1. Where there’s a will. Wills shouldn’t just be reviewed when you want to make an alteration for personal reasons; it’s a good idea to check periodically that it is tax effective.
2. Transfer window. Consider transferring assets with growth potential to the next generation. If the tax cost is too high, consider whether the assets’ value can be ‘frozen’ e.g. by using a new class of shares which capture the future growth in value.
3. Think ahead. Avoid having contractual arrangements to sell shares in a trading company or partnership on death as this may prevent business property relief being available.
4. That’s a relief. Make the most of business property relief. If you personally own assets used by your company, would the BPR position be improved if they were transferred to the company? Where you wish to retain some control, consider transfer of assets qualifying for BPR to a discretionary trust – holdover relief should be available. Lastly, do your company’s shares qualify for BPR? If not, would a demerger help?
5. Save for their futures. Remember you can invest in pensions on behalf of non-earning children and still obtain basic rate tax relief up to £3,600.

You may not have previously considered your accountant to be the best advisor when it comes to preparing a business for sale, but you may be surprised at how much knowledge and experience they have in this area – at CBHC we have considerable expertise in this type of transaction, so can guide and support you in achieving the best possible price.

It’s best to start planning early for any business sale, so that you can take steps to maximise its attractiveness to potential buyers – even something like its structure could have a bearing. For example, if your personal skills and experience are key to its success, then a buyer might want to retain you in some kind of capacity.

As with many things in business, you should get your paperwork in order. The first step of the sales process itself is to create a Sales Information Memorandum. This comprehensive document informs potential buyers of the company’s essential facts and figures, from key staff and organisational structure to business strategy and growth potential. Intended to demonstrate the benefits of buying the company and provide evidence to support the Business Valuation, it should also detail products and services, systems and procedures, competitive advantages, location and premises, financial and market data, customers and suppliers, and indicate any reliance on current owners.

Price matters
Setting the right asking price is important too – too high, and you’ll put buyers off, to low, and you won’t reap the benefit of your years of hard work. It’s essential to have an in-depth understanding of the business being sold, know its market inside out, and have a detailed evaluation of its growth potential. At CBHC we have access to cutting edge software which provides data on every published corporate finance deal in the world, as well as industry-leading market research. Using this data, combined with a detailed analysis of the profit and loss, balance sheet, business forecast and goodwill valuation, we can help you to arrive at a realistic figure.

Tax considerations should be borne in mind at an early stage, because they might tip the balance from a deal that’s viable to one that’s not – structuring the deal in a tax efficient way is critical, so it’s best to consult a specialist tax advisor.

Once everything is in place and your business is ready to market, think about how potential buyers may be contacted. A public announcement isn’t advised, since it could create uncertainty amongst customers, suppliers and staff, so a direct yet discreet approach to potential purchasers is the best option – or you can ask a corporate finance advisor to do this for you.

Specialist knowledge
Make sure you choose one who knows your industry and type of business well, as this will ensure you receive genuine interest, and the sort of price offers you are looking to achieve. This is something we at CBHC can help with, as we have access to a network of investors, as well as information on every company in the UK and Northern Ireland. This allows us to create tailored target listings in order to approach potential purchasers, in confidence, on your behalf.

Agreeing the terms and reaching completion is often the most stressful stage of selling a business, since so much time and energy has already been expended on making the deal work – especially since it can be difficult to gain perspective, especially if your company has been your life’s work. It’s because of this that we always suggest both buyer and vendor use third parties to negotiate price, exit terms, staff retention and profitability targets, as well as to manage due diligence – of course, these are also areas that CBHC is well placed to handle.

For more information and advice on developing an effective business plan, please contact our Corporate Finance Team on 01245 495 588.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past year or so, chances are you won’t have failed to notice that the London 2012 Olympic Games are almost upon us – but what might this mean for businesses, and how can they prepare?

There are many types of business in our region that will see a very positive impact on their bottom line, thanks to the influx of visitors that this world-renowned sporting event will bring into the area – while training camp locations have been identified across the country, bringing the business benefits to an even greater geographical area.

Some of the most obvious businesses to benefit include hotels and other types of accommodation, restaurants and bars, taxi firms and other tourism-related operations, and it goes without saying that business owners should already be gearing up for increased demand in July – but there should be a knock on effect that could boost other types of business too.

Whether you expect your business to be directly impacted by the Olympics or not, you should talk to your staff ahead of the Games, and ask them to let you know as early as possible if they intend to take annual leave – with all the competition locations within just a few hours’ journey from our region, chances are a number will have tickets for specific events, while die-hard fans might want to book time off to watch the live coverage.

You could even use the events to bolster camaraderie within your workforce – perhaps you might arrange for a TV to be put into an area used for breaks (make clear your guidelines on when it can be watched, to ensure nobody takes advantage), or alternatively why not think about undertaking some kind of Olympics-themed team-building activity, tapping into the upbeat mood that will grip the country?

Depending on their commute, bear in mind that staff may be affected by the additional load on the transport system during the Games. Depending on individual circumstances, you might want to think about altering working times, encouraging home working or compressed weeks (e.g. five days hours condensed into four actual days) for the duration of the games, and employing conference calls or video/web conferencing rather than face-to-face meetings.

We all want the Olympics to provide the long-awaited boost to the UK’s economy that is expected, but it could be even better than that – hopefully this event will also raise consumer confidence, which can have a very positive impact on the wider economy in the longer term.

It’s all very well coming up with a tempting job description, working out a suitable salary, and listing the essential qualities of your ideal candidate, but if you don’t put that advert in the right place then you might not reach your perfect new employee. The first step is to think about how your ideal candidate might search for a new job.

If it’s a straightforward role, and there will be many candidates in the local area whose skills would be suitable, then you might want to place an advert in the local paper. If your industry requires specific qualifications or skills, then you might want to consider advertising in a trade publication. But, no matter whether your vacancy is at the top or bottom rung of the ladder in your firm’s hierarchy, you can bet that the majority of suitable candidates will be looking for their next career move online.

This means online job boards are a must. The wonder of the digital age, and the beauty of search engines, means that candidates can look for vacancies not just by geographical area and industry, but specific job titles, skills or tasks. But not only does an online job advertisement of this type let you reach exactly the right kind of candidates, it does so without requiring a significant financial investment – you’ll be very pleasantly surprised at just how affordable it is.

We offer an exclusive service to our clients, the CBHC Job Board, which can help you reach suitable candidates online in a very cost-effective way – just speak to your account contact to find out more.

If you’ve not yet heard of WordPress, chances are you will do soon. Basically, it’s an open-source (free) content management system which allows websites to be built quickly and easily. While it’s best not to go it alone entirely with your corporate site if you have no coding experience at all – the result will be far more polished if you go to someone who’s well-versed in the technology – the great news is that sites built this way are available for a much lower cost than traditional sites.

Keep it fresh
One of the most impressive factors is that WordPress sites can be updated online, using a unique log in. With only a little coaching (or some judicious Googling and a little computer savvy), you can easily change the content of existing pages or post a new blog article – which is important, since one of the criteria the search engines are using these days is how ‘active’ a site is. Gone are the days when a website was a static brochure for a business; today it’s got to be a dynamic tool.

WordPress works in a modular way, so you can literally bolt on functionality as and when you require it. There are plenty of ‘widgets’ which cover everything from streaming your Twitter feed onto your homepage to ‘ask the experts’ facilities, which allow visitors to pose questions, which are then answered by your company’s experts, and posted online for all to see.

Styling is also easier than with traditional web design, since there are thousands of free and ‘premium’ templates out there – all you have to do is pick from the myriad of aesthetic choices, and then customise it with your logo and graphics, there’s no need to pay top dollar to a designer. Even the paid-for ‘premium’ themes cost around £30, depending on their originator’s pricing structure, which wouldn’t even get you a couple of hours with a web designer.

Get results
In case you hadn’t already guessed, we switched to a WordPress site almost a year ago, and have never looked back. It was created to retain all the elements of our previous site’s design that we loved, but in a more dynamic package that allows us to be much more nimble with our digital marketing. Because WordPress is so search-engine-friendly, and thanks to the work we’ve done boosting the content and functionality of our site, our Google Analytics results have already shown improvement.

Thanks to the popularity of this technology (because its benefits are just so clear to see), there’s now plenty of WordPress experts who will create you a website for a very reasonable price. Why not ask around your business network? You’re bound to get a recommendation from someone, which is always a reliable way to meet a great new supplier.

To view our website, visit www.cbhc.uk.com

Firstly, we’re going to tackle the ‘why’. In short, business awards are an excellent opportunity to have a third party – often a trusted one, such as an industry publication or organisation – declare that your business is a success. This might be generally speaking, in categories such as ‘business of the year’, or it might have a more specific focus, for example awards for marketing, growth, sustainability, customer service or innovation.

Such an accolade will acknowledge the talent and hard work of your team, and so will have a great effect on morale, and the upbeat message can also help convey a positive message about the company to the partners or board, investors, existing clients, and even potential customers. You can use your win (or even a short-list position) to generate good publicity about your firm, as it gives you a reason to write a press release, or alternatively blog about it or announce it through social media channels.

On reflection
In addition, going through an award application process might help you to highlight areas of the business that are operating particularly well, as well as you think could be improved – and this intelligence can be used to inform your business planning activities.

So where do you start? The first step is to find a suitable award to enter, so discover what is being run in your area (check out local newspaper and business networking groups’ websites), and also find out what your industry has to offer too (trade publications are usually a good place to look).

Once you’ve discovered all the award entry options out there, sift through and decide which ones your firm is eligible for – read the criteria carefully, since it’s best to only enter awards you can be sure you can put forward a strong case for. Don’t be tempted to dash off an entry into every category, since it won’t get you far. Winning entries are considered, well-crafted, persuasive, and should take more than just a few minutes to create – it’s simply not worth wasting your time on below-par entries.

Plan ahead
Before you go any further, you should schedule the entry deadlines, along with time blocked out for completing your application, into your diary. Make sure you ask any colleagues involved in the entry process to do the same. It’s as important as any marketing activity, and the results will depend on the strength of your written application, so it’s worth taking the time to put things together properly. It’s a good idea to gather together any information and evidence that you will need to inform and illustrate your answers before you get started – a team brainstorm can be good for this, as several minds are better than one.

Then you should read all the questions again – it’s a bit like taking an exam, one of the golden rules is ‘make sure you answer the question’, so ensure that you really understand what the judges are looking to see before you start writing. Don’t be tempted to trot out the same entry to several different awards, it really is a case of tailoring your argument each time. You can recycle any particularly persuasive copy about your business in general by all means, but you really need to make sure each entry addresses the judging criteria for each award.

Keep it concise
The next golden rule is to keep to the wordcount. Judges don’t look favourably on very long answers since it makes their job more lengthy, plus length doesn’t necessarily indicate quality – it’s possible to pad out copy quite significantly without including any further information, so make sure your entry doesn’t waffle in this way.

Some awards ask specific questions and give individual wordcounts for each section, but others are more flexible and ask you to cover a number of areas in one sizeable piece of copy. If you come across the latter, it’s really important to make sure your entry has a logical structure, so use headings and sub-headings if necessary to clarify.

The beginning and the end are the most important bits, so make sure that these are the strongest part. The first paragraph will set the tone (first impressions count!), whereas the final paragraph will stick in the judges’ minds (and create lasting impression). Whatever you do, don’t be modest in any part of your application, as playing down your achievements won’t get you anywhere.

If your award guidelines state that you can use enclosures, put together additional documentation that can add weight to your case. Charts and graphs are particularly useful, if they’re relevant to the category – for example, if you’re entering an award where one of the criteria is business growth.

Check carefully
Well before the closing date, have your finished entry looked over by at least two people who have not been involved in writing it, to pick up on errors or typos that the team may have missed. If this isn’t possible, get your entry completed early, put it aside for a week, and revisit it before you make your submission (you’ll be able to see it with a fresh pair of eyes, and spot errors you may have missed previously). Once it’s ready to go, make sure you present your entry well. Paper forms should be typed rather than handwritten, and if you must enter online, be very careful when copying and pasting.

It’s a good idea to go to the awards ceremony, even if you don’t think you’ve won – for starters you never know, plus it’s a great opportunity for your team to get together and celebrate its successes, as well as do a spot of networking.
Whether you make the shortlist or actually win your category, use it as an excuse to do some PR. Most awards publicise the winners, but will do so with their interests to the fore, so it’s best to do your own publicity too. It’s also a good idea to write a blog post on your own site (if you don’t have a dynamic site, read this article to find out why you need one), and add the winner’s logo to it – available from the award organisers, this can also be put on marketing materials or stationery. You could also display trophies, certificates, press cuttings and photos from the ceremony at your premises, so that staff and visitors alike know that your firm’s achievements have been recognised in this way.

Of course, it should go without saying, but if you don’t win, simply try again next time!

There are a variety of reasons why an investigation might be triggered (click here to read more about them), but random selections are also made, so there is no way of telling whether your past returns – and even your current year’s affairs – will be put under scrutiny.

To avoid prolonged disruption to your business, and protect you from the distress of the process itself, we can represent you during an investigation – but of course there are costs involved. The best way to protect yourself against unexpected expense of the tax investigation professional fees is to subscribe to our Tax Investigation Service, which will cover the cost of us representing you during an HMRC investigation, or a PAYE, NIC or VAT dispute.

For a surprisingly low cost, we can offer you peace of mind in financial terms, and also ensure that if you are selected for a tax investigation, you will have the benefit of a trusted professional to provide you with expert representation. For more detail, please visit our Tax Investigation Services page, call 01245 453881, or alternatively email gary.white@cbhc.uk.com.

Developing a written policy on the acceptable use of social media benefits employees and employers alike. It not only helps a company to protect itself from liability for the actions of its workers, empower its managers, and comply with the law, but it will give employees clear guidelines to follow, and help them to draw a line between their private and professional lives.

If you already have a policy on how email and the internet should be used, this can be used as the basis of the new social media guidelines – you simply need to expand its remit. A comprehensive social networking policy should cover what constitutes acceptable use of the internet and emails, smart phones, using social network sites for personal purposes, and any blogging or tweeting on behalf of the company. Since social media platforms vary so much, it can be worth splitting parts of your policy into sections, so that Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and blogging are all covered in very specific terms. Your policy should also cover network security, data protection and monitoring, as well as setting out disciplinary procedures. The monitoring of your new policy should also be set out within the document, but make sure you consult with your employees first on how this will be undertaken.

You must be very clear throughout your policy when it comes to drawing a distinction between business and personal use of social media, and if you decide to allow limited private use, be explicit about what this means – for example, you might be happy to allow employees to access their personal social networks through their work computer during their lunch break, but not at any other time. Remind employees of privacy settings on social networking sites, so that they can keep their personal pages personal, and it’s also worth including cross references to your bullying and harassment policy.

When it comes to social media activity undertaken on behalf of the company, it’s a good idea to set out rules on what information employees may disclose, and suitable opinions for them to express, referencing any relevant legislation on copyright and public interest disclosure as necessary. It can be a good idea to decide that pro-active posts should be approved by a designated senior member of your marketing department before they are issued. You should also include guidelines for crisis management situations, so that any negative situations can be dealt with swiftly and before they get out of hand.

It’s important to maintain consistency throughout your company’s policies, so that your employees aren’t confused by mixed messages. Try to apply the same standards in the social media arena as you would in the office, and give examples of what sort of behaviour constitutes a breach of the policy, and how such transgressions would be disciplined.

While your Marketing and HR departments are likely to take key roles in developing your new social media policy, in fact all your staff should be involved – a consultation process is advised, so that staff feel engaged with the new guidelines, and this will also help ensure that the resulting policy is fair. There are also a number of legal considerations to be borne in mind, including the Human Rights Act 1998, the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, and the Data Protection Act 1988 – needless to say, it’s well worth having your document evaluated by a suitably qualified individual before issuing it company-wide.

There’s a huge proportion of people in the UK who haven’t made a Will, but such a disinclination is likely to be even more prevalent among family business owners, since the process of deciding on the details is likely to be even more tricky – there may well be a tension between commercial and emotional priorities. It can be even more daunting if the business owner has several children, since then the concept of equality comes in too.

However, doing nothing is not an option, since leaving the company’s fate to intestacy rules may mean that the business does not pass to the family member who is best-placed to continue it, sometimes even meaning that it must be sold. The earlier in your business’s development you begin a succession plan, the easier it will be. Five years prior to retirement should be considered a minimum, and ten years would be even better, since the process is likely to be smoother and more successful when given more time.

To identify your succession objectives, you’ll first need to ask yourself a number of questions. When would you like to retire? Would you want to continue working in the business in some capacity or other, maybe in a consultancy role? What are your financial needs likely to be during retirement? Are you fully prepared to hand over control of the business, or do you need other activities to help fill the void? What are your spouse’s needs? Are there any family members not actively involved in the business, but who would want to retain an interest? And finally, is family succession the best option or might you consider a sale?

It’s also a good idea to begin with a family consultation, so you can consider the feelings, ambitions and wishes of everyone involved. Make sure you keep them all involved throughout the process too, as the plan develops – you might want to consider setting dates for formal succession meetings, and creating an agenda for each, to make sure everything stays on a business footing.

The resulting plan should set out your key objectives for the succession process, and outline a timetable from the identification of a successor through a staged transfer of responsibilities. It should also detail any contingency plans deemed necessary (for example, what if your preferred successor has other plans?), a leadership and development programme for your successor, your exit strategy, the successor’s role and responsibilities, and the ownership structure.

When it comes to identifying your successor, try to choose an individual whose skills and aptitudes make them the best choice for the business – this may be your first-born child, but equally it may be another family member. If no-one within the family is willing and able to take on the responsibility, you might need to consider preparing your business for sale instead. However, there is another option – a partnership agreement can ensure the succession of a business can be chosen on a commercial basis without affecting the family’s inheritance.

If you’d like to find out more about how we can help support you in your succession planning, including asset tax strategies to help you minimise tax liability, please talk to our Business Advisory department.

In the past few weeks, more than 1.2m homeowners have discovered they’ll be affected by a rise in their monthly payments, thanks to two major mortgage lenders announcing rate hikes.

Around 1m Halifax mortgage customers currently on a variable rate of 3.5% discovered that the bank would be raising their Standard Variable Rate (SVR) to 3.99%, while around 200,000 offset borrowers at RBS/NatWest found out that their rate would be brought in line with the bank’s wider SVR of 4%, a rise of 0.25%.

The general consensus is that base rates will remain at the same level for another few years, but because of the situation in the Eurozone, there have been murmurings about a possible second credit crunch – so borrowers may like to consider whether now is the right time to switch to a new product, and there are some very tempting options out there.

Compared to the current low base rate of 0.5%, mortgage lenders’ rates may seem relatively high, but the current deals available are very cheap indeed historically speaking. For example, five-year fixes are available at under 3.5%, while lifetime trackers can be found under 3%.

If you’re currently on your bank’s SVR, then it could pay to investigate the options open to you, and discover whether you could pay less and enjoy greater peace of mind should interest rates rise. Why not speak to our Wealth Management department? Their free, independent advice will help you to make the best decision when it comes to home loans.