A health check for your accounts, the 2023 Business Finance Week, tackling the annual tax return for first timers plus flood resilience projects
Welcome to today’s blog post – be sure to contact us if you have any questions.
Managing your cash flow
With increasing supplier prices and economic uncertainty, managing your business’s cash and understanding its flow are now vital tools in maintaining resilience and being able to adopt flexible strategies for success.
Cash flows are a reflection of all the cash that is flowing in and out of a business. Owners can look at the direction of the cash flows for insights about the health of specific products or services and overall market patterns.
Some types of business are more likely to run into cash flow problems, while other types appear to be more resilient. If you are a business owner, you might be wondering which category your business falls into. No matter how inventive or simple your business model is, you can still have problems with cash flow. Here are our thoughts on managing the flow of cash in your business:
The first stage of understanding and predicting how funds flow is to perform a health check on your accounts. Look at your latest profit and loss statement and check that your income is sufficient to cover your expenses. If your profit is falling behind your expenses and cash flow is slowing down, you might need to take action. Prepare a funds flow statement so you know where the money goes.
Next, create a yearly budget and look at where cash could become tight, identifying months where you can save to cover off the quieter times. Look at those quieter months and think about flexible work scheduling, new products or services, or other activities to tide you over.
Finally, make sure you collect your money from those who owe you quickly. Reward customer loyalty by offering early bird discounts, set credit limits and payment terms to ensure customers follow the rules. If you take on new customers, make credit checks. Penalise late payers and request up front deposits or payment.
Talk to us about preparing a funds flow statement and annual budget so that you can work on your business for maximum success!
Business Finance Week 2023
From 6 to 10 November 2023, the British Business Bank, along with several partners from across the UK, will host Business Finance Week 2023.
With a host of free nationwide and regional in-person events and webinars, Business Finance Week 2023 aims to help smaller businesses learn about the different finance options available to them to support their individual needs.
Events coming up as part of the week include:
Making sense of start-up funding: Where do I start?
Monday 6 November 2023, 12:30pm to 1:30pm, online event
Unlocking potential for your business through diversity and sustainability
Tuesday 7 November 2023, 10am to 11:30am, online event
Growing your business: An interview with a founder
Tuesday 7 November 2023, 12:30pm to 1pm, online event
Maintaining healthy levels of working capital
Wednesday 8 November 2023, 10am to 11:30am, online event
Prepare your business for external finance
Wednesday 8 November 2023, 12:30pm to 1:20pm, online event
Exploring working capital in Northern Ireland
Wednesday 8 November 2023, 2pm to 3:30pm, online event
Investment for innovation
Thursday 9 November 2023, 9:30am to 11am, online event
Growing your business: An interview with a founder – 9 November
Thursday 9 November 2023, 12:30pm to 1pm, online event
What next? Finance as a journey
Friday 10 November 2023, 12:30pm to 1:30pm, online event
Inspiring inclusive entrepreneurship
Friday 10 November 2023, 10am to 12:30pm, The Duncairn, Belfast
See: Business Finance Week 2023 – British Business Bank (british-business-bank.co.uk)
First time tax return?
Taxpayers who are new to Self-Assessment for the 2022 to 2023 tax year may include:
- those who are newly self-employed and earned more than £1,000;
- a new partner in a business partnership;
- those who had a total taxable income of more than £100,000;
- those who have received any untaxed income such as tips, commission, money from renting out a property or income from savings, investments, and dividends; and
- those claiming Child Benefit but they or their partner have an income above £50,000.
Self-employed taxpayers must also register for Class 2 National Insurance contributions.
You should have registered with HMRC by 5 October 2023 here: Register for Self Assessment – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Paper tax return deadline
The tax return deadline for the 2022 to 2023 tax year is Tuesday 31 October 2023 for those completed on paper forms.
Online tax return deadline
The tax return deadline for the 2022 to 2023 tax year is Wednesday 31 January 2024 for online returns and to pay any tax owed.
See: Self Assessment tax returns: Who must send a tax return – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
£25 million for projects using nature to increase flood resilience
The ring-fenced funding, provided by the Government and the Environment Agency, will support natural flood management schemes across England that use techniques such as planting trees and creating wetlands to slow and store water to reduce the risk of flooding. These schemes are also proven to improve air and water quality, provide habitats for wildlife, and create green spaces for communities.
This new funding builds on the £15m natural flood management pilot programme which ran until 2021. Across the 60 pilot projects supported by this programme, the equivalent of 1.6 million cubic metres of water storage was created and 15,000 homes were better protected from flooding, while 4,000 hectares of habitat and 610 kilometres of river were improved, and 100 hectares of woodland were planted.
The £25 million will also help harness the power of nature and support the Environment Agency’s FCERM Strategy, which provides a longer-term vision of how we will create climate-resilient places and better protect and prepare homes and businesses from flooding and coastal change.
See: £25 million for projects using nature to increase flood resilience – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)