We have our own areas of excellence and expertise which we have built up from years of experience with particular groups of clients and through investment in training for all our staff. Read on for examples, they may be what you are looking for but if not contact us with your requirements.

CHARITIES

We have many years experience in dealing with Charities and assisting in the achievement of their aims and objectives. As with profit motivated organisations they face all the usual problems and service demands of accounting, and possibly audit and taxation advice.

However they operate in a complex environment of rules and regulations which can provide as a minimum a headache for administrators (who may be unpaid volunteers), and at worst a minefield of potential disasters for failing to comply. If you are an administrator for a charity perhaps the following may be familiar and thought provoking.

• Are you familiar with the accounting regulations? If not then you may be preparing over complicated accounts and perhaps paying for an audit when not required, wasting hard won money
• Do your systems provide the relevant information for statutory accounts? If not, why not? Tailored, relevant systems will save administrative and external costs.
• Do your accounts provide grant and donation providers with a breakdown of individual projects income and expenditure which truly reflect the funding needs of those projects? If not, you may be underselling a project and perhaps losing an opportunity raise more funds
• Are you clear about which, if any, restricted funds are held? Unnecessarily restricted funds can lead to shortfalls of funding for core and administrative activities.
• Are you trading and if so are you aware of the tax and VAT consequences and compliance matters arising? Compliance failure can be expensive and can threaten the valuable contribution made by your charity forever!
• Do you have the "corporate structure" to minimise the consequences? A proper structure can ensure that only minimal funds are paid as taxes.

Charities are one of David's areas of excellence and considerable expertise. Please contact him for further guidance and assurance using the fax-back or e-mail page. Alternatively telephone him on 01642 - 246006.

We have many years experience in dealing with Clubs and Associations and assisting in the achievement of their aims and objectives. As with profit motivated organisations they face all the usual problems and service demands of accounting, and possibly audit and taxation advice.

Many such organisations are virtually exempt from corporation tax though not from indirect taxes such as VAT. They are usually also involved to some extent in the licensed trade and their financial performance reflects the recession in the brewery and public house industry. They are managed, usually with considerable success, mainly by committees of unpaid volunteers with little or no formal expertise in running what can be a large business.

It remains vital that committees should have access to expert advice to assist them to:

• Run the business at a surplus to ensure that facilities for the members are maintained or improved. Are you sure that your club is maximising its potential? Do you know where or why performance is weak?
• Arrange long term finance. Brewery incentives linked to finance deals can be quite complex. Do you understand your present deal? Can you negotiate a better deal now?
• Safeguard from loss of the assets under their care, particularly cash. Do you have cost effective internal controls to ensure that losses do not occur?
• Plan effectively to ensure that improvement projects are sufficiently well financed and can be completed with the funds available. VAT planning is a vital matter, particularly if significant property improvements are planned. The impact of VAT on cash flow and finance requirements can be suprisingly bad. Has your club in planning such a major project taken VAT advice?
• Avoid any costly taxation or VAT compliance failures. Contributions Agency and PAYE inspections are now being performed in a very rigorous way realising significant recoveries of tax and NI contributions. Are your procedures wholly compliant? Customs and Excise visits may also find failures to account properly for transactions on notional sales such as duty drinks. Do you know what the correct VAT treatment is?

Roger and David (who particularly excels in VAT and Taxation problems) ably assisted by Julia and Pauline, have years of experience and knowledge of Clubs and Associations, and would be delighted to advise or provide assurance. Please contact David or Roger in the first instance, using our fax-back or e-mail page or telephone:

David	01642 - 246006
Roger	01609 - 777722

They would be delighted to advise or put your mind at rest regarding any matters raised above or any other matters which you may raise with them.

We pride ourselves in being able to provide an audit for all kinds of enterprises, whether required by a constitution and rules or Law. We have a wealth of experience in audits from the straight forward to those involving complex disclosures and rules such as pension and life assurance funds, from the smallest organisation to public companies.

Audit is often viewed rather negatively - the statutory nuisance - perhaps at best giving comfort that your business is tax compliant. Sadly this has often been true as effort was poorly focused and did not produce economic benefit. Our analytical approach can reveal to clients much about their business and its performance, highlighting strengths and guiding change.

We determine an appropriate audit plan to ensure that we provide audit compliance at minimum cost, maximising our knowledge of the clients business, leaving our clients able to invest their time with us in more profitable areas.

Do you consider that audit should add value? Is your present audit only satisfying a regulatory requirement?

If you answered yes to both these questions and are interested in a positive approach to audit, then contact Roger using the fax-back or e-mail page to discuss your requirements.