Our services

Tax

Our tax team are at the heart of everything we do. Whether assisting with annual compliance or helping you plan your affairs in the most efficient way, we have the experience and know how to provide the tax service you need.

In addition to having a dedicated tax team and a tax Partner, all our Partners all have a keen focus on tax as we recognise that it’s an area where expert advice and a pro-active approach can really make a difference.

Our approach begins with compliance, preparing and submitting a huge volume of personal and corporate tax returns. Much of our advisory work stems from our compliance work, with our team highlighting areas where efficiencies can be made, or affairs structured more prudently.

Our advisory work is where we can really offer value to clients, being able to guide you through acquisitions and sales, company restructures, efficient remuneration, Inheritance and family tax planning and a whole range of other areas.

We also have a dedicated VAT resource, allowing us to offer advice and deal with HMRC in an increasingly complex area.

We’ve set up our team to be able to help you with any area of tax, including;

• Preparation of Corporate and Personal Tax Returns
• All aspects of Tax Enquiries and other HMRC Interventions
• Capital Gains Tax Planning
• Tax Efficient Investments
• Tax Efficient Remuneration
• Company Restructuring
• Research and Development Tax Credits
• Inheritance Tax Planning
• International Matters
• VAT
• Land and Buildings Transaction Tax

Audit

Statutory Audit

Through developing a sound understanding of your business, its risks and processes, we offer an External Audit process that will both meet your needs and deadlines, and also add value to your business and your staff. Our team of experienced External Auditors will invest time to ensure they fully understand your business and processes. This ensures that your audit not only provides you and your stakeholders with independent and objective assurance, but also delivers value to you through regular and effective collaboration. We always look to give pro-active and productive advice throughout the process and ensure that we help improve your systems and processes wherever we can.

We pride ourselves on our Senior Statutory Auditor being involved on site with the team, getting to know the ins and outs of each client. We have significant experience in both the not for profit and commercial sectors and enjoy working with clients from a wide range of industries.

Systems Reviews and Other Assurance Engagements

Whilst not all businesses require a full Statutory Audit, sometimes stakeholders look for other forms of assurance covering areas such as systems and processes, as well as assurance over specific balances. Assurance work can include;

• Agreed Upon Procedures where we review specific balances and processes,
• Independent Examinations which can appeal to Companies where External investors require assurance over the workings of the company
• Group Reporting where we confirm specific balances and processes to parent companies and their auditors

Charity Independent Examinations

For Charities that do not meet the audit threshold, there are still requirements for an external review in the form of an Independent Examination. As experienced examiners within the charitable sector, we are able to advise you on both charity accounting matters as well as conducting your External Review.

Business Advisory

We don’t subscribe to the theory that accountants just keep track of the figures.

Our day to day work with a wide and varied portfolio of businesses gives us an insight into the challenges that businesses today face. That, together with our core skills, makes us ideally placed to be your trusted adviser.

We will always aim to offer an insight into your financial results and performance and can help you interrogate your results and management information to spot trends and areas where your practices are working well or where improvements could be made. Our awareness of industry norms can help guide you and ensure your targets are both challenging and realistic.

Whether you’re in retail, construction, hospitality or entertainment, we can offer advice and guidance on matters such as;

• Banking facilities and lending products
• Fundraising
• Business structure and interaction between stakeholders
• Staff incentivisation and retention
• Marketing and business development
• Valuations and exit strategies

Many of our clients rely on us for this type of guidance and others will use us a sounding board to sense check their own ideas and approaches.

Whether you need structured advice and guidance, or will perhaps just pick up something worth thinking about at an accounts meeting, we can definitely do more than just keep track of your figures.

Payroll

We offer a full range of payroll services through Cornerstone Payroll LLP.

Payroll has become a far more demanding and complicated area in recent years with the introduction of Real Time Information reporting, Pension Auto Enrolment, and most recently The General Data Protection Regulation.

Our dedicated and experienced team are able to guide you through these challenges and offer a comprehensive payroll service.

We operate payroll for businesses that pay weekly, fortnightly and monthly and also offer a BACS service so that we also arrange the actual payment of wages direct to your employees.

Our payroll team work closely with our tax team and together are able to offer advice and guidance on all aspects of the PAYE system including statutory sick pay, maternity pay, bonuses, termination payments and benefits in kind, helping give you the facts you need to make key decisions.