Category: 1 Accounts

We Make Pictures Logo

We Get By With A Little Help From Our Friends

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We get by with a little help from our friends.

This classic Beatles song has never rung more true. Right now we all need a little help from our friends. In the current circumstances it is time to work together and pull on whatever resources you can. We are always humbled by the help and support from our clients even when times are tough. We have been trying to help business owners from Sole Traders to Limited Companies during this current crisis. To get the message out Paul has been using his home video set up which was working OK – he thought.

Since the success of our evening group zoom calls, Paul was keen to start developing some You Tube Videos to help clients. During one of our Zoom sessions Edd from We Make Pictures kindly offered his help to set Paul up properly. On Sunday morning inspiration hit and so Paul contacted Edd for some help. Paul wanted to make a video for Sole Traders. In a short period of time Paul learnt a lot about lighting, sound and picture composition, which takes a lot for a humble accountant!

Paul had some basic equipment around him. He used his Canon 80D camera for the video, a USB Blue Snowball Ice microphone and a photography light. Edd spent time with Paul over Zoom advising on how to light the scene and record good quality audio with the equipment available.  Edd then helped to sync all the elements together

Paul's set up

Before Edd’s help 

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After Edd’s Help 

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Before picture of Paul

This is Paul’s first Vlog and he hopes to record some more next week wearing a branded polo-shirt from Kiiwii clothing. Edd’s input was huge and made a significant difference to the output of Paul’s Video. Paul found it very interesting speaking to Edd as he has a huge amount of Knowledge and passion for his industry.

If you would like Edd’s help to create a video, he is offering all of our clients a free consultation to help you get set up! – How nice is that! His email address is INFO@WEMAKEPICTURES.CO.UK

At this time we all need to support each other and if someone offers you help – TAKE IT! When we come through this, we are certain that those of us that have tried our very best to help will come out stronger.

#weareallinthistogether

Hands in the middle with 1 Accounts logo

Tough Times Ahead – We Are All In This Together

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Tough Times Ahead – We Are All In This Together

Without doubt we are facing an unprecedented difficult time. Small business owners are trying to make money for themselves, their family and staff. It is looking likely that we will have to make some cutbacks and decisions that go against the grain.

As a small business we have a team to pay and clients to look after. We could just throw in the towel and say that we are all doomed; but we have sat back, feet on the table and reflected on the situation. We have looked at our own business, how we should respond and what new opportunities are available.

1 Accounts is a family run business with Paul, Jenni, Jade and Katie Donno all working in the office. They all depend on 1 Accounts as well as the fantastic team around them. We have very strong family values and we hope that this comes across to our clients in all that we do.

Unfortunately we will know someone that may well loose a loved one and we will be there to help them and support them in the best way we can. Pauls dad has been in poor health and the Donno family are continuously worried about him contracting the virus. We have found ways of supporting them with Paul’s mum phoning him nearly everyday with her food shopping order.

We are being told that 80% of the population will catch the virus. Experts have said that it is actually a mild flu and most people will recover. This means that at the end of this pandemic we will need to live again. The 1 Accounts team are looking forward to going back to the pub for a beer of three.

Here are our top tips for small business owners: 

Be Positive 

There is a lot of fake news out there and the media loves to sensationalise what Boris says. On March 16th Boris announced that where possible work from home. He used the phrase where possible as it is not possible for everyone. We would suggest you limit the news, especially Facebook (hard we know) so you can stay positive.

Smiling Child

What do your customers need?

Shipping button

We have seen some great examples in and around Haverhill. Nine Jars are delivering coffee and paninis to the high street for £5, they are also offering food deliveries from their normal menu; for every 10th meal they deliver they will donate one to the local food bank. This is a great example of how to think ‘outside of the box’. Another local business Ben & Ella’s Farm Shop are offering an ‘Isolation Box’ that they can deliver.  If customers can’t come to you – go to them.

Even Domino’s have a ‘no contact’ delivery service now – so even the big boys are adapting.

Small Wins

Look for the small wins and keep your overheads covered. When this finishes in a couple of months people will want to engage with you and will be craving human contact. You will need to plan, plan, plan to be able to survive the next couple of months. It is a good idea to watch China and see what they are doing, they are in front of us and will be showing the rest of the world what is next and how there economy is starting to bounce back. Also watch out and listen to people who have had the virus and how quickly they have recovered from it.

Communicate!

Phone

Tell your customers what you are doing and if you are suffering, tell them that too. Being open will help to gather the support you need. Also keep your team informed, this is a worrying time for them too. You need them as much as they need you.

Don’t cut back on your Marketing!

If anything increase your marketing and keep your message going. Tell your investors and suppliers what is happening and ask for help if needed.

If you are stuck on your social media speak to Jade and she will be happy to help you free of charge whilst the crisis is on. We want to help you in anyway we can to keep your business afloat. Afterall we need your business to keep going, to keep ours going.

Cash Is King 

You will need more cash now more than ever before. Securing your cash is paramount. The government has announced that it will help small businesses with Statutory Sick Pay and government back lending; we will update you on this when we know more.

HMRC are extending their time to pay arrangements for PAYE, VAT and Corporation Tax to help you through this. We again can help you to organise this.

Check your business interruption insurance to see if you are covered and work with your broker to see how you can claim.

Look at your personal position and see if you can cut costs. Sky sports are not showing the Football or Rugby, now is the time to discuss this and get a reduction. Do you need the cinema and Gym membership if you can’t go?

We can help you and have changed our business model to treat your immediate needs above our normal day to day work.

We are all in this together.

Think Outside Of The Box

Your business will change by the end of this and hopefully for the better. We have lots of ideas and would be happy to brainstorm with you free of charge to help you get through this difficult period.

Gift Box

Be Kind

Above all, help your fellow small business and they will help you now and in the future. Do not take this opportunity to sell hand gel or toilet rolls at an inflated price, you will possibly have a more comfortable time now but you will not survive when business returns to normality. Paul still avoids a garage that inflated costs during the fuel crisis. Harming your reputation could be detrimental in the future.

 

Please give us a call – even if it is just to vent and we will be more than happy to help.

We are all in this together

Raised £33274.97 for St Nicholas Hospice Care

Giving Back to the Community

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Giving Back to the Community

As a business giving back to the community is important. The size of business or contribution is unimportant, however having a caring and socially aware ethos is paramount. Many businesses are becoming more aware of their corporate responsibilities and are focusing on their environmental efforts, fundraising events, Employee wellbeing and volunteering. To give back doesn’t have to be costly or time consuming; a small contribution will help the community, your brand and staff morale.

As a business we fall into the definition of a Micro Business. We are thankful to the businesses, people and community that has continued to support us and has helped us develop the 1 Accounts we have today.

Paul’s Inspiration 

When Sage launched the Sage Foundation Paul was really impressed that such a large global company wanted to give something back. The best part was that employees could have time off to work on a community project or for a charity of their choice. This inspired Paul to create 1 Accounts on the same ethos.

Sage Accounting accounting partner

Teach a Man To Fish

Memories are golden board

1 Accounts is based in Haverhill, Suffolk. It is so important to help our community in Haverhill. As Accountants we are often asked to be treasurer of various clubs and charities. However we would rather teach them to manage this part of their organisation themselves. We have often provided training and guidance free of charge to help. As they say “give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime”

We have also helped charities with their independent examination reports. These charities often have a special meaning to us as a Business.

Sponsorship 

We have supported national charity LPUK. Little People UK is close to our hearts as our Sales Manager Katie has Dwarfism. The LPUK helped Katie when she was younger by giving her a community of others with the same condition. In 2018 Paul rode the London 100 with two friends to raise the much needed money for the charity. Although Paul found this to be a huge challenge, he found participating for the charity very rewarding.

Volunteering 

Voulenteer postet note

This year we are taking a leaf out of the Sage Foundation book. We are going to volunteer at the Haverhill food bank Reach. This means all of us at 1 Accounts will spend a day helping them give back to our community.

St Nicholas Hospice 

Another charity we love to support is St Nicholas Hospice. The fundraising team at St Nicholas Hospice have their work cut out as the Hospice needs a phenomenal £11,000 every day to function. Last year we sponsored their Accumulator Challenge and helped raise £33274.97 for the hospice. We are proud to say we will be sponsoring again this year and hope to raise even more!

Accumulator Challenge Awards

Rehabilitation 

Paul giving a speech

Paul has also delivered talks on running a business at our local prison, Highpoint. Paul loves this as he gets some great (and honest) conversations on setting up and running a business. This takes half a day but doesn’t cost a penny to deliver.

Feeling Inspired? 

With a bit of planning and a little time, you can really help your community. The sense of belonging and wellbeing on you as a business owner and your team can be immense.

2019 piggy bank

What happened in 2019?

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2019

2019 was another great year for 1 Accounts Online. We have streamlined our processes, brought in more team members and continue to provide a great service to our clients. With new advancements in technology such as open banking and MTD it is an exciting time to be a part of a rapid changing industry.

Automation, Automation, Automation

ClickWe encourage all our clients to use technology and automation to help streamline their business. We have continued to increase our use of automation using our workflow system Karbon. The team used to spend a few hours (at least) chasing client information. With our new automated system they no longer need to do this, as the emails automatically send requesting the required information for tax returns, quarterly reviews and accounts. There have of course been a couple of hiccups along the way, but we have saved the team time so they can focus on helping our client’s businesses grow.

MTD

One of the big changes in 2019 was MTD. HMRC decided that VAT submissions will have to be submitted through online software. Luckily for us, all our clients were using Xero or Sage Business Cloud so we had the software down. Jade then signed each of our clients up for MTD at no additional cost to the client. After HMRC’s rocky start, MTD is now underway and we look forward to seeing all taxes made digital.

New Clients

We have had an influx of new and exciting clients from web design to construction. We love adding more clients to the 1 Accounts family and look forward to helping them grow. We have enjoyed helping our existing customers thrive, our passion is to help business grow and we have seen wonderful changes in many of our clients.

New Services

In 2019 we started to develop new services for our clients. These are, The Business Coaching Service and Social Media. Watch this space as both services will be up on our website soon! If you can’t wait, email jade@1accounts.co.uk for more information.

New Team Members

2019 we brought 3 new members to the team. Katie started in the middle of the year for 2 days a week to help Jade with the sales side of 1 Accounts. Although they are sisters, they work well together and have developed a new sales process for the new year. Katie has also made great progression with her walking, and now walks the length of the office with a frame. We then had Fran start to help Jade for 3 days a week. Fran is also a pet photographer and loves to be creative and take pictures. In the last week of December we hired a new Bookkeeper Katy who will start with us this month. We are very excited to welcome her to our team and look forward to watching our team grow even more in the new year..

No one wants a Tax Investigation.

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No one wants a Tax Investigation.

It is true that as business owners we don’t want HMRC asking awkward questions and taking up our precious time by visiting us on a routine (or not!) compliance visit.

This week two of our clients have been subject to compliance visits from HMRC, one for PAYE and CIS, and the other for VAT. Understandably, our clients in both cases were worried by a visit from HMRC and needed our support from start to finish.

PAYE Investigation

In the case of the PAYE compliance, which included CIS, we were able to speak to our client before the meeting, attend the meeting along with our client, and reply to HMRC’s request in order to close the enquiry. We dealt with the issues and questions raised in the meeting successfully and HMRC could see that we had a good handle on our client’s business. They have now closed the case without penalty or further tax charge.  Our client was very happy that we were able to attend and support them at the meeting as it gave them extra peace of mind.

VAT Investigation

The VAT visit was very similar. We briefed our client before the meeting and attended the meeting with the VAT officer. One item was picked up by HMRC and a small adjustment will be made on the next return. In this case HMRC were complimentary about our business set up and the service that we provide our client, especially in understanding the business from the client’s point of view. This client is also really pleased with the service and were reassured by the fact that we were able to attend the meeting and deal with any questions that came up.

We have you covered

We insure ALL of our clients to cover our fees for dealing with HMRC from start to finish in these situations.  We often have clients tell us that they are covered by The Chamber of Commerce or The Federation for Small Businesses, however the cover from both organisations does not allow us to deal with any investigation that may occur, and so our support is limited. It is for this reason that we took the decision to fully cover our clients for no additional charge.

We appreciate that no one wants a Tax Investigation, however if a client does have an investigation it is really important that we are there, as we can help the client to deal with HMRC effectively. In both cases this week HMRC didn’t find anything of significance and both of our clients were very happy with our service. They were especially happy that our fees for assisting with the visits are covered by the insurance policy benefit that we have taken on their behalf and that there was no extra cost to them.

Outside of a flower shop

Supporting Local Independent Businesses

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Supporting Local Independent Businesses

1 Accounts Haverhill is based on the top of the high street in Haverhill providing a service to both local and non-local businesses. Where we can we will support Haverhill businesses and we encourage our client to do the same.

The Economy

Not many people realise that shopping locally is great for the local economy. Research shows that £10 spent with a local independent shop results in up to £50 going into the local economy. This is due to local business owners putting the money back into the economy by them shopping, using and spending time and money in other local businesses. 1 Accounts use local Haverhill Bistro Nine Jars to host their company meals therefore putting money back into the Haverhill high street.

More Job Opportunities

Small local businesses are the largest employer nationally. Local employers are more likely to pay a higher than average wage than their commercial chain counterparts. Helping to grow the number of jobs in your area creates a healthy economy for the community. 1 Accounts Haverhill currently employ six members of staff. Four of the employees are Haverhill based and walk to work.

People

The best thing about using local businesses is that they are run by people; not by boards, stockholders or computers. This often mean a much better customer experience. For example; 1 Accounts Haverhill use Kiiwii Clothing and Promotions for anything that needs branding. When ordering their branded notebooks they could pop into their offices on the outskirts of Haverhill and discuss exactly what they wanted with Keith & Amanda. Ordering online, you do not get this level of service or have the trust that you will get exactly what you want.

Innovation

Small businesses can make changes and be innovative without having to jump through hoops. 1 Accounts were at the forefront of online accounting and now other accountancy firms are following suit. Haverhill has a wealth of small business that are leading the way for innovation.

In short, why would you not use a local business? 1 Accounts Haverhill & Cambridge will continue to use local businesses to enhance their local economy.

Wine & Cheese night

1 Accounts Wine & Cheese Night

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Wine & Cheese Night

In aid of the St Nicholas Hospice Accumulator Challenge 1 Accounts Online will be holding a Wine & Cheese Tasting evening at Baythorne Hall near Haverhill …. And your all invited. The event will take place on the 9th of August at 7pm.

George from Baythorne Wines will be talking us through his favourite wines from his wine shop. Baythorne Wines was established in the former granary barn at Baythorne Hall in 2014. The shop offers over 400 wines from around the world and George’s knowledge is second to none. We can’t wait to try a selection of the wines. The cheese is from Ben & Ella’s Farm Shop.  These cheeses will pair perfectly with the wine. You will be wanting to come back and create your own wine and cheese night at home!

Jade will be singing at the event to start the night. She will be singing some of her favourite Jazz tunes to get you in the mood for the wine and cheese.

Hello May

1 Accounts May Update

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MAY UPDATE

May disappeared before our eyes, with tax returns, accounts and quarterly reviews in full swing. The sunshine has been fleeting but our smiles have stayed all month long. Here is what we got up to this month:

Clever Grace

Grace got a whopping 86% on her exam on Management accounting and budgeting. She is studying hard for her level 4 AAT and will be fully qualified in no time. Her next exam is on Management accounting: Decision and control.

Outsourcing our IT

When there is a problem with IT it can be detrimental, especially to 1 Accounts as we need our computers in order to do our work. It can take hours for us to figure out how to fix a problem and so when starting 1 Accounts Paul decided to outsource our IT and take the hassle away. We have just changed providers to Platform 365. We can’t wait for them to start!

Jade Singing

Jade had her busiest month ever with her singing. She sung love songs, jazz songs, pop songs & rock & roll songs. She also had her first gig in her duo The Blue Jays at Nine Jars. Be sure to keep an eye on her Facebook Page for more events!

https://www.facebook.com/jadedonnosinger/

April Showers

1 Accounts April Update

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April Update

With the start of a new tax year, lots of bank holidays and new starters 1 Accounts have well and truly stepped into spring!

Start of the Tax Year

The 6th of April marked the beginning of the next tax year. With this brought some changes to personal allowance, minimum wage, student loans and auto-enrolment. To find out more about these changes please read our blog ‘Happy New Year’.

https://1accountsonline.co.uk/2019/04/12/happy-new-year/

Automation, Automation, Automation

This year we have introduced client checklists. All our clients will notice that they have received a checklist from Jade to complete their self assessment tax return. These are sent automatically via Karbon so that we can spend more time helping our clients. We will also be automating emails on company year ends to request accounts information in order for us to get accounts completed as soon as we can. We love this new level of automation as we can provide a higher level of service.

A proper family business

We now have all the Donno’s onboard! Katie has now joined us to help us with our sales. Anyone who knows Katie will know that she can sell ice to eskimos and will look great doing it! We now have Paul, Jenni, Jade and Katie (the whole family) working for 1 Accounts. Paul won’t know what’s hit him!

Happy Birthday James

James turned 20! We all went out for a lunch at Nine Jars to celebrate his birthday. We also decorated the office especially! No birthday gets missed here at 1 Accounts!!

Paul went to prison

After Jade went to the prison last month, Paul decided he wanted to go. Unfortunately they let him out too. Paul spoke to the offenders about starting & running their own business. He was given lots of questions that he was happy to answer. He also gave them all a copy of his book, which they asked him to sign. We are not sure Paul’s head fit out of the prison doors on the way out!

Donation

If a client refers us we always send a gift to say thank you! We asked one of our clients for their home address to send our special thank you gift. They asked for us to donate to charity instead, which is an amazing gesture. We donated to Little People UK as it is a charity close to the company’s heart.  We love how amazing our clients are!!

Accumulator Challenge group shot

The 1 Accounts Accumulator Challenge

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The 1 Accounts Accumulator Challenge

This year we are thrilled to announce that we are the sponsor for St Nicholas Hospice’s Accumulator Challenge. We felt it fitting that on their 10th year anniversary we should be the sponsor as Paul won the first one raising £2600. This year we hope to get lots of business involved and make this the best year ever!

Who are St Nicholas Hospice? 

St Nicholas Hospice is a local charity providing help, advice and support to people in West Suffolk and Thetford in the final chapters of their life who are living with long-term and life threatening illnesses. Their services are not just for patients but for family members and friends too. They include anything from specialist medical care to bereavement support and practical help. To run the hospice they require £11,000 every single day. Any help to raise money to help is greatly appreciated.

What is the Accumulator Challenge? 

The Accumulator challenge is a great event for business to get involved in. On the 13th of June you will receive a crisp £50 note. From that £50 you need to generate as much profit as possible. You have until the end of September to raise as much money as you can. There will then be an awards ceremony in October to announce the winners.

What can I do to raise money? 

Here at 1 Accounts we want to help you with creating ideas to make the most money from your £50. Below are just a few ideas you could action:

  • Hold an auction
  • Hold a fundraising event
  • Complete a sporting challenge
  • Social activities

For 5 years Paul, Jenni, Jade and Katie were involved in the Challenge, they dressed up as clowns, busked, held a casino night and wine tastings. The video below shows all the fun they got up to!

What’s in it for you? 

We understand that as a business your time is precious however the Accumulator challenge can be beneficial for your business as well as the Hospice.

  • You will gain networking opportunities with people and other business.
  • It can build teamwork and moral within your staff.
  • You will gain PR/marketing opportunities from the Hospice and 1 Accounts Online
  • You will make memories for your business and have fun doing so.