Step back in time with us as we reflect on a year with our business services team…
It has been a turbulent year trying to get back to normality after Covid. It has been great to get back in front of clients again, holding lots of face-to-face client meetings while still continuing with zoom calls. This hybrid approach allows us to offer flexibility for us to connect with our business owner clients in a way that suits them, utilising technology where appropriate.
We have helped a lot of clients transition their finance function from other software to Xero and also helped existing Xero users gain better insights into their financial performance with the information that is available.
A number of local businesses have required full conversions of their finance functions to Xero and CKLG has helped them make the most out of the benefits of these digital transformations. We have helped businesses from different industries, each with different specific requirements.
- Retail – epos system integration
- Professional services – new sales processes
- Marketing design – reporting improvements
The businesses making the digital transformation to Xero are now seeing the benefits of streamlining their finance processes, connecting data sources in the cloud through the benefits of API’s and understanding their numbers effectively with better more up-to-date reporting.
There have been a lot of updates with Xero this year, and this year we have been making the most of the continued improvements available with Xero’s reporting function. The latest reporting improvements have allowed our business service team to provide better insights and guidance to our clients so that business owners can make better decisions.
And that’s not all, we’ve continued to assist clients in filing CIS returns, VAT returns, and producing annual accounts and corporation tax returns allowing business owners to focus on their business activities. As well as the day-to-day business finance management we have also delved in on some more complex work including:
- Assisting with the sale for over £100m of a long-term technology company client for which we have provided multiple services for over 15 years.
- Succession planning, successfully helping shareholders of an owner managed business dispose of their shares to an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT). This was completely tax free for the selling shareholders and now that the company is owned by the EOT, it can award bonuses of up to £3,600 to each of its employees free of income tax.
- R&D tax claims, over a number of clients.
We have also been continuing to work with our partner Payroll Sorted to ensure a smooth payroll process for our clients requiring payroll services.
Taking on new clients, and building new relationships to assist across the board with all business needs.
Our managers Alex and Sarah attended the Digital Accountancy Show and Accountex, to develop their knowledge of digital resources which has resulted in our ‘app stack’ growing. Partnering with new apps to make sure our clients can work in the most efficient ways.
You may have heard Alex on Cambridge 105 radio as he produced multiple podcasts this year talking to Neil Whiteside on various accounting updates. You can listen to all the podcasts on our website here.
We continue to work closely with our Private Client team to provide information for Tax Returns, to determine unused pensions allowances from earlier years to maximise tax reliefs available, and confirming the Capital Gains Tax position when company shares are sold/gifted to the next generation or a company is liquidated.
We welcomed James to our team in October as a Trainee Executive, James will be continuing his AAT studies in the new year.
It hasn’t all been about the work. We put our teamwork to the test by stepping out of the office and onto a shuffleboard table. Alex and Vicky versus Sarah and Chloe, let’s just say there is a rematch on the cards!
What a busy year it has been and we are excited to see what 2023 holds for our Business Services team!
