Seven New Year’s resolutions for your business

 

A cashflow forecast is one of the most useful financial tools for business owners. It shows you how much money you have coming into your business and how much is going out.

 

The forecast will help you understand if your business has capacity for growth, or if you need to take action to plug any cashflow gaps. It is also useful when seeking funding from a bank, alternative lender or investor.

 

If you already have one, review it and make sure it’s accurate and up-to-date. An accountant can help with your cashflow projections.

 

Download our FREE Cashflow Forecast Template here  

 

 

 

 

Now is a good time to revisit your business plan.

 

Your business plan should be periodically reviewed and updated where required, such as reducing costs or making plans to sell your products or services in new markets to make up for reduced sales elsewhere.

 

Consider everything in your business plan such as cashflow and sales forecasts, business operations and marketing strategies.

 

Check that your plan is accurate and up-to-date. Go through your goals and key performance indicators to decide whether they are still realistic. While you might need to reduce some targets, there could be new business opportunities you’ve spotted that you can add to your plan.   

 

 

 

 

Pension Auto-enrolment has been a discussed in Ireland for many years and it finally looks set to be introduced in late 2025. Auto-enrolment is a new pension savings scheme for certain employees who are not already paying into a pension. The new scheme will have an impact on employers that do not operate a workplace pension scheme already.

We do not have too much information yet on how this new Pension Auto-enrolment scheme will operate. However, for the moment we advise that you look at your payroll system and ensure that it will be able to take instruction for enrolment, calculate and pay employee and employer contributions to the Central Processing Authority.

 

Under the scheme employers will need to match the contributions made by employees. Employers will need to take account of this in their 2025 budgets as it will increase their payroll bill. 

 

We will continue to update our Auto-enrolment Knowledge Hub as more information on the scheme is announced. 

 

Now may be the time to set up a pension for yourself, if you don’t have one already. A pension can help you save money on your tax bill, and it is one of the most tax-efficient ways to extract profits from a business. 

 

 

 

 

 

While the deadline for self-assessment tax returns is not until the autumn it is a good idea to file early and not leave it until the last minute.

 

Leaving it late can lead to errors and you missing out on tax reliefs you’re entitled to. It also boosts your cashflow planning and means you’ll avoid penalties for filing your tax return late. If you do have a high tax bill it will give you time to plan how you will pay.

 

Remember even if you file now you may not need to pay until October. 

 

 

 

 

All businesses want to stay compliant in their tax affairs, but people also want to reduce their tax bill. They only want to pay what they need to and not a cent more.

 

As your business grows you may benefit from tax planning to help reduce your tax bill. 

 

Successful business tax planning can make a huge difference to your profits, tax liability and the growth of your business.

 

If you are looking to sell your business or if you are hopeful that a family member will take over from you in the future, you may also benefit from succession planning. It’s never too early to start planning. In fact, we suggest you have a plan in place several years before your expected exit from the company so that you can minimise or eliminate tax upon the transfer or sale. It is often too late to reduce the tax liability after a sale has taken place, or where the death of a business owner has occurred.

 

 

 

6. Automate your accounting

 

 

 

Many businesses are perfectly happy with their accountant. However, there are others who feel let down by the service they receive. If your accountant is difficult to contact, lacks the knowledge and expertise to complete the work needed, uses out-of-date systems, or if your business has outgrown a small accountancy practice now may be a good time to switch.

 

Similarly, if your business has grown over the last few years, it might be time to outsource more tasks to an accountant. For example, the new enhanced reporting requirements for payroll and Pension Auto-enrolment may put new pressures on businesses that run their own payroll, so it may be the right time to outsource this. Bookkeeping is also something that many businesses outsource to their accountant. 

 

The good news is that switching accountant is easy and usually does not take up too much time. Most of the work is done by the two accountants.

 

Read more about switching accountants here