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What do I have to do to get a business loan?
One of the questions that comes up often is from someone who is having trouble getting a business loan. They are frustrated and want to know what they need to do to get that loan loan. To answer this to have to first put yourself in the shoes of the bank manager....
Allowable Motor Expense Rates (2017)
Allowable Motor Expense Rates (2017) Revenue amended the rates for claiming motoring expenses with effect from April 1, 2017. Given that most businesses use these rates as the basis for Revenue-approved motor expense claims for businesses, you should be aware of the...
What tax/accounting returns do I need to make for my business?
Which type of returns should you make? To answer it, the first thing we have to do is to identify the form of your business. Are you a sole trader, a partnership or a limited company? This table summarises the key reporting areas. Sole Trader Partnership Company...
How to prepare financial projections
Feedback I get regularly from the clients is that they don’t know where to start with the financial projections. So in this article I want to give you a framework and an overview of how I go about doing projections. My approach is something that has built up over...
Decision-making and the importance of understanding cash flow
As I said in my last blog post, one of the most common areas where my business clients want advice is around decision-making – knowing which of the options they’re faced with will be most beneficial for their business. Whether you’re a brand new start-up business, or...
You’re a start-up: what are the key things you need to know about accounting?
I’ve had several new business owners come to me over the years saying, "We're a small start-up, but nobody tells us what we really need to know about accounts". If this is the situation in which you find yourself, you’ve probably gone into business because you had a...
How to avoid accounting surprises
One issue that often comes up with new clients is the frustration they feel when the accounting results turn out to be significantly different from what they expected. They may have had a very busy period, worked hard, and expected to show good results. However, when...
Unit Price v Total Cost
Today’s blog update comes from Mindshop founder, Chris Mason. “In today’s ever increasingly competitive global market the question on how to compete on price always comes up. People believe that the only way to compete is to be the lowest price supplier of their goods...
Can Accounting really be fun?
Can accounting really be fun? I know most of you think that’s a strange question. However, Dennis Howlett, who used to blogs regularly on accounting topics, once posted an article headed “Accounting is Fun.” I have posted extracts from his article below. Since I have...
Lessons from this year’s tax season
Earlier today, I had a conversation with two friends, an accountant, and an owner-manager. The owner-manager commented on the rush of the tax season being over for this year. We got to talk about how some clients lose money through their actions or inactions. I think...
What is the difference between Markup and Margin
In the past week, I have had discussions with three different people on the difference between markup and margin. In my own experience, I have come across a number of business owners who thought they had a margin of a certain percentage but they actually had a markup...
Tips for Managing Cash
In the past year, I have spoken to a number of different audiences on Managing cash flow. In the course of my work as a mentor on Bank of Ireland’s Enterprise Builder Programme, it is clear that managing cash remains an issue for many companies. So here are the key...
Tax Tips
Income Tax Returns for 2009 must be filed by 31 October 2010. Failure to file on time will lead to surcharges. Here are tax tips that can definitely help you. The way our system works, we pay a preliminary Income Tax for 2010 on 31 Oct 2010 and we file the actual...
Working with VAT on Kashflow
I have had a couple of questions recently about how Kashflow handles VAT. Users do not seem to fully understand the use of the “submit VAT” button. So here is a brief overview of what needs to be done to have accurate VAT reporting. When you first submit a VAT report,...
Lesser Known Kashflow Features
As I work with clients who are using Kashflow, I realise that there are several important features in Kashflow that clients often don’t know about. I am going to highlight some of these in posts over the next period. Some of them may be useful to you. Kashflow Repeat...
Employees or Self-Employed
In a recent tax briefing document, Revenue have promised to continue to focus on the issue of employed v self-employed across a multiplicity of sectors for the foreseeable future. Right now, they are focussing on locums in medicine, healthcare and pharmacy. The move...
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