#startups

What are my VAT obligations under a no deal Brexit?

There are a series of matters you need to be on top of before UK leaves the EU on the 31st of October, 2019. We have answered what VAT charg

Small business accounting - where the biggies fear to tread?

A small business is rife with concerns on a daily basis — I know since I run one myself. I would be kidding if I said I wasn’t inclined to write this post after I saw this news piece about KPMG closing its’ small business accounting service in the UK. I’ve seen in the past 3 or 4 days many “other” small businesses commenting about this on social media and how this does not come as a surprise. I am fairly surprised with it myself and can only attribute it to being a sensible c

Compliance Tech is here to stay - 5 REASONS why Automating Paperwork Is A Boon And Not A Bane

Picture this: A promising Start-up bags a big investment. What follows is heaps of paperwork and tight deadlines to be met (pre-Investment and post Investment) before money hits your bank account. Year 2010 – Scene at the legal/ paralegal/ chartered secretaries’ office? The whole team crunch hours into drafting>> reviewing>> editing every single document to support the pre-funding/ post funding requirements. Let’s translate this into some numbers, Company (mostly the start-up

Assessing your working capital requirements - 5 points to get it right

Cash, or lack thereof kills most small businesses within the first few years of starting up. Inevitably a good awareness of what you need to survive and thereafter to succeed would make a world of difference. Here are 5 tips that could make planning for working capital easier, Understanding inflows - This is not your invoice “due-date”. This is the number of days most of your customers take to pay you. Outflow patterns - Similar to the above, know your own payment cycles. How

Business Productivity Series - Integrated Automation and Business Planning

In our opinion, companies leak efficiency and consequently cash due to two main issues, Zero or limited automation Lack of business planning In the e-book presented, we discuss how to use integrated automation to your benefit in Part 1 and in Part 2, we explain planning for streamlining business goals to its realities. Integrated Automation and Business Planning Note - The ideas presented in the e-book are proprietary to Wolfe Strategies and Evalua8 Corp, please provide back

Smart controls - Building internal controls in a small business

“There's a storm coming, Mr. Wayne. You and your friends better batten down the hatches, because when it hits, you're all gonna wonder how you ever thought you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us” - Selina Kyle (Catwoman): The Dark Knight Rises (2012) When you’re building a product, taking it into market and “hustling” to get jobs in, the last thing on your mind is creating controls for your business. Most small business owners tend to think, “Sure, we’

Rank and Yank: The Performance Appraisal Parody

The human capital is the most coveted of all business resources. There simply can’t be a value attributed to it (not in the real sense we value assets). Your people represent the ideals you have created as an organisation and as a business. So how does one measure and reward good performance?” I shared some thoughts on performance appraisals and information collected on what large corporations are doing to replace the system. Rank and yank famously represents what employees m

My Start-Up: The Big Bright Idea - Ian Simmonds (Founder)

I met Ian in Bournemouth in the summer of 2016 and thought, he seems to have wit and warmth. I wasn't mistaken. We caught up with him to share the war stories and how The Big Bright Idea was born. Here's what happened. 1. Tell us about how you came up with the concept for The Big Bright Idea? What's the story? The Big Bright Idea was founded on the 18th January 2013, but I didn't really ’take up the reins’ in a full time capacity until March 8th the same year. At the time I w

Corporate Inversions - An introduction

We have put together an explainer video to talk about corporate inversions. It was a very popular subject post the proposed deal Pfizer was to make with Allergan. Due to changes made by the Obama government curbing change of domicile, Pfizer walked away from the deal. Investopedia defines Corporate inversion as "one of the many strategies companies employ to reduce their tax burden. One way that a company can re-incorporate abroad is by having a foreign company buy its curre

Think like a CFO - money management hacks for the Start-up CEO

You have a newly formed business and all your concentration is on building that — as it should be. Some of us may have a formal accounting degree or people on board who has financial training. Undoubtedly, one of the biggest factors for business sustainability is streamlining cash flows. It’s a simple term with large consequences, if ignored or ill-managed. A lot of early stage businesses go to an accountant at the year- end and get a set of books hastily done for tax fili