Congratulations!

Congratulations!

Congratulations to our Jarrad Gilbertson for passing his F9 ACCA Financial Management exam!

Where will you get cash if you need it?

With both Brexit and Covid, cashflow for most businesses has been stretched, and may be for some time to come.

Covid measures including furlough and tax deferrals will end. Businesses need to fund the full cost of employees, pay taxes due, and start making repayments for any loans they have availed themselves of.

The economic consequences of Brexit are unclear and will depend on the free trade agreements that the UK can negotiate with the EU and other key trading partners. These may not be fully in place when the transition period ends (31st December 2020). Businesses therefore need to plan ahead and think about how they could deal with further economic uncertainty which might affect sales, the collection of debtors or inventory levels. You may need more cash to hand to ensure you can continue to make payments on time and meet your contractual obligations.

Key considerations:

• What money do you need?
• Why is it needed?
• When do you need it?
• Where will you get in from?

Complete a cashflow forecast.

Please contact us for a free cashflow forecasting template.

If you would like some assistance in preparing a full cashflow forecast plus some advice, please get in touch.

The Martlet Partnership urges SMEs to act now to prepare for Brexit

Many SMEs are unaware that there are some key things they need to do before the end of the year to ensure they can continue to trade from 1^st January 2021.

The UK left the EU on Friday 31 January. There is now a transition period until the end of 2020 while the UK and EU negotiate additional arrangements.

From 1^st January 2021 there are some significant implications for all SMEs, not just those who are involved in importing/exporting or travel, including:

• New customs paperwork and tariffs.
• Changes to data protection and contracts; and
• Visa and travel requirements e.g. when travelling for work.

In addition, businesses that import or export goods, either as sales or in their supply chain, must register for an EORI (Economic Operators Registration and Identification) number.

Commenting on the forthcoming changes, David Macdonald from The Martlet Partnership said; “Brexit is looming with massive consequences for SMEs.  Many SMEs are unaware of some of the changes, partly due to Covid-19 dominating the news.  For example, many are unaware that their terms and conditions may no longer be relevant or understand the steps they need to take to ensure they can continue to import and export goods.”

To help SMEs prepare, The Martlet Partnership, with together with UK200 Group, have produced a helpful guide and 15-point action plan (below), which include details of:

• Preparing for Brexit: A Guide for SMEs (including helpful links to tools and further resources); and
• A 15-point Action Plan.

Concluding, David comments; “The economic consequences of Brexit are unclear and depend on many factors. Businesses need to plan ahead, including preparing cashflow forecasts to ensure they know what money they need, when and where they will get it from. SMEs need to act now to ensure there is no disruption to their business.”

Updated Autumn Support Guide

Following recent developments, our Autumn 2020 Support Guide has been updated and the following sections have been inserted:

• 2 Local Job Support Scheme for closed businesses
• 9 Local authority grants for closed businesses
• 10 Test and Trace isolation payment
• 11 Fines for breaking isolation

Section 3 relating to the Job Retention Bonus has also been updated.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

Autumn Business Support Guide

Following the Chancellor’s announcements last week, we have pleasure in presenting our analysis and detail of the Government winter economic plan.

Of particular relevance are the very welcome announcements of extended credit terms for paying VAT and an extension of the Bounce Back and CBILS loan schemes.

The new Job Support Scheme to replace furlough may not be of great use to many small and medium size businesses but may enable some directors of smaller companies to make claims from which they were excluded under the furlough scheme.

If you have any queries relating to any of the provisions outlined in the attached document then please do not hesitate to contact any member of the team.

What Do the Latest Measures from Rishi mean for your Business?

What is the outlook for SMEs? Practical Guidance for SMEs.

We are experiencing probably the toughest year most of us have known in our business lives.

Thankfully, there has been support available to help us through the crisis.  On 24^th September Rishi announced further measures of support including:

• a new job support scheme;
• an extension to the self-employment income support scheme;
• an extension to the repayment period for bounce back loans;
• the extension of the 5% VAT rate for the hospitality and tourism sectors; and
• an extension of repayment terms for those that deferred their VAT bills and for self-assessment income taxpayers who need more time to pay.

We welcome the latest measures. The Chancellor has shown he is prepared to “think outside the box”.

These measures will ease some of the impact on cashflow, but SMEs still need to take certain actions and focus on a number of areas to protect their cash, their people and their customers.

In August and the first half of September (pre- the new measures announced by Boris and Rishi) we asked SMEs across the UK to share their outlook for the next 12 months.  The findings make for interesting reading – including:

• 61% of SMEs are expecting their revenue to drop over the next 12 months;
• One third (32%) expect to make redundancies; and
• Looking after existing clients, finding new clients and survival are the 3 biggest priorities for SMEs.

Below you can find a full copy of the tracker polls results together with our observations and some practical steps and actions you can take in our SME Outlook Tracker Report.

Verdict on the Chancellor’s Plan

UK200 Group members, including our managing partner, David Macdonald, have reacted to the Chancellor’s announcements yesterday. Here is what they have to say:

Chancellor’s Announcement

Further to the Chancellor’s announcement, we are attaching a useful link to the Government website. We will be providing more information in the very near future.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/chancellor-outlines-winter-economy-plan

Furlough Explained: Answering SMEs Burning Questions

Over recent months the government has announced a number of changes to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme – more commonly referred to as ‘furlough’.

From September the government contribution towards wages is reducing from 80% to 70% up to a maximum of £2,187.50 per month; in October this reduces further to a government contribution of 60% up to a maximum of £1,875. From November the government will not make any financial contribution as the scheme closes on 31^st October.

With changes taking place each month it can be confusing to keep on top of what the changes mean to your business and your employees, plus what you need to do. 

This is why we have created this helpful guide to answer all the common questions we are being asked, plus to provide an ‘at a glance’ summary of the key dates and what support is available from the government in an infographic.

Amongst other things, the guide includes key dates, bringing people back from furlough, record keeping and mental well-being, calculating holiday pay, plus eligibility criteria and guidance if you are considering redundancies.

This guide answers the questions SMEs are asking right now and has been produced to provide valuable assistance to SMEs.

You can download the guide here:

SME Outlook Tracker – Your expectations for the next 12 months

We are now 5 months on from the ‘start’ of the Covid-19 triggered lockdown. The impact of the various measures introduced in this time have affected us all and vary from business to business and across sectors. We would like to better understand the impact on SMEs.

It is in this respect that we would like to invite you to participate in a tracker poll we are conducting to better understand how SMEs are coping and what their expectations are for their businesses over the next months.

The poll will only take up to 2 minutes of your time to participate.

Please click here to participate in the tracker poll.

Your feedback will be used to develop specific support for SMEs whilst also raising key issues and opportunities to the government and other organisations.

#HereForSMEs