The Spring Budget 2023 – Back to work?
The new Chancellor’s first budget (he emphasised that the autumn statement was not a Budget, not a kamikaze one anyway!) didn’t present many surprises, maybe one surprise was the number of MPs in parliament given the number of strikes taking place on the day!
The Chancellor was buoyant announcing that the Office for Budget Responsibility predicts that we will avoid a recession in 2023, BUT the economy will shrink by 0.2%. Growth is predicted of 1.8% next year, 2.5% in 2025 and 2.1% in 2026.
There was much in the way of good news delivered today! Thee main points covered;
- ‘Experienced Workers’ and Pensions
- Parents
- Business
- Workers
- Energy
But What might he have done differently – our view?
To find out what the changes are and how they will affect you read more here
If you would like to discuss the changes and how they will affect you and your business, please contact us.
Staff Focus – Bhavisha Bharakda/Nila Raichura
Nila Raichura – Accounts Audit Manager
I was born in Brazil where I spent most of my childhood, and moved to Portugal in my teenage years with my family. It was around then that I was first shown how a P&L and a Balance Sheet work and sadly fell in love with it – that’s when I knew I wanted to be an accountant. My parents then gave me the opportunity to move to the UK on my own to study Business & Finance at University of Westminster, a big challenge as I couldn’t speak English fluently.
Having completed my degree, I returned back to Lisbon to start my career, working in a big 4 firm as an Audit junior. However, my love for London pulled me back and I returned 2 years later to start my ACCA qualification and work in a medium sized practice to obtain more exposure. Working in practice has always excited me as I feel it offers me the opportunity to work with clients from a range of industries, allowing me to enhance my technical skills while being exposed to a variety of industry sectors – you can really make a difference and help someone’s business. So, after spending most of my career in various accounting practices around London, I joined Charterhouse in May 2019 as a Senior where I was responsible for managing my own portfolio of clients. In July 2022 I took up the role of Accounts Audit Manager where I am responsible for delivering the audit and accounts work as well as managing the department. I have a young family which keeps me busy with various social events, and I enjoy spending time organising different activities with family and friends and visiting family spread around the world. I’m a “people’s person” and I love meeting new people and getting to know them – I guess that is my Brazilian childhood routes which have stayed with me.
Bhavisha Bharakda – Accounts Audit Manager
Growing up Bhavisha was surrounded by accounting as the profession runs in her family. This led her to complete an undergraduate degree in Accounting and Finance at the University of Southampton. In between her studies she gained some insight into accounting having helped out in a family business in the summer holidays. After graduating Bhavisha started her accounting career in practice in a mid-sized firm and worked towards gaining her ACCA qualification. Four years into her career she joined Charterhouse in October 2020 during lockdown (which was a challenge in itself!) as an accounts semi senior and she became an ACCA member in early 2021. She was involved in managing a portfolio of clients and delivering accounts and audit work. Bhavisha took on the role of Accounts Audit Manager for the AA2 department in August 2022. Her responsibilities are to manage a team of 5 and oversee a portfolio of audit and accounts clients from a wide range of businesses and industries. Bhavisha enjoys working in practice as it allows her to meet different people who work in different industries and businesses. Away from work, Bhavisha enjoys travelling the world. Outside of travelling she loves to stay active and keep fit by playing sports, her favourite is netball which she started playing at the age of 10. She currently plays a couple times of week for a local netball team as a goal shooter.’),
Accounts/Audit Department – how they help our clients?
Every business is different and in our accounts and audit teams we ensure we take the time out to understand the business and their needs. This allows us to provide a more tailored service to each of our clients, be they an owner managed business, family run business, or a larger more complex business. Our accounting and audit teams provide services such as preparation of year end financial statements as well as audit services. We provide support in preparing full statutory financial statements in accordance with relevant legislation and accounting standards for the business management to approve. We work with our clients to ensure all relevant financial reporting standards and disclosure requirements are applied appropriately, ensuring accounts prepared will be fully compliant with HMRC’s submission requirements. This avoids any unnecessary complications or fines from HMRC. Our service is available for individual companies or Limited Liability Partnership, as well as group consolidations. From guiding clients during the set-up of a business, advising them on how to maintain the day-to-day records to ensure their business runs smoothly, through to advising clients who are considering a business merger or acquisition, advising them on the financial reporting and disclosure implications of the proposed transaction before your undertake them. We become your trusted partners steering your business through the complex financial requirements of running a business. In addition, we work closely with our personal and business tax experts to deliver the correct advice in a commercial environment. To find out more about how we can help you and your business please contact us.
Why choose Xero?
As a small or medium business owner, one of the questions you will need to ask yourself is which cloud accounting software you should choose. There are so many options available, with different USP’s and price points, that it can seem overwhelming, and often easy to be swayed by the lowest price or current offer, on the assumption that they will all do the same thing. At Charterhouse our strong recommendation is to use Xero, who we have worked with for over 8 years as a Platinum Partner, meaning it is what we know best, which in turn allows us to give our clients the very best advice to help them understand their financial information, resolve queries, or advise on decisions that will shape the future growth and success of the business. To ensure this continues, all of our team in the Business Support Unit are Xero Certified Advisors and undertake regular training and attend product updates to stay on top of the latest developments in the Xero world in order to give the best service when it is needed the most. Much of today’s world is centred around having everything at our fingertips and not waiting for results, and we believe that should apply to your business’s performance too, rather than only seeing these results several months after the activity has occurred. Xero helps with that proactive approach. Some of the key features of Xero are: Raise and send invoices to your customers through the software; see when they’ve been viewed, and follow up with automated reminders. Connect with payment services such as Stripe and GoCardless to get paid quicker. Integrate data capture apps such as Dext to ensure supplier invoices and receipts are captured and categorised correctly in an instant, by uploading pictures taken on your phone. With a copy of the document saved as an attachment, you have no need to keep the original document and can free up physical space. Pay bills through Xero’s Pay with Wise add-on.
Bank feeds which connect Xero to your bank and credit card accounts, pulling in transactions on a daily basis allowing for easy and frequent bank reconciliation Full compliance with HMRC’s Making Tax Digital, Xero calculates VAT returns and connects with HMRC for submissions. A free mobile app allows you to work on the go and view your business activity, including creating professional quotes and raising invoices. A huge number of pre-created reports enabling you to see what’s important to you, but with the ability to create custom reports if needed. Free 24/7 support through the Xero Central hub, which gives you articles and tips to solve any queries, and access to a community of other Xero users around the world. As you can see from the above inexhaustive list, Xero provides a single end-to-end solution for your business covering all the major bases of its record-keeping requirements. There is a strong focus on automating as many processes as possible, which frees up your time while increasing the accuracy of the data, and opening up avenues for collaboration with us as your accountants, allowing us to analyse the real-time information and give the proactive advice you need to help you make decisions, or simply to know how the business is really performing and what tax liabilities may be building up. Why choose Xero over Quickbooks or Sage? The answer to this question is that in our view, Xero has the edge due to its user-friendly nature, modern design, online support, and overall functionality. Both of those above named options, in particular, are established brand names and were market leaders as desktop solutions in the age before cloud accounting. However, time waits for no accounting software, and Xero was created with the important and ever-evolving cloud aspect in mind, while the others are now playing catch up.
Charterhouse can provide you with one-off or ongoing training and support to get the best out of your Xero experience, and are happy to assist you on your journey with the software. Click here to receive 50% off your first six months subscription to Xero. To find out more about our services please contact us.
Property – Lower tax thresholds, lower tax credits, higher costs, how can you still make money from owning buy-to-lets?
At our recent lunch, we had the opportunity to discuss this topic with experts from both Charterhouse Accountants and Choice Business Loans (CBL), understanding how it is still possible to ensure that your buy-to-let properties are generating the maximum return on investment. Charterhouse were able to illustrate how using a limited company set up can help minimise your tax burden whilst CBL had some great insight into sources of finance to fund the business. However, there are still many issues that need to be addressed to ensure your investment and business is successful. With property owners only allowed to claim 20% tax relief on the interest suffered on mortgages and loans on rental properties and income tax allowances and thresholds frozen, there are many reports that property owners/investors will have to pay considerably more tax. The big question is will property still be a good way to invest and generate a sustainable income and if so, how do you set it up and finance the business.
At Charterhouse we have worked with many landlords and investors to ensure they get the maximum return from their property investments, be they set up under personal ownership or through a limited company structure. A recent discussion between our Joint Managing Directors explores the options on how to set up your property investment to get the maximum returns and gives some great insight as to what you need to do. Have a listen
There are a number of areas that you need to consider when you are looking at a property business, including;
- What to do when looking to buy your first buy-to-let property?
- What is an SPV and is it the best way to buy a buy-to-let property?
What to do when incorporating your property portfolio:
- How many properties do I need?
- Is it worth moving my existing properties into a limited company?
- I am considering my inheritance tax planning and don’t know how my property will impact on me?
- Do I have to have a traditional mortgage or are there other ways of financing a property business?
Between Charterhouse and CBL, these are all subjects that we can advise on and were certainly topics that were discussed at the lunch.
If you would like to find out more you can contact us;
Charterhouse Accountants www.charter-house.net/contact-us
Choice Business Loans www.choicebusinessloans.co.uk/contact-us
Or you can visit our websites;
- Charterhouse Accountants www.charter-house.net/your-challenges/property
- Choice Business Loans www.choicebusinessloans.co.uk/business-loans
To find out more about our services please contact us.
The Charterhouse Foundation – how it allows us to give back to our local community
As an organisation, Charterhouse has always been keen to support local people, causes and groups and we have encouraged our team to do so as well. In the past this has meant some of the team giving up their own time to provide advice to individuals and organisations that would not otherwise be able to access the level of expertise we provide.
However, we have always thought we could do more, as a result in 2019 we decided to establish “The Charterhouse Foundation, its aim was to be a vehicle through which we can provide our expert advice in the areas of accountancy, tax and other professional advice to individuals who have financial challenges but cannot afford to pay for expert advice. It was planned that the foundation would work in partnership with other charities and community interest groups in meeting its aim, providing both time and financial support to these organisations. The Foundation provides specific services for those people who are being supported by our partner charities, including; Free financial surgery where they can get advice on how to work through their financial challenges Work with them to help manage any potential tax issues
The Foundation is able to support the members of the charities we support as a business, including our Charity of the Year. Due to COVID we have not been able to provide as much support over the past few years as we had hoped, therefore the objective for the foundation for 2023 is to reignite the aims of the foundation, providing an opportunity for those people who might not otherwise be able to access the financial advice they need, whilst also giving our team the opportunity to give back to the community. All of our team are encouraged to give some of their time to the Foundation and this will ensure that we will be able to support as many people and charities as possible.
The foundation provides a formal structure to further the charitable work Charterhouse has been involved with over many years and one which we hope to grow to be a well-known resource in the local area. To find out more about the Foundation and the charities we help, click here. If you are interested in donating to the Charterhouse Foundation to enable us to provide further support to our partner charities and community interest groups please contact us. The Charterhouse Foundation is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), the foundation’s Charity Commission registration number is 1188367
Wycombe Homeless Connection (WHC) Charity Golf Day 15th September 2023
COME AND JOIN US FOR A FUN FILLED DAY OF GOLF AT CHARTRIDGE PARK GOLF CLUB IN CHESHAM TO RAISE FUNDS FOR WYCOMBE HOMELESS CONNECTION
The cost to enter a team of four will be £360, which includes golf, bacon rolls and refreshments from 11am and the evening meal.
If you are unable to raise a full team and would like to take part you can enter as an individual for just £90 and you will be grouped with other individual entries to form a team.
There will also be an opportunity to sponsor a hole @ £50, we will supply an A3 framed banner including your Company logo to place on a tee. Booking forms are available by clicking here and payment will be required in advance.
To find out more about the day please contact us.