A new year affords business owners the opportunity to look back on the previous 12 months and analyse which aspects of it went to plan and which require some work between now and December. With resolutions often forgotten early in the year, now is a good time to look into some of the developments that shaped the SME world in 2014, and the lessons that should have been learned from them:
1. Companies need to keep it Real
Perhaps the buzzword of 2014 in accountancy was ‘Real Time Information’, or RTI, the demands of which were so pressing to many small UK businesses that HMRC ended up shifting its compliance deadline into this year.
The additional breathing space afforded to businesses with fewer than 50 employees, who now have until 6th March this year to become RTI compliant, will have been welcomed, but penalties remain in place for late or inaccurate information. Companies should use their extra time wisely and get in touch with HMRC if they are struggling or feel in the dark about what is required of them. Close work with an accountant during 2015 could also be the order of the day.
2. HMRC is getting keener
Few years have seen as much activity from HMRC as the last one did. Aside from the RTI demands, there were stepped-up attempts to claw back unpaid VAT from smaller ventures, hundreds of raids on non-paying businesses and a rethought approach to business entity tests.
The message driven home here is that accurate bookkeeping and prompt payments are of the utmost importance. One way to start 2015 on a sound financial footing is to leave your company’s accounts in the professional hands of an outsourced management accounting service like Sollertia.
3. Now is a great time to run a business
Most positively, SMEs in Britain are thriving today. In a recent article published on SmallBusiness.co.uk, Federation of Small Businesses chairman John Allan revealed that there are now more than five million small businesses in the UK.
Britain’s culture of entrepreneurship is highlighted even in popular culture with the success of programmes like The Apprentice and Dragons’ Den. Admittedly, it’s the business blunders that are often most talked about in these programmes, but their popularity still reflects a nationwide trend to make a living from your own idea.
With politicians now broadly recognising this too, it’s to be hoped that UK’s SME scene can keep moving from strength to strength in 2015.