If you are a business owner and haven’t got an accountant, then it’s time that you did. Managing one’s finances in addition to running a business can be extremely difficult.
This is even more true if you have no prior experience with accounting and filing your own tax returns.
Not only will an accountant keep your tax returns in order, but they will also have an encyclopaedic knowledge of exemptions that they can claim from HMRC.
This article will delve further into this subject, exploring the main benefits of online accounting for your business:
What Is An Accountant?
Before explaining the benefits of an accountant, let’s first explore what an accountant is. An accountant is a professional responsible for keeping, maintaining, and amending financial records. Accountants do much more than that, however. They also act as financial advisors, helping businesses to grow. By keeping a business’s records, accountants are able to determine the business’s health and chances of success. In addition to these things, accountants also manage individual companies' tax returns. Tax returns are very important. If a business fails to submit theirs, then it could be subject to hefty fines.
Tax Changes
In the coming tax year, changes are being introduced. If you aren’t an experienced accountant and don’t follow tax news, you might not have known this. In the words of the tax specialists from Suretax Accountants, business owners need to prepare for the coming changes. As mentioned in this article’s introduction, however, if you are a busy business owner then the chances are that you don’t have time to sit down and extensively study the latest tax changes. An accountant will be able to do this for you, allowing you to continue focusing on your business and not on taxes.
Tax Exemptions
Tax exemptions, or tax write-offs, are deductions from your total tax bill. Most often, they reflect business expenses that you have already paid. However, there are lots of tax exemptions that you might be able to qualify for. Unfortunately, without extensive knowledge of British tax law, you won’t be able to find all of these exemptions. With tax hikes coming, exemptions are more important than ever. An accountant will not only find exemptions for you, but they will do it without bothering you or asking for your assistance. When it comes time to pay your taxes, the final bill will be presented to you.
Accounting Services
When most people think of an accountant, they just think of people who help complete one’s taxes. Accountants offer much more than that. Some of their duties include: preparing your business’s accounts; helping you to plan out budgets and forecasts; and examining your business’s financial information and record in order to determine whether you can save money by automating specific processes.
The best part about hiring an accountant is that they are often very affordable, making them a very valuable asset.
Financial Advice
Accountants also act as financial advisors, giving their opinion on financial matters and advising specific courses of action with a view to saving your company money. An accountant’s financial advice should be listened to because they are expert financial planners. If you hire an accounting service and work with them for a long time, they will become very familiar with your business’s accounts. Over time, their advice will become more and more valuable to you, until it becomes irreplaceable. The more time you have an accountant working with you, the more accurate their judgments and assessments will be. In addition, you can trust an accountant's advice because they are not biased.
Money and Time
A business owner’s two most precious commodities are time and money. If one were to complete one’s accounting alone, however, one would have neither. Hiring an accountant gives you time to focus on other areas of your business that need improvement. The money that they can save you can also be used to improve your business or to save. An additional stream of money will benefit your business in many ways. Having a little more free time to do other stuff can’t hurt either.
Business Advice
Accountants won’t just offer advice on your finances; they will also offer business advice, including how to grow your company, and what you can do to expand. Accountants will also suggest processes that can be automated. Automating processes is a very effective way of saving time and money. Many processes, such as HR, can be totally automated, eliminating the need for dedicated staff. This allows you to reduce the number of people that you have on your payroll, saving you even more money. An accountant’s business advice is very useful, especially for new business owners who aren’t yet experienced.
Financial Security
The world is becoming increasingly more dangerous. Fraud, theft, and scams have become the norm. People hardly bat an eyelid anymore when they read newspaper articles detailing huge thefts and business frauds. Fortunately, an accountant will be able to insulate you from theft and fraud. An accountant will act as your dedicated financial planner and security advisor, advising you upon appropriate ways to save and store your money. They will make sure that your money is protected against theft. They will also stop you if you begin spending wildly, frittering away your business’s money on silly things.
Making Investments
Accountants can also help you with making investments. Many businesses invest their profits, allowing them to maximise them. If you aren’t an experienced investor or don’t know where to start, then you can ask your accountant to do it for you. Accountants will be able to invest in lots of different things for you, from stocks to crypto. If you already have investments, then you can hand them over to your accountant who will be able to manage them for you. Considering the world’s current financial situation, having an expert financial advisor there to help you with making investments is definitely something that’s worthwhile.
As this article shows, accountant services are very valuable. If you are a business owner, then you will definitely benefit from hiring one. This is especially true considering upcoming changes to taxes.
