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AccountingWEB are concerned that small businesses and accountants are not being made sufficiently aware of the existence or implications of workplace pensions.
Over the next few years nearly a million businesses will be compelled to offer their staff a work place pension.
Because of the scale of the operation support through this process will be at a significant premium. Delaying preparation therefore leaves your clients open to significant risks including:
- Not being able to source sufficient support and advice
- Failing to properly evaluate employee eligibility
- Non-compliance with staging deadlines (which could result in significant fines)
- Major business disruption as manpower and resources are thrown at complying with obligations
- Fines and potential custodial sanctions imposed by The Pensions Regulator
Our research suggests that the vast majority of small businesses and accountants are not aware of the obligations facing them.
As a result AccountingWEB has launched the ‘No-one gets left behind’ campaign to alert as many accountants as possible to the obligations implied by auto enrolment.
Our aim is to make sure that businesses are not put in jeopardy due to unsustainable pressure to meet deadlines.
We have produced a simple eight point statement which sets out the bare facts that you need to know. All we ask is that you share this as widely as possible with colleagues, friends and associates…..
BRITAIN has entered a new era of multi-party politics with half a dozen leaders now clamouring for the electorate’s attention. From the old two, and renaissance of the three-party system of politics, this year’s election campaign has provided unprecedented platform the likes of UKIP, theSNP, the Greens and Plaid to connect with the British public.
From the incoherent cacophony that was the so-called ‘seven dwarves’ debate on ITV to the BBC’s more civilised but hardly more illuminating ‘challengers’ debate, there has been no lack of heat in the battle for Number 10.
Read more about how the election may affect your business
Based on research conducted by Financial Director Magazine in association with Unum, this infographic illustrates finance professionals’ attitudes towards workplace wellbeing and its ability to impact staff retention, morale and company performance.
Outdated financial software can compromise much more than the accuracy of your financial reporting. Many businesses today are evolving faster than their financial software – a situation that can have serious consequences for the entire enterprise. Although the impact of aging financial technology can be slow to emerge, the challenges only increase over time.
The pain is usually first felt by those responsible for reporting, as they have to work harder and harder to provide timely, accurate information. The costs and resource requirements also become eye-catching, as aging systems become more expensive to support.
This short brief summarises four ways to future-proof your financial systems.
Click here to download : Is_Old_Faithful_Letting_You_Down.
Content taken from www.accountancyageinsight.com
Businesses are missing out on millions of pounds of tax allowances when buying commercial property, says CCH Insight. CCH estimates that the majority of owners of commercial properties haven’t claimed because the dormant tax benefit in “embedded fixtures” is often overlooked.
Changes in the Finance Act from April 2014 mean that tax allowances for commercial building fixtures could be lost to a new buyer and all future owners, said CCH, which has produced a guide on the new rules.
First new rule – From April 2012 to 31 March 2014 there’s a transitional period for corporation tax; for income tax it was from 6 April 2012 up to and including 5 April 2014. Where the seller has made a capital allowance claim, the “fixed value requirement” ensures that the vendor’s disposal value and purchaser’s acquisition value are one and the same. This is achieved by requiring the seller and buyer to enter into a joint s198 or s199 Capital Allowances Act 2001 election within two years of the transfer of the property. If a figure cannot be jointly agreed, either party may make a unilateral appeal to the first-tier tax tribunal for an independent decision.
Second new rule – from April 2014 Any seller who could have claimed capital allowances must pool (though not necessarily claim) the allowances, which can then be passed to the buyer. “For a professional accountant or other professional adviser, the complexity of the new rules raises the prospect of their advice being called into question, potentially exposing their professional indemnity insurance,” CCH says.
Most organisations have to reconcile supplier accounts as part of their audit processes, which is an arduous task. But is this good for business?
Reconciling the supplier account ensures supplier balances are accurate for financial reporting and profits are maximised by ensuring no credit notes are missing or invoices duplicated.
In principle, the process for reconciling supplier accounts is very straightforward. The supplier’s credit control department sends a statement of account, which contains the unpaid invoices on the their sales ledger, to the buyer’s accounts payable department. The accounts payable team at the buying organisation compare the statement to their accounts payable ledger(s) to identify any differences.
Accounts payable time pressures
The challenge arises because accounts payable teams already have a full schedule managing the day-to-day activities of processing invoices through to payment.
This is exacerbated by the fact that supplier statements are in paper or PDF-based formats, and can include thousands of transactions. To identify exceptions, the accounts payable team needs to manually check details on the accounting system of every transaction listed. It can take hours, and sometimes days, to reconcile one vendor.
The result is that organisations do not find it practical or possible to reconcile every supplier, and therefore focus their time on their largest suppliers to ensure that they are paid on time.
This avoids disruption in supply chains and ensures liabilities are accurate for cash flow forecasting and financial reporting. But, it means they are potentially denting their profits due to errors going unidentified on statements.
Automation offers a partial answer
For some time, technology of some degree has been used by many organisations to automate invoice processing.
Scanning and workflow were initially deployed to remove paper from the process, followed by OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to automate invoice entry.
Then to a lesser degree, supplier portals and e-invoicing networks started to drive further adoption of electronic methods of communication between buyer and supplier.
But if an invoice does not pass the checks and controls organisations have in place to prevent errors, manual intervention will be required to resolve the issue, regardless of how the invoice was received.
Even with the best controls and technology in place, invoice errors can still slip through the net, which reinforces the importance of reconciling supplier accounts by comparing their statement to the accounts payable ledger.
Supplier statement reconciliation is an opportunity for accounts payable to spot invoice discrepancies before they are paid and to make sure the invoice process is complete.
Identifying discrepancies
The key is to identify any invoices or credit notes on the supplier statement that are not on the accounts payable ledger or vice versa.
Identifying incorrect invoice numbers will reduce the risk of duplicate invoices. Other common scenarios that only tend to be spotted through reconciling the supplier’s account include identifying invoices entered with incorrect currency, and invoices on the ledger that are, in reality, credits.
Reconciling supplier accounts ensures supplier liabilities are accurate for financial reporting and profits are maximised. The latter comes partly from ensuring that no credit notes are missed and duplicates are minimised. Potentially more significant is that it enables the periodic clearing of accruals on the balance sheet from goods being booked in, but no invoice having been received. By reconciling supplier statements to a point in time, more of these liabilities can be cleared and returned to profit.
Technology adopted for ‘heavy lifting’
Accounts payable and shared services are increasingly being required to undertake more statement reconciliation as part of their control processes.
As this needs to be achieved with no increase in headcount, in the drive to reconcile as many supplier accounts as possible, accounts payable are looking for automation technology to do the ‘heavy lifting’.
Cloud benefits
Automating the supplier statement reconciliation process using a cloud-based application solves a problem for the CFO without the need to invest in the software and infrastructure associated with on-premise applications.
It also gives them an opportunity to assess whether other ancillary processes can be moved to the cloud to further evaluate whether it’s a viable option for other core financial applications
Although there is not a wholesale migration of core ERP financial applications to the cloud, CFOs are dipping their toes in the water by trying out bolt-on financial applications for specific processes such as supplier statement reconciliation.
This is backed up by various surveys indicating that CFO intentions are to increase their use of cloud-based technology.
For example, Hackett Group’s recent Purchase to Pay Study (P2P) found that 45% of respondents were leveraging a combination of on-premise and cloud P2P solutions, 18% planned to eventually migrate all P2P solutions to a software-as-a-service or cloud deployment model, while 13% were piloting cloud solutions.
Raising the profile of accounts payable
Technology continues to change the role of shared services. For the accounts payable team, it removes the manual, repetitive data entry tasks, thereby allowing users to focus on managing exceptions and adding value for internal as well as external stakeholders in the process. Statement reconciliation also benefits the supplier as it ensures they are paid and that their customer balances are accurate for cash flow forecasting.
Reconciling supplier accounts ensures that supplier liabilities are accurate and profits maximised. Financial results for the company are therefore accurate, which means that both the CFO and auditors are happy. This is good news for accounts payable because it raises their profile within the organisation due to the vital, and now visible, role it plays.
Posted by Daniel Kimpton- Statement-Matching.com
Pegasus Software can help with all of the above. Please contact us for more information.
Pegasus has enhanced their Construction software to ensure the solution keeps up to date with the latest requirements from this growing sector.
Pegasus CIS lets you see the profitability of the contract and the calculated costs to completion. Pegasus CIS is a software solution specifically designed for the construction and contracting industries. Not only will it make you fully compliant with the taxman, it’ll also bring astonishing efficiencies to your contract management.
“A system which is dedicated to monitoring resources, time, labour and materials represents a major advantage for a growing business such as ours. Pegasus CIS facilitates 360 degree visibility into our projects and frees up valuable time.”
Chris Dowson, Management Accountant, Howard Civil Engineering
We understand how reluctant business owners are with changing their business systems. Not only is it the time it takes to choose the right software but then the upheaval of the installation can be very stressful and cost a company invaluable time. However, continuing to use the wrong software can have even larger effects on a business. If you’re not happy with your system, for whatever reason, have a look at our first steps to choosing the right software. If you choose the right supplier the migration shouldn’t be too chaotic or costly.
1. Appoint a Project Leader : always make someone the main contact so that all enquiries and information is dealt with by them initially. It saves a lot of time at the beginning but also during the installation.
2. Establish your Requirements : Decide what your business really needs from a system. What is your current system not providing, even if you think it isn’t achievable, detail it in your specification document as there may be an application available it’s just not advertised.
3. Locate 3 Potential Suppliers : Take the time to research 3 software providers, if possible check their details on Companies House or a business search facility, you want to make sure that the company you are dealing with is solid and has the experience to support your business. Have all 3 suppliers visit you and discuss your needs openly with them, see how they respond.
4. Ensure you get Structured Demonstrations : Every supplier should want to demonstrate their software to you. They should be proud and not just tell you what it can do, you want them to show you. If you have asked for bespoke applications, ask for a testimonial from a client using this add-on (where possible)
5. Scrutinise the Proposal : Go through the supplier proposals with extra vigilence, look at the costs involved, how they will help you migrate, etc. Your Project leader will do this initially but then sit down as a team and discuss it.
Finally, enjoy the project, take the time to research the software and relish in the fact that in a short amount of time, your business will be running efficiently and have an edge to your competitors.
HMRC are changing the rules. From 1 April 2015 UK VAT legislation will be brought in line with EU VAT legislation. When processing an invoice, VAT will be calculated on the goods value before any settlement discount is applied. The change will affect any business that either receives or gives settlement discount for prompt payment of an invoice.
Business of all sizes can now have a fully integrated IT solution without needing the capital investment for hardware, software or networks.
We are able to offer Pegasus Opera 3 as a cloud based accounting and business system, hosted and supported by us, all for a single cost effective monthly payment.
Links with other systems in your business
- Data import and export facilities
- Microsoft Office integration
- Easy to customise
- E-mail integration
Lower cost of ownership
- Scalability: Opera 3 is application based, which means that you buy what you need, when you need it
- Flexible purchase options: buy an integrated solution, pick and choose from the full list of applications or rent
- Annual Maintenance Contract: allows you to budget yearly for legislative and software upgrades
- Reduced IT overheads: Microsoft technology offers greater resilience against hardware or network failure
Effective business communication
- Identify developing trends that can have a direct impact on profitability
- Improved debtor management
- Production of timely management information for non-financial managers
Access to KPI’s and business intelligence tools
- Monitor KPI’s
- Optimisation of stock
- Effective budgetary controls
- Monitor and maximise sales opportunities