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- Accounting & Finance Expertise
- ACCOUNTING ADVISORY
- Advisory
- Alice Stephenson – Founder & CEO, Stephenson Law
- All News
- ALLSTARS EARLY CAREER PROGRAMMES
- APPRENTICES
- April Bembridge – Chief People Officer, Cooper Parry
- Are You Claiming The Right Amount? Gated
- AUDIT – WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY
- Audit and Assurance
- AUDIT FOR AIM LISTED COMPANIES
- B CORP
- Bundle and Pricing Options
- BUSINESS SERVICES INSIGHTS
- BUSINESS STRUCTURING
- Business Support And Grants
- Business Tax
- CAPITAL ALLOWANCES
- CAPITAL GAINS TAX
- Careers – Our Roles
- Careers Contact Us
- Careers Trainees FAQs
- Charities
- Construction And Property
- Contact Thank You
- Contact Us
- COOKIE POLICY
- Cooper Parry Book Club
- Cooper Parry Event
- CORPORATE AUDIT
- Corporate Finance
- Corporate Finance – What Our Clients Say
- CORPORATE FINANCE DEALS
- Corporate Finance News & Insights
- Corporate Social Responsibility
- Covid-19 Collaboration-news
- CP Futures
- CP Innovation
- CP INNOVATION – WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY
- CP INNOVATION FULL PAGE. – DRAFT
- CP Tech 100
- CPERS: COOPER PARRY ENQUIRY RESOLUTION SERVICE
- Creative Tax Reliefs
- CULTURE
- DIVERSITY POLICY
- Early Stage To SME- WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY
- Ecommerce
- Eddie Latham & PJ Scott – Co-founders, Velocity Commerce
- Education
- EMPLOYMENT TAX
- FAQS
- Financial Reporting
- Find Us
- Flexible ‘Finance Bench’
- Future Events
- Galahad Clark – Founder VivoBarefoot
- GLOBAL TALENT PROGRAMME
- GRADUATES
- HEALTHCARE INSIGHTS
- Helena Hills – Founder & CEO, TrueStart
- HIGH GROWTH LOW DOWN
- Homepage
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- HUB CP – Live Lounge
- HUB CP – Live Lounge Velocity Snippets
- HUB CP – Rob Law Trunki Snippets
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- HUB CP LOUNGE – PAUL SCHAFFER, PLUM PRODUCTS
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- Impact Beyond Business
- Impact Beyond Business New template
- In Their Words
- In Their Words Retail
- INDIRECT TAX
- Inheritance Tax
- Intellectual Property & Patent Box
- INTERNATIONAL TAX
- Investment Calculator UK
- James Hyde – Founder & CEO, James and James
- Jay Richards & Cat Agostinho – Co-Founders, Imagen
- Justin Harling – CEO, CAE Technology Services
- LANDLORD
- LEGAL STUFF
- Let’s Stop Calling It R&D V2 Gated
- Life at cooper parry
- Lounge Underwear Webcast
- MAKING TAX DIGITAL
- Management Information and Reporting
- MANAGING AGENTS
- Manufacturing Tax and Advisory
- Marketing Thank You
- MID MARKET – WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY
- Mid-Market
- New Hub CP
- New Hub CP Live Lounge
- Newsletter Form
- Newsletter Thank You
- NFP Webcasts And More
- Not For Profit Audit
- Operational Systems & Technology
- Our People
- Meet the Team
- Meet the Team Retail
- Our People – Big Business
- Our People – Board
- Our People – Business Tax
- Our People – Capital Allowances
- Our People – Corporate Finance
- Our People – CP Innovation
- Our People – Facilities & Wellbeing
- Our People – Leadership
- Our People – Marketing
- Our People – New Business Relationships
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- Our People – Service Charge
- Our People – Tech & High Growth
- Our People – Tech & Platforms
- Our People – Transaction Services
- Our People – Transaction Tax
- Our People – VAT
- Our People – Wealth
- Our People Audit
- Our People Team
- Our Why And Values
- Outsourcing
- OVERSEAS EXPANSION
- Past Events
- Paul Richardson – Executive Chairman, Gymshark
- Paul Turton – CEO, Pact Coffee
- PENSIONS AUDIT
- Personal Tax
- Personal Tax Compliance
- PLACEMENTS
- Preference Centre
- PRIVACY POLICY
- Private Equity Advisory
- PROPERTY AND LANDLORDS
- R&D Capital Allowances
- R&D Newsletter Thank You
- R&D Tax Credits Questionnaire: Are you eligible?
- Raise investment or debt
- Raising Finance
- Read All About It
- Rebelution 2
- Rebelution 2 Top Tips – Cooper Parry Corporate Finance
- Rebelution 2 Top Tips – Cooper Parry IT
- Rebelution 2 Top Tips – Cooper Parry Wealth
- Rebelution 2 Top Tips – CP Futures
- Rebelution 2 Top Tips – VAT & Brexit
- Research & Development Tax Credits
- Research And Development Tax Credits
- RESIDENCE & DOMICILE ADVICE
- Retail
- Retail Advisory
- Retail Tax
- Rob Law MBE – Founder, Trunki
- Scale Up & High Growth
- SECURITY POLICY
- Service Charge
- Service Test
- SETTING UP BUSINESS IN THE UK
- SHARE INCENTIVES AND REWARD
- Share incentives: Annual Reporting
- SHAREHOLDER TAX ADVICE
- Shaun Doak – CEO, React Group Plc
- Small Business
- SNAPSHOT
- Succession Planning
- Supporting start ups
- SUSTAINABILITY
- Tax – What our clients say
- TAX COMPLIANCE SERVICES
- Tax Services
- TAX SETTLEMENTS AND INVESTIGATIONS
- Tech & High Growth
- Tech & High Growth – What our clients say
- TEN STAGES TO INVESTMENT
- TEN STAGES TO SALE
- Test2
- This Is Us
- Tom and Tina Warner – Co-Founders, Warner’s Distillery
- Transaction Deals
- Transaction Services
- Transaction Services – What Our Clients Say
- TRANSACTION TAX
- TRANSFER PRICING
- Trusts and Estates
- UK support for International groups
- VAT SERVICES
- Virtual Bookkeeping
- Virtual FD
- Wealth
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- What our clients say
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Running a business is a juggling act, and with so many to-dos up in the air at one time, it can be tricky knowing which one to pluck out the sky first.
With more than 20 years’ experience supporting ambitious, growing, entrepreneurial businesses, our Head of Outsource Business Services Gary Rouse knows a thing (or ten) about the questions you should be asking to set yourself up for success.
Check them out below:
10 QUESTIONS TO PUT YOUR BUSINESS TO THE TEST
1) How is your business dealing with the current economic environment?
In the current economic environment with soaring energy costs, inflation, and interest rate hikes, how is your business coping?
What impact is it having on the business? How close are you to your numbers? Have you stressed tested your numbers, so you can plan for various scenarios? Have you a have robust strategy in light of the challenges going forward?
2) Can your finance function operate at full capacity remotely?
More than ever, your business has to be able to operate remotely. It’s really important to ensure you are getting the right financial information quickly and efficiently, wherever you are, so that you can make informed business decisions. So, if you aren’t working remotely at full capacity, you need to review your finance function and ensure it’s working more efficiently.
3) Are you running multiple systems across your business that don’t talk to each other? Do you still carry out manual tasks as part of your systems?
If the answer is “yes” to either, then you may not be running your business as efficiently as you could be. Technology is playing a massive part in changing how every business is run, and fully integrated, automated systems can make a huge difference.
4) Are you preparing cashflow forecasts to help make key business decisions?
The last few years have shown us how important cash is to running your business. Understanding the ebbs & flows of your future cash cycle has become even more vital. This means you need to ensure your finance function can quickly provide you with the information you need to understand this future cash cycle and what additional support you may need to maximise your opportunities.
5) Would more cash be helpful to the business, especially in the current environment?
R&D tax incentives claims can pay back up to 33.35% of qualifying spend – and the ‘bar’ to qualify for this generous relief is often much lower than you’d think. It pays to ensure these are being considered fully and properly, claiming all that you’re due, without falling foul of HMRC’s enquiring eye.
The Cooper Parry CP Innovation team works with companies throughout the business lifecycle. Helping them accessing grants, business support from universities, R&D incentives, patents and patent box relief.
6) Do you need support from an adviser that can work with you to help drive your business forward?
Have you done this before? Do you need help in reducing costs? Do you need challenging – or a second opinion on how to ensure you have the right strategy? Do you want to ensure your senior team are aligned in your strategic thinking? Do you want help in raising finance?
You need to ensure you are working with the right business adviser that can help you deliver all of this, so take the time to weigh up your options and choose the right one. Then, you can focus on your strengths: growing the business
7) How do you ensure your team really can help you grow the business?
Whether it’s providing clarity on your vision and strategy, empathising with employees’ personal challenges, having a great environment to work in or providing incentives; having a truly engaged team has never been more important. Creating and building the right culture and having that at the forefront of everything you do is fundamental to ensuring your business is really working as one team.
8) Are you rewarding your key staff in a tax-efficient way?
During these challenging times, we’re seeing a number of businesses restructuring or considering changes to key employee remuneration. If not managed correctly, this can lead to a fall in employee engagement and retention just at a time when you need key staff to help ensure the business is on the right path. As such, a number of businesses are looking at ways to overcome these challenges. An employee share scheme is one example you can use as a cost-effective way to ensure you retain and motivate key staff.
9) Have you thought about the tax impact of your overseas presence?
The world is more connected than ever, and a growing business can very quickly find that it is trading in multi-jurisdictions, dealing with the tax complexities that can flow from this. Spending time to ensure the business is compliant, whilst considering a structure that allows for tax-efficient cross-border trading, will ensure that the business’s cash tax position is carefully managed. This should allow for tax optimisation and, in some cases, tax cash through local tax reliefs such as R&D. A short-term focus could yield long-term tax efficiencies.
10) Are you considering selling your business in the next couple of years?
If you are, then you should be considering now what you need to do to maximise your exit value. Reviewing your systems and finance function to ensure it’s working super efficiently, is ready for the exit, and can provide accurate financial data quickly will give potential buyers much more confidence and help ensure they don’t try to chip your exit value. You should also consider early if there are any pre-sale tax planning opportunities to help maximise post tax returns particularly with likely tax increases just round the corner.
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