Month: February 2015

What Makes A Good Accounting Firm

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February 21, 2015

6:19 am

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Accounting

Accounting firms come to play in your business when you face taxation problems and financial liabilities. Firms that handle accounting help you in tracking, organizing and updating your financial records and keep your financial books clean. Based on your needs and your organization’s strength, you will have many firms that would be willing to extend accounting services to you. Finding a good firm that can handle all your accounting needs is a small challenge.

There are many firms that are around you; however, not all of them have the necessary skill sets to be the right choice for you. What to look for in an accounting firm which will give you confidence about its working? Read on to know some very essential points that make a firm a good and a responsible one.

An office is essential for an accounting firm to be trusted. There are many freelance firms that operate on the internet without a proper physical address. Trusting a firm that has no physical address is not a great idea. Accounting firms can be online and can have strong online presence; however, they will also have physical office setup where clients can come to meet. An office builds faith in people, and it also gives you a sense of security. It is after all financial matters that are connected in between your business and the accounting firm.

Employees make or break the organizations. A responsible accounting group will have good quality and qualified employees handling your account. There are many firms hiring freshmen with basic knowledge of accounts. A firm has good and highly qualified employees will be able to give you faster solutions for your problems.

Experienced people working in an organization will give you a sense of confidence to deal with the firm. A company will have many complicated issues and you will need people who are capable of handling any situations with ease. This happens only when the accounting firm has highly qualified people working for them.

Trying new firms is not a bad idea as long as they showcase exceptional quality in their work. If you have a large organization and you handle critical financial situations, you will need a firm that has a reputation of handling such cases. A company can have very complicated situations that need great care and only a firm with good track record will be able to do justice to the job. A good track record with good reference will make an accounting firm superior in itself.

Good track records are built over a period time and it also demonstrates quality of work and reliability. Trying to work with a firm that has excellent track record will give your company an advantage. You will be able to experience the power of expertise in dealing and handling issues that make need experts.

No matter what your need is, having a right firm will have all the financial situations under control and well organized. Look for the above qualities when you plan to hire a accounting firm for your organization.

Does Your Company Need To Prepare Group Accounts

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February 18, 2015

4:51 pm

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Accounting

Due to changes in the 2006 Companies Act, there have been some amends to the requirements of Groups preparing company accounts for their subsidiary companies. Following is a brief breakdown of the changes and what they could mean for your company.

Following changes to company law, medium sized groups will now be required to prepare group accounts to be filed at Companies House – Small and medium sized groups were exempt from this previously.

If your company is the parent company of a mid sized group of companies, then you must prepare accounts that combine both your own financial performance and position AND the subsidiary companies.

Such accounts are known as “group accounts”.

Group accounts can be fairly complex depending on the size of the parent group and the number of companies within it.

How do I know if my company is affected?

The 2006 Companies Act had a phased implementation – with the exemption for mid sized group accounts being removed for accounting periods beginning on or after 6 April 2008.

This means that companies with a year end of 30 April 2009 were the first to be affected.

However, if your company has an unusual year end (or prepares accounts for less than one year) your company may have been affected slightly sooner.

For a group of companies to be qualified as medium sized (not small) two of the following three thresholds need to be exceeded for two consecutive years:-

Turnover – 6.5m net (7.8m gross)
Gross Assets – 3.26m net (3.9m gross)
Employees – 50

How do I know if my company is part of a group?

A group of companies is when one company has a controlling interest in one or more other companies – ordinarily the “parent” company will own more than 50% of the ordinary share capital of the “subsidiary” company.

Are there any exemptions?

Yes. Small groups of companies will remain exempt as they always have been from filing group accounts with companies house.

Parent companies which are also a subsidiary company are likely to be exempt. Provided that they form part of a larger group of companies for which group accounts are prepared.

Parent companies whose subsidiary interests can be considered immaterial are also exempt.

If you have any questions about the changes to preparing group accounts and how they will effect your company, contact your chartered accountants firm.