Home > small businesses

Tag: small businesses

Growing opportunities for SMEs to secure public sector contracts

Posted by Wellden User

The Government has announced that it is aiming to increase its spending with small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) to a third by 2020, and we are encouraging all our businesses clients to get involved.

The most recent public expenditure figures show that from 2013 to 2014, the government spent £11.4 billion of its budget with SMEs – equivalent to 26 per cent of its total spend during that period.

This taken into context with its new target of 33 per cent by 2020 would mean that an extra £3 billion per year will be spent with SMEs, either directly or through the supply chain.

 

Businesses need to prepare for changes to company law

Posted by Wellden User

New changes  to company legislation have recently been announced, which  will require businesses to register individuals with ‘significant control’ over the company.

Under proposals, laid down in the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015, all businesses that are not subject to specified separate disclosure requirements must create and maintain a register containing details of any person with ‘significant control’.

A person with significant control is loosely defined as a person who directly or indirectly holds more than 25 per cent of the shares or voting rights in the company.

It also includes any person who directly or indirectly has the power to appoint or remove the majority of the board of directors of the company or otherwise has the right to exercise or actually exercises ‘significant influence’ or ‘control’ over the company.

Any person who has the right to exercise or actually exercises significant influence or control over a trust or firm (such as a partnership) that is not a legal entity, which in turn satisfies any of the first four conditions over the company, is also considered a person with significant control under the legislation.

The new Person with Significant Control (PSC) Register must be available for inspection and up to date information must also be provided to Companies House at least once per year.

For confidential advice on managing your business, please contact us today.

Reporting standards for small firms simplified

Posted by Wellden User

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has introduced new accounting standards designed to simplify reporting for small and micro businesses.

Micro businesses will now have to report to a different standard than small businesses under the new FRS 105, while small businesses will also have to adjust to a new set of standards.

The FRC’s changes are largely a response to the EU Accounting Directive which significantly increased the size thresholds for small companies.

Small and micro companies will have to report in line with the new standards for accounting periods on or after 1 January 2016.

FRS 105

Micro firms now have a separate reporting standard which allows them to submit accounts with reduced disclosure. Key changes include:

  • financial statements will be presumed true if they are prepared according to legislation
  • simplified balance sheets and profit and loss accounts
  • deferred tax does not need to be accounted for.

FRS 102

The standard previously used by small businesses (Financial Reporting Standard for Smaller Entities) has been withdrawn and a new section aimed at small businesses has been added to the FRS 102 standard. Reporting under FRS 102 is more comprehensive than FRS 105 but still contains reduced disclosures for small businesses.

Mandatory reporting under FRS 102 has already been introduced for medium and large companies with accounting periods on or after 1 January 2015.

Melanie McLaren, executive director of codes and standards at the FRC, said:

“These new accounting standards support the implementation of the micro-entities regime, further simplifying accounting requirements for up to 1.5 million of the UK’s smallest entities.

“They also respond to the new legal framework for disclosure in small company reporting, providing guidance for applying it and improving transparency relating to financial instruments, and they further improve the cost-effective reduced disclosure framework for listed groups by permitting IFRS-based presentation requirements in subsidiaries’ financial statements.”

We can manage your accounts for you. Contact us today for more information.