Do I need an accountant for my start up business?

A start up business needs many different things to get it off the ground and keep it running, and they all seem to cost the earth, often at a time when you have not yet had the chance to make the money to pay for them.

It is therefore understandable that you might look at what things can be trimmed and what you really need in order to get tings going quickly, effectively, and whilst making a profit.

It stands to reason that accountancy is one of the things that many business start up owners question the need for. Is it an extra expense that you do not need? Is it something that you could do for yourself? Is it something essential that your business really cannot live without? Do you legally need one?

To explain further, Rogers Spencer, specialist accountants in Nottingham look at the truth behind whether you really need an accountant for your start up business and what role they can play for you.

The role of an accountant

The first thing that you might reasonably ask yourself is what an accountant can actually do for your business. There is a temptation to see them as little more than a bookkeeper, but there are actually many more roles that they can play within your business.

Not only will they help you to prepare your annual accounts and tax returns, but they can also help you to get funding from banks and business funds by assisting in writing a solid business plan.

They can also help you navigate effective accounting software and maintain accurate financial records right from the very beginning. An accountant will not only work out your tax bill for you, but also deal with your tax registration, and calculate your expenses and allowances.

When you reach the point of taking on staff, they can help you manage the PAYE and payroll for them, as well as your own dividends and shares. It is important to remember that your accountant has dealt with a great many businesses, all in different positions, so they are in a terrific position to give you some valuable business advice.

Accountants are not just there to help you with what you have done, they are also very effective at helping you to plan how you should move forwards with your business and create the growth that you are looking for.

Taxation

Tax is one of those unfortunate realities of any business, and it is something that you must stay on top of. Your accountant can ensure that you are registered for all the necessary forms of tax and can help you to calculate what your tax bills will be.

This is not only important at the time of filing them, but also in advance of this, when they can advise you how much money you need to be setting aside to pay for this. They can look at your Self Assessment Tax, Corporation Tax and VAT, and many will have tried and tested, but still legal ways to help reduce what your tax bill can be.

This is all important when it comes to staying on top of things, but also for avoiding huge penalties from HMRC. Failure to pay on of these bills, wrongly calculating what you owe, or deliberately hiding something can result in some massive fines for both you and your business. This is not something that anyone can afford, and in the light of what the penalties might be, an accountant seems a far more cost-effective option.

Time saving

When you start up your own business, you are likely to find that there are simply not enough hours in the day. There will be a lot if different issues that are demanding your attention, not to mention the work that you need to put into actually helping your business to grow and develop. As your accounts need proper time and attention in order for them to be exact and correct, it can be better to hand them over to a qualified accountant. They can help to ease the pressure on you at a time when you can often feel as though you are being pulled from one place to another. This is often when mistakes happen, so your accountant can take care of a massive side of your business, allowing you to spend more time on the things you need within your business.

Business growth

It is only natural that you will want your business to grow, and your accountant can help with this. No matter how much business acumen you have, and accountant can help you to see your blind spots and avoid you making important mistakes. We all know that it can be essential to have a fresh pair of eyes on a situation, and this is exactly what an accountant gives you.

They can ensure that your business plan accommodates your future growth so that it can be supported and achieved in a way which is sustainable. If you do not have the right things in place to underpin your growth, your business can often collapse under the pressure, and this is something that your accountant can advise you on and help you to plan for.

In truth, whilst accountancy in the early days might seem like something that you can handle for yourself, there are a great many potential pitfalls. There is no legal requirement for your business to have a qualified accountant to do your books, but anything that you overlook or get wrong now could soon come back to bite you, with hefty consequences.

An accountant for your business is therefore a worthwhile investment to not only get your start up off the ground, but to continue to take it to new heights knowing that everything is properly and correctly taken care of. They can give you a huge business advantage, not to mention an edge over the competition and a good accountant can often turn out to be more valuable that you could ever imagine.