Outline your fixed expenditure
Next your fixed expenditure - this is your regular outgoings that will show up on your statement month after month, and are generally the same amount each time. It may include items such as rent and service costs. Your bank statements and accounting reports can help you work out all expenditure for your business, but don’t forget to consider any new contracts you’ve signed, or wish to sign in the upcoming period, that will result in new ongoing fixed costs. All of these will be outlined in this section of your budget. ​


4- Outline your variable expenditure
Variable expenditure is different from fixed - it is the expenditure that varies in amount from month to month, based on your business needs and activity. It may include utility bills, printing costs and office supplies. Total all variable expenditure for the timeframe.  
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5- Outline your one-off expenditure
Outline your one-off expenditure - these are the spends you don’t make very often, and sometimes pop up unexpectedly. They may include repairs or new equipment costs. Total all of your one-off expenditure for the period.


6- Calculate your profitability 
Now that you’ve mapped out all of your expected income and expenditure within your budget plan and have calculated the totals for each area, you can calculate your profitability. To do this simply compare your total income with your total expenditure - this will reveal your profit for the defined time period.


Now that you’ve built your budget plan, you have all the insight you need to start making some highly impactful financial decisions for your business, and keep the rest of your team on track. 

Click here to book a working session with Pyramis Solutions. We can help you build a budget that’s tailored to your business or offer valuable insight into how to make the most out of your current plan. 
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finance professionals: who they are, what they do and how they can help your business.

29/3/2021

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Whether you have been in business for some time or are just starting out, I am sure you have wondered about all the various financial roles out there and what would be right for your business.

Finance Professionals are wide ranging and finding the right type of professional for the task at hand is important in getting the best result, so read on for our brief guide into the different roles and services provided:

Book-keeper
At some point you may want a book-keeper in your business, even as a sole trader this support can be valuable. A bookkeeper is a data-entry professional, whose primary role is to make and maintain your accurate business records. The data collated by a bookkeeper is often used by business owners and accountants to make financial decisions and can be provided to your accountant.

Financial Accountant
Unless you love doing your own tax returns, you will want an accountant. The bigger your business gets the more important it is to have someone who really knows what they are doing on the job.
They maintain your financial accountability; and oversee areas like payroll, taxes, and spending. They can also provide reports to management and investigate any financial discrepancies that may arise.

Management Accountant
If you become a LTD company, then you will want a Management accountant. They work for public companies, private businesses, and government agencies and look after the day-to-day accounts. Their duties include recording and crunching numbers, helping to choose and manage company investments, risk management, budgeting, planning, strategising, and decision making. They are normally a key part of a business.

Financial Manager/Controller/Director
Larger companies will have a Financial Manager or Director. They work with the management team to plan, organise, direct and co-ordinate financial information and advise on company financial policy.

Tax Specialist
A Tax Specialist focuses solely on tax planning and compliance. They can advise clients on ways to reduce their tax bills, or prepare and submit tax return forms.

Auditors
An auditor is trained to carry out an audit which is “independent examination of financial information of any business or organisation.”  Larger companies are required to have their accounts audited, however this is not usually required by small companies.

Companies of any size can be investigated by HMRC, for example if a discrepancy arises in your tax affairs. This is not a statutory accounts audit, and your tax specialist or financial accountant can usually help you through this process.

Insolvency Specialist
An Insolvency Specialist is someone who is licensed and authorised to act in relation to an insolvent individual, partnership or company. Most are accountants or insolvency specialists working in firms of accountants. You will only need one of these if your business cannot pay it’s debts ie you have more liabilities than assets on the balance sheet, or if you’re looking to wind up a company. Sometimes it can be useful to consult an insolvency practitioner if your business is encountering difficulties and you want to look at options for recovery.

Mergers & Acquisitions Specialists
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) is a term that refers to the management, financing, and strategy involved with buying, selling, and merging companies. The M&A Specialist will assist with the deal negotiations and help manage the entire process from a tax perspective.

Banking & Financing 
As we all know, Banking and Finance is the world of money, shares, credit and investments. Financial markets are very important, and understanding the pricing of assets and derivative securities is vital. Financial intermediaries such as banks are key players in these financial markets.
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Investment Specialists
An investment specialist represents the fund manager when speaking to clients, they can explain what is happening in the fund: ie where the manager is investing and why.

So how do you know what support you need for your business?
For most sole traders, you would just need a low maintenance bookkeeper and accountant, someone to keep everything up to date and prepare at end-of-year off your records and file statutory commitments.

If you want a more supportive professional, who is available to discuss, train and explain what you need and occasionally check in with you regarding your numbers then look to work with an accountant who actively supports you through the year.

If your business is expanding and growing, you may need extra support from someone who is more involved in your business. Depending on your comfort level with the finances this might be through your financial accountant, or by using additional management accounting services.  Look for someone who can actively review accounts throughout the year, share information or updates as they arise that may affect you, and share ways to improve your books. The aim is to help you plan the coming years strategy as things change in your business.

Pyramis Solutions - Your Outsourced Financial Department 

At Pyramis Solutions, our services are designed to feel like your internal team, offering the support and practicality of having a book-keeper, management accountant and Financial Director/Controller in your business.  Our aim is to help get the full financial management coverage in one handy service, from getting the numbers in order, having reporting that helps you make decisions with them and then utilising this to plan ahead, future proofing your business as well as you can.

We also bend and flex as the business changes, utilising the right people at the right time to work closely with you, that way you have the whole team available and no further recruitment or training needed when you grow.

To top it off, with our Pyramis Accountancy service, we also can help with the compliance and statutory work, again taking the proactive approach to your accounting, perfect for those that want a closer look throughout the year.

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How do you stay on top of your business as it expands?

10/3/2021

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Your business is growing, you have realised you can no longer do it all, so you get others in to help you out as your team expands.

You can let go of some responsibilities, but how do you stay on top of all the moving parts?

How do you know how things really are in your business and how do you measure the success when you are not in the day-to-day?

​As our team is developing, so are the workflows in each department, with independent functions and projects happening all the time.

This can be a hard shift for a business owner to navigate as they take on balancing delegation with leadership and supporting without micromanaging. Then there is the setting up of workflows and reporting so the leader can truly step back from the ‘doing’.


My chief love is working with my clients and working with my team. I have happily started letting go of some areas of the business, which are taken care of by much more capable hands than mine. But with this step back, I could lose sight of the day-to-day.


So, how does a business owner manage all of that?


Something we are working on at the moment is how we track activity, progress and results at Pyramis Solutions. 

With team members taking on more autonomy and control for their areas of responsibility and to avoid ending up in endless ‘update’ meetings or writing/reading dry reports, I wanted a lightweight system that can track key elements of the business in our very own ‘Dashboard’.

It’s no secret that I love my tech! So I looked at the key software tools available. Many are integrating or utilising a form of ‘dashboard’ where they summarise all the information held into small digestible and often graphical representations. Tools for Accounting, Sales, Marketing & even Productivity are great, but I wanted to see all my business in one place.

Thankfully, I feel quite at home in an Excel Spreadsheet. As long as I can find the data, I can design the processing and presentation I need, so I set out on creating our very own ‘dashboard’.

I started out with what I know, the financials! I will never tire of saying the financials are the sum of the other parts. Whatever strategy, ambition and targets you set in any part of the business, the results show up in the financials. So this was an easy one to define as we already have key indicators to measure against for this.

Working our way through Sales, Marketing, Customer Success and Operations, we are building a full picture of the moving parts for the organisation to see a very summarised snapshot to measure how performance is going.  

One thing that has been extremely interesting is defining what is important. No-one want’s data for data’s sake. We don’t want to be revisiting, tweaking and reprocessing all the time, as a small business, we simply don’t have the resources for that. 
Determining what is important is a great tool to cut out the unnecessary and really focus on the stuff that matters, which again, in a resource restricted business, was a very useful exercise.

It even helped me to evaluate some of our internal processes. We determined that a key area to understanding the mechanics of the business was to have insight through job costing. What I realised is that to get that data without duplication, reprocessing and in a timely manner, we needed to upgrade some processes.

So the act of looking at and defining our results is smoothing out and improving our underlying processes, which can only be a good thing as we grow. I’m not looking to grow a business on shaky foundations.

The dashboard can offer several other benefits too.

First, now the team knows what we are looking to achieve and what the expectations are, they can take on more responsibility for the results and can regularly check in without my interference or evaluation.  

If they are updating the results, I don’t have to, so I can take a clean top level view at the overall picture and decide for the future of the business.

It also acts as an early warning system, if standards are slipping, external factors are affecting results, things are not going in the right direction, we can do something about it early.

And if it is going better than expected, what a way to showcase and thank everyone quickly for their amazing results.

Ultimately, it allows me, the business owner, to step back without losing visibility. 

If you are reading this and know of a piece of kit that is perfect for the job and suits the small business price range, I would love to hear about it!

And if, like us, you think it is time to look at your reporting lines and results across the business, why not consider one of our Working Session to kick start its development? 



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Tips For getting your accounts done earlier

1/3/2021

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As we move into March, we think it’s a good time to start thinking about your Tax Return.
Yes, we know what you are thinking - didn’t we just do that?
You got your tax return in and probably thought - that’s it for another year, so you can forget about it.

Or…


Maybe it can be less stressful, especially if you left it to the last minute again.

We all love a deadline, most of us work better when we have one but when we leave the work until the very last minute it can be stressful. 

So here are some tips for managing your accounts over the year, making things more manageable for you and your accountant!
  1. Set your deadline earlier. Talk to your accountant, ask them what they need from you and set time aside each week or month to do this. Block the time out in your diary for finance time.
  2. Make it a habit - use software like Xero, or Quickbooks, to keep your records up to date as you go
  3. If you are a Xero user use hubdoc to snap and forward receipts to the software to speed up reconciling income and expenses; for Quickbooks use the Quickbooks receipt capture. Both work on phone apps.
  4. Stay in touch with your accountant and update them of any changes through the year.
  5. Do a pre end-of-year review - eg get everything up to date as far as you can in March, this makes finishing it off much easier.
  6. Focus on the positives of getting your tax return in early. If you’ve made payments on account and your income is lower than last year, then you will reduce your next payment due in July, or possibly get an early refund. This also helps you plan for your next tax payment.
  7. Getting your accounts done early can help with getting mortgages and loans approved.
  8. File paperwork as you go along to avoid any lost documents / receipts and last-minute panics, (again you can use the software to get it in your system).
  9. Lastly, set yourself a business challenge. Know exactly where you are with your numbers and profits each quarter - to do this you’ll need to have your records up to date and you’ll have better business finance information which will help make those decisions throughout the year. 
We offer bespoke working sessions to help you with any area of your business numbers - because when the numbers work, your business works. If you would like to discuss what you need and how we can help you then please book a call today.

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Making Tax Digital - give it a go!

11/2/2021

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Yet again, there are more changes coming for Making tax Digital (MTD).

MTD is becoming mandatory for all businesses from 1st April 2022, even those businesses with a VAT turnover below the registration threshold.

Now I must declare, that I’m not much of ‘Tax’ person, so I won’t be sharing any insights into the wonderful world of what’s coming with MTD, however as a business owner, like many others, I may well be forced to make a choice, so I thought I would share some insights.

The latest changes will include the withdrawal of certain reporting mechanisms for VAT submissions from your accounting software to HMRC (your old system won’t be able to talk to HMRC anymore), which has led to submission changes in your software to cope.

VAT Submissions for MTD are currently mandatory for all businesses that have crossed the VAT Registration threshold and therefore for those businesses, the decision has been made for them; they need to submit via an MTD method.

However, businesses that have voluntarily registered for VAT because they’re below the registration threshold and who haven’t yet signed up for MTD, now face the choice of whether to register early for MTD VAT Submissions or to remain unregistered and to file VAT Returns through the Government Gateway.

That doesn’t seem so bad, right?
However, there are some drawbacks to not embracing MTD.
Firstly, how are the numbers being prepared? 

If you’re not using accountancy software yet, then tracking the entries manually, preparing the finished numbers and then entering them into the gateway leaves a lot of room for arithmetic or human error. This can be costly to notice, find and resolve.

Spreadsheets are super easy to break without noticing, so the likelihood of an error slipping in can be quite high, even for the most diligent person. If you’re busy and up against a deadline (which I’m sure most business owners find themselves in), then the process can be tiresome, stressful and therefore easy to make a mistake.
The level of effort to prepare that information can certainly creep up, especially if there are a couple of inconsistencies, and you suddenly lose a couple of hours trawling around spreadsheets and paperwork.  
It is also quite difficult to proofread your own work, especially when you’ve just spent an hour or two digging around in the details.

Secondly, the inevitable is coming!  

HMRC has some very strong reasons for introducing MTD, one of them being that it is easier to do accounts when the transactions are recent (which is the main argument for moving the self-assessment style reporting to quarterly). And we have to agree with them, trying to remember every transaction for over 12 months is difficult. The quicker a transaction is processed, the better.  

As MTD is not going away. I would advise to future-proof your business. Getting MTD compliant now will save a lot of stress later.

If you are already using a software for your accounting, it is just plain easier and more time effective to connect it up and click a button for submission each month, compared to finding the report, reviewing it and then manually logging into your gateway to enter the same numbers. There is also a slight risk of getting the report periods wrong or transposing the entries as you fill in the form, by using your software that talks to HMRC, that is covered.

If you are not using software, then you may find that you gain more than just MTD filing from moving over to an accounts package.
Some benefits are:
  1. Your accounts and source documentation in one secure place. 
  2. You can assign tasks to others in your organisation without showing them all your sensitive accounts information.
  3. Handy reports and dashboards can help you get an understanding of where your business is in real time.
  4. The level of reporting and historical information now available for you to review and look at trends has increased dramatically.
  5. Integrations with other tech is becoming a real time saver.


So even if MTD doesn’t feel like a driver, the benefits from moving to an accounts package can change the relationship with your financial information, allowing you to use this information as a tool for making business decisions instead of just considering it as the chore it can be.
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Finally, with the introduction of the historical information, reports and VAT Submissions available at click of a button, you get the chance to prepare and submit filings a lot easier, avoiding the stressful deadlines but more importantly, giving you the opportunity to do some cash flow planning.

MTD for VAT is here now, and MTD for income tax is arriving in April 2023, with corporation tax to follow. Using up-to-date accounting systems will mean you or your accountant can get those numbers together quickly, which then gives you a good 8- 9 months to plan for the payment of any tax.
We believe in the ‘value added’ accounting software brings to a business owner, if you would like to find out more about migration or how to get more from your system, why not book in a Working Session with one of the team?

You can do that here: www.pyramissolutions.co.uk/appointments.html
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January 18th, 2021

18/1/2021

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In short, they are one of our products!

But we thought we’d share a bit more about why we have created them and who they are perfect for.

Background


​Have you been to an amazing training course, really inspiring, motivational or even just practical and useful.  Then when you return to work, you notice it is not as clear in your mind anymore, your notes are confusing or you have a particular situation that didn’t quite get covered in enough detail so you are stuck again?  Or even worse, it’s back to the normal to-do list and you just don’t have the time to take it any further! 

Or maybe you have invested in Coaching but realise that Coaching itself is not normally about your coach giving you the answers, it is about helping you find the answers yourself.  And although it is extremely important and useful for some things, sometimes you just want an expert to give you advice or show you how something is done?
Here at Pyramis, we realised we needed a different way to work with our clients that are not at the stage of requiring a full outsourced solution and just wanted a one off session to get the job done.
The ‘Working Session’ was born.

What is it?
Our ‘Working Sessions’ are just that, a specific amount of time to ‘Work’ on the task at hand, the one thing that you might need some expert advice on, to get it done and ticked off your to-do list.

It’s a 2-hour session with one of the team where we focus solely on achieving the pre-defined objective. 
Why 2 hours?  From our experience, 1 hour is not enough to get really stuck into achieving something significant however any longer than 2 hours, it can feel overwhelming for some, especially if the session is around providing information.  

We also find that 2hrs gets the task well underway and then it’s useful to take it away and give it a go for a while. This is especially true for setting up a new reporting system or cash flow, once the initial setup is complete, you need to just use it for a bit before it can be stress tested.

Typically, the session involves a balanced mix of sharing information about your business numbers, digging deeper on those assumptions, querying any concerns and practically pulling it all together so you have moved forward.
It therefore feels like a healthy blend of training, coaching, mentoring, advising and ‘doing’. All the while, being totally focused on you and your business. The session goes deep enough for you to delve into the specifics of how you do things and therefore avoids much of the ‘getting stuck’ mentioned above that you can experience after a more generalised training session.

The aim is to save you wasted hours of uncertainty, trial & error and endless ‘googling’.

Who and what is it for?
The beauty of our 1-2-1 Working Session is it is all about you, as long as we have the expertise to help, you can pick our brains, it’s your time.  You set the agenda for the session.
At first, that can sound a bit daunting but really it’s about what is causing you pain and keeping you up at night worrying or what is still on that to-do list that you don’t know how to tackle.
We have some standard topics that keep popping up though, so here are some examples:
  • Setting up your cash flow forecast
  • Producing a budget
  • Informing your pricing through understanding your costing
  • Getting started in Xero
  • Modelling your financials for your business plan
  • Utilising Xero integrations and reporting
  • Understanding financial reports
  • Understanding your business financials
  • Stress testing your financial model
  • Or just a simple question and answer session

As long as we have the right people to help (we assess this before booking), we can design a ‘Working Session’ that specifically helps you. Once you book with us, we will get in touch to discuss what you want to focus on and ask for some information before we get started.

For Start-Ups & Charity’s
To help even the newest businesses, we have a discount scheme for Start-Ups. If you are younger than 12 months old, we will offer a 25% discount for the first 12 months you work with us, helping you set good foundations and develop some useful tools that can support your growth plans.

In 2021 we are launching a new scheme for Charities, if you are a registered charity within the SME brackets, you can apply for a one free session to help you get started.  We only have a limited amount of these sessions available each month and it’s limited to one session per charity, sessions are first come first serve and we will hold a waiting list and will help you make the most of the 2 hour session.

We hope that has provided some insight into our ‘Working Sessions’ and if you would like to book a session, please check our availability here.

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Looking ahead

5/1/2021

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I’m sure I’ve spent my Christmas like many other business owners, taking some time out of being in the business and thinking about what the coming year might look like.  

And although I wrote this before the country was plunged into another Lockdown… It’s still relevant and at Pyramis we will be doing what we can to support business owners.


Although we are not out of the woods yet with COVID, and as businesses we are going to have to continue to be pretty sharp, determined and resilient to see the storm through. At least we can think about what the new normal might be for Pyramis Solutions and how we can continue to help businesses.

Here are some upcoming projects we have planned for the year- you heard it here first!

‘Tech’ Brand
Most of our clients know that we have a particular niche in supporting early stage Tech companies, especially if they already have a large grant or investor funding.
This year we are looking to launch a new website and brand specifically for this sector.
As I love experimenting with new Tech solutions, don’t be surprised if more hints and tips show up in our content showcasing some tools we use in Pyramis, as I am writing this I’ve just found Trello’s new views...awesome!

Team Expansion
Last year the team expanded just before lockdown, I’m so proud of how we have all embraced the technology which enabled us to come together weekly as a team.  Excitingly, we hope to expand again this year, part of my first quarter projects will look at preparing the business to be a welcome and productive environment for Apprentices.  

Pyramis Accountancy
It has been nine months since we launched our sister company and we are so happy that the brand has continued to grow, so again we will look at growing our online presence and resources for Pyramis Accountancy.

Charitable ‘Working Sessions’
I have always wanted an element of my business that gives back. Many business owners know that at the beginning, you have more time than money so I have often fulfilled this goal with some volunteering, but this year Pyramis Solutions are launching our Charitable Working Session scheme.  
We will allocate a certain amount of ‘Working Session’ capacity each month to charitable causes, so if a registered charity is looking for a helping hand, they can apply for a free one-off ‘Working Session’ from one of our team members. This could really help a new charity get going or help a more established charity prepare for growth and expansion.

New Packages
One thing I’m very proud of is that we are super adaptable and can build a package that’s right for your specific requirements but understandably, that can be a bit daunting especially at the start of business.

So this year, we are looking at some more ways that we can build packages for the small business in mind, one which combines coaching, mentoring and finance to create a light touch monthly ‘Finance Director’ check-in or management reporting package.

We’ll share more about this once we have the details.

New Training Materials
The concept of our ‘Group Working Sessions’ have been around for a while but COVID made that a little more difficult to get underway.  Our sessions need to be structured but interactive, which is a little harder to achieve on Zoom.  Remember, you don’t just listen to a trainer for the entire session; we work with you to achieve the task at hand.
This year, we hope to get back into the office to deliver group sessions in ‘Cash Flow’, ‘Reporting’ and ‘Costing & Pricing’.  We are also looking at developing sessions on ‘DIY Book-Keeping for Business Owners’, ‘Using Integrations’ and ‘Reports from your Software’. 
As Xero partners, we will be launching sessions in Xero, however if there is a demand, we can look at other software so please get in touch if interested.

New Resources
Last year, in response to the initial impact of COVID we shared a free mini course for creating and managing your Cash Flow Forecast. This year we will look at other free resources that we can create in other areas of financial management that will help you get to know or develop your numbers.

That’s a flavour of what we’ll be up to over the coming months.  
If you want to hear more about any of our upcoming projects, get in touch.
For now, I wish you a Happy & Prosperous New Year from all the Pyramis team.

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What a year!

17/12/2020

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So it’s coming up to the end of a very long, hard, difficult and/or weird year for many of us.  I’m sure the other ‘planners’ out there had to scrunch up this year’s plans into a ball and get creative to keep business flowing.

To all those that had to make tough decisions this year, I commend you!  And I want to congratulate all those that have managed to pivot, expand, bend and flex this year in order to be even more secure and successful through these times.

Here at Pyramis, we have been so very fortunate to work within an industry that has continued to receive funding, create new grant research projects and provide services that helped during COVID, so we are very happy that we were able to continue to support our clients the best way we could, helping them to manage those numbers.  


As like many at this time of the year, the team are looking forward to a break over the festive period, but before we do, we’ve been looking back over the year and reflecting on our highlights and learnings.


Highlights Of Our Year

With a new website, an expanding team and our sister company Pyramis Accountancy launching, we had plenty to keep us busy through 2020.


But for me, the highlight has been getting to work with our talented team members and to watch the business develop with every contribution made.  Most of my colleagues know that I have had a personal journey this year, but the kindness and support I’ve received, especially during a year when the world is facing such tough times, has been overwhelming. I was reminded that we work in such an incredible community, which is about people, as well as business.


I asked the team what their highlights and learnings were; Stefanie, enjoyed the ‘Photography Day’ we squeezed in right before lockdown.  We are all a little camera shy and this really was a team effort and I agree with her comment that it was the ‘first day that it really felt like Pyramis now had a team of people’.  


Alice joined us just before lockdown and mentioned that her highlight was ‘joining such a lovely team of supportive women in a role where I am continuously learning and growing’.  


I can totally empathise with Vicky who supports us in marketing, where she mentioned a true highlight being getting the website project completed and ‘going live’.


What We Learnt
The team’s thoughts on learnings can be summed up with one word ‘resilience’.

This year really did push the skills and resilience of business owners everywhere. I certainly have been challenged, but my biggest learning, the one that stands out as I write this, is being true and honest to myself.  

My personal challenges required me to reflect on what I do, how I do it and ask myself, ‘am I the best person to do it?’ 

And so, the latter part of 2020 has seen me take a step back, pause and really consider if what I aim to do moving forward is sustainable for me, the team and the business and how I play to my strengths. 

That reflection then also requires action, and this is where the resilience shows up - I had to bend, flex, generate new ideas and pause activities which caused friction for me in order for the business to operate and grow.


Stefanie has also captured this in her learning, she mentioned ‘how well people and businesses adapt despite covid turning absolutely everything on its head. You hear about how resilient and adaptable humans can be, but it feels a bit different when you get to actually see it’.


Alice put it perfectly, ‘with a bit of patience and perseverance you can work through anything’ and whilst we adapted to a new digital work-flow platform, Vicky was surprised to find that ‘I like being in a world with techie women as they force me to learn how to use the likes of Trello and other tech tools’. 


So What’s Next For Pyramis?

We just wanted to take this opportunity to send our season’s greetings, and hope you enjoy a break over the festive period.  

We’ll be looking at the year ahead with excitement and enthusiasm, bringing more ideas to our offerings and services, launching our Pyramis Tech brand and looking at how we can continue to help business owners get closer to their numbers.



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