The business owners amongst us know that January means one thing – it’s tax return time!
Let’s face it, few of us relish the process of completing our annual tax return, even if you’ve got a friendly accountant to help out (did we mention that we know one or two?!)
However, if it’s got to be done, you might as well use the process as a force for good. That’s what we think anyway and that’s why we encourage our clients to take ‘tax return time’ as an opportunity not only to look back over the past year but also to look forward. This might involve making plans for the year ahead, or even further into the future.
It’s all too easy to find yourself caught up in the ‘everyday’ matters involved with running a business – from staff issues to marketing plans. Yet you probably didn’t start your business with this intention and when it comes to the time when you want to retire, you’ll be keen to reap some rewards from all your hard work!
As we’ve been discussing in some of our blogs last year, taking an interest and planning for your lifetime finances isn’t something that you can afford to leave on the side-lines. However, as the saying goes, it’s lonely at the top and for some business Directors, knowing they should be planning for their future and finding the impetus to do so are two different things.
That’s why Stafford & Co launched BoardView. Working with owner-managed businesses throughout the year, BoardView provides companies that have a small number of Directors with the facility to hold regular board meetings to discuss strategy. In our experience, when smaller businesses start holding board meetings they immediately start thinking like, acting like and achieving like their bigger and more successful counterparts.
Whatever role you want us to play as part of BoardView, be that silent observer, finance director, independent sounding board, chairman or minute taker, we can contribute our experience to help you achieve your goals – personally and professionally.
As we provide an impartial presence at board meetings, it means we can rise above office politics and smaller day-to-day operational issues to focus on the really important matters.
Ensuring your business and personal finances are in the best possible shape is a job for now – not later. None of us know what the future has in store and it’s better to be prepared than find yourself faced with an unexpected life event and desperately trying to find a work around.
At Stafford & Co, we take it as our responsibility to prepare our clients for any eventuality. For help getting your financial future on track, contact Stafford & Co. We’re not just Accountants, we can work with you to put together a structured personal balance sheet and profit & loss to help ensure you are managing your lifetime finances and help ensure you’re fully prepared for those all-important life events – big and small.