Tax evasion – throwing the book at the man who wrote the book

Posted on June 17, 2013 by Renée Wallen

A man who wrote a book on tax evasion has been sent to prison.

The judge threw the book at him!! That’s what the newspaper reported. We don’t think it was the actual ‘how to dodge taxes’ book, although that would have been very funny.

The author received an 18 month sentence for helping his customers to avoid paying tax and for failing to file his own tax returns. He wasn’t one of our clients of course; the crime happened in Tennessee. (We do have global clients, but not this particular one.)

Tax evasion never pays in the long term. A much better alternative is strategic tax planning that allows you to monitor and plan your finances in line with your business growth. We proactively review your account on a regular basis as part of our SmarTax system and can pick up changes in your commercial or personal circumstances that may reduce your tax liability.

But don’t wait for your SmarTax review. If there’s a change in your life or business that could affect the tax you pay, call us for a quick chat now: 0208 530 0720, or tweet us: @NordensAccounts.

Thanks to Images_of_Money for the pic (via Flickr)

Taking part in Parliament’s first fashion show

Posted on June 13, 2013 by Renée Wallen

It’s neither the Style Council nor the Fashion Police – but our involvement in fashion has finally been brought to the government’s attention.

On Tuesday evening, in his capacity as Trustee Treasurer for Graduate Fashion Week (GFW), Mark spent an enjoyable evening in the luxurious setting of the Houses of Parliament. Politicians mixed with some of the most influential people in the fashion industry at the first ever fashion show to be held there.

The keynote speakers included Damian Collins MP – who, together with The UK Fashion & Textile Association, had invited GFW to showcase the rising stars of 2013; the Daily Telegraph’s award-winning fashion editor, Hilary Alexander; Fiona Lambert, brand director for George at Asda; and John Miln, CEO at UK Fashion & Textile Association. You can read more about this here.

Talks were followed by a catwalk show with the winning designs from GFW 2013 and the George G21 collections. So you can expect to see us dressed in weird and wonderful creations next time you call in to see us about your tax return! (Keep an eye on our Pinterest fashion page…)

Nordens is one of the sponsors for GFW, along with more prominent names in the fashion industry, such as Karen Millen, L’Oreal and Mulberry. Our strategic business advice helps young designers to find commercial success – we also offer this advice to any business wishing to become more profitable. Ask us how: mitch@nordens.co.uk or tweet us: @NordensAccounts.

Britain’s got business talent

Posted on June 10, 2013 by Renée Wallen

Kudos to Richard and Adam Johnson, the opera-singers who completed their act without missing a heartbeat whilst a mad woman chucked eggs! Usually a metaphorical term, this lunatic’s actions possibly disrupted their chance of a lifetime, yet the brothers maintained their innate professionalism and delivered the goods. A lesson for us all.

There are always going to be unforeseen circumstances that throw us during a business presentation, in closing a deal, in delivering a product or service. The trick is to work through without panicking, so that the end result reflects the image you had hoped to portray. Or you may have to change track and go with the flow…

Richard and Adam may not have won the competition, but they gained the respect of a whole new audience – and probably a whopping amount of YouTube hits. So this strange course of events may well propel them towards a commercial success they would otherwise have missed.

If things are not going your way, eggs or no eggs, there may be a slightly different route available to you. We can help you find it… call us today on 0208 530 0720.

Thanks to Walesonline.co.uk for sharing the photo

Graduate recruitment – staying in the job zone

Posted on June 6, 2013 by Renée Wallen

We sponsored the Job Zone at Graduate Fashion Week this year. Thousands of young hopefuls with an eye on a career in fashion stopped by for advice on CVs, interview techniques and the best routes for job searching.

Nordens Chartered Accountants and Strategic Business Advisers

Mark and Mitch in the Graduate Fashion Week Job Zone

We help businesses to succeed – and part of running a successful venture is the ability to recruit the right staff. That may mean they have certain qualifications, industry experience, life skills or you simply have a gut feeling that they will fit in and be great! Good quality training and regular reviews help to mould a cohesive team that will work ‘for’ your business, not simply ‘in it.’

Owners of small businesses are sometimes reluctant to trust someone else with their carefully built venture, but growing your business usually goes hand-in-hand with the confidence to delegate. The cost of employing somebody needs to be weighed against with the benefits of freeing up your own time to secure more clients and develop your business into the thriving concern you want it to be.

Whether you work alone or employ 100 people, we’re happy to assist with recruitment advice – whether that’s reviewing the financial advantages of taking on a new person or introducing you to someone who can take the headache out of the employment process. As part of our strategic business planning, we work with a trusted network of professionals that provide specific advice – including recruitment. If this is something you’d like to chat about, call us today on 0208 530 0720.

Stay in control of your business and avoid holiday headaches

Posted on June 3, 2013 by Renée Wallen

Last week saw Kirsty sunbathing in Spain! Well, we didn’t actually see her there as the rest of us were stuck in South Woodford, but we noticed she wasn’t sitting at her desk, smiling as she prepared your VAT returns.

Stop panicking! Of course your VAT return wasn’t late… Kirsty’s absence didn’t faze us one bit. We’re all geared up to cover each other’s holidays so Darren stepped into Kirsty’s dancing shoes and multi-tasked his way through the week. Yes, that’s right – he multi-tasked!!! He covered the VAT department whilst still completing his clients’ accounts.

If you’re going on holiday and worried about leaving your business, remember you can multi-task by managing all your accounts at the same time as snorkelling, skydiving, golfing, lazing around – whatever it is and wherever you are.*

You can invoice customers, check your VAT, do your banking, create pretty stats graphs and loads more!! Call us now to find out how you can achieve all this during your holiday on 020 8530 0720 or tweet us!

(*As long as you’re wifi connected.)

Award Finalists – Enterprising Business (that’s us!)

Posted on May 30, 2013 by Renée Wallen

How exciting to receive a letter that says in huge letters ‘Congratulations, you are in the finals’ !! That’s what happened to us yesterday when we found out we’ve been shortlisted for the prestigious FSB London Business Awards 2013!

From thousands of entries we’re down to the final six for Enterprising Business! As you can imagine, we’re all thrilled with this achievement. Getting this far is a nice acknowledgement of our success at taking a vision and making it happen.

We strive to provide a world class service to our clients and we’ve blended the best parts of the old fashioned accountancy model with a modern, dynamic approach to business. We actively seek out new opportunities for our clients and partners and we always go the extra mile, so it’s great that the judges recognise that. The testimonials from our happy clients demonstrate it too – you can read them here while you’re having your coffee if you’re bored!

Call us anytime on 0208 530 0720 or tweet us if you’d like to hear about our vision or find out about the FSB Awards.

Taking stock of birds, fish and your assets…

Posted on May 27, 2013 by Renée Wallen

A report in last week’s Guardian confirms that “an unprecedented stocktake of UK wildlife has revealed that most species are struggling and that one in three has halved in number in the past half century.” The stocktake included various species of animals, birds, insects and fish – all in trouble!!

Oh no! As a business owner, you might not immediately recognise the importance of this, so we’re not going to harp on about the environment. (Although we feel very strongly about these issues… but time, place and all that.) What is worth pointing out is that a stocktake actually took place. When did you last count up your assets?

We know some people wait until annual accounts time to do a thorough audit of their stock, but you really must be on top of this the whole year round. Stocktaking is an integral part of your systems management. If this is something you find a drag or you simply don’t have the time to manage properly, take a look at our nice, colourful n-books package. We’ve designed it specifically for businesses that want to manage their bookkeeping systems easily and without stress.

And you can do that from anywhere in the world… Mexico, Australia, even from your bath! (Providing you have one of those clever, shiny, waterproof laptops that we tweeted about last week!!) What? You didn’t see our tweet?? Follow us here: @NordensAccounts

Exit strategies for footballers (kids and cats included)

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Renée Wallen

With the football season well and truly over, it’s time to tell you the scores for the Nordens Accountants league. Read on to see if you’ve won a prize…

Well, Mark came top again. Still no cheating, apparently, so well done to him! The runner-up was Pete, our clever web designer. No one’s seen him this week so we assume he’s still running…

Lisa came top for the girls with an amazing score, little Jack won the Youth Trophy and Joey Wallen secured the trophy for highest scoring cat!! Check out the full SP on our Leader Board!!

This was bigger news around South Woodford than Beckham retiring. Which got us wondering: does he have an exit strategy? Taking a leap back from any business is daunting – whether it’s achieved its potential or a business owner is withdrawing to recoup capital as part of a strategic business plan. You might not be thinking of the lovely David as a ‘business’ but he is actually a highly marketable product of his own making.

If you’re considering closing, selling or revamping your business, we’d love to help you. We can talk exit strategies, strategic planning or football – the choice is yours!

Happy birthday boss!!

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Renée Wallen

It’s Mark’s birthday today. He doesn’t like a lot of fuss (or so he says) so we’re not hiring a brass band to play their way through South Woodford, and there won’t be fireworks and helium balloons shooting off at noon. Probably not a good idea to let off balloons and bangers at the same time anyway!

We don’t have a troupe of dancing girls jumping out of boxes (although he’d probably prefer that to the trombone players) – and we’re not doing a Stevie Wonder flashmob in Soho Square. That’s not because we can’t sing – it’s because we’re busy doing your tax returns and sorting out PAYE enquiries.

What we DO have…. is cake!! Happy birthday Mark – hope you have a fantastic, successful and fun year ahead.

If you want to sing to Mark today, call him on 0208 530 0720.

Who’s the teacher’s pet?

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Renée Wallen

We’ve mentioned before that Mark gives lectures to students at the London College of Fashion. In case you didn’t believe us (based on Mark’s up-to-the-minute fashion sense….) here he is in action!

Students ask him questions and he knows all the answers. Or, if he doesn’t know the answers, he refers them on to those of us in the office who do know. We’re highly trained in specialist areas, so if you have a question about payroll, for example, you’ll speak to Sharon. Kirsty magics away VAT problems and Lisa handles anything company secretarial. Click here to see the whole team!

The person who looks after your accounts and tax dealings (your client relationship manager) will always be happy to introduce you to other members of the team if you don’t already know them. And if you don’t know who your client relationship manager is… oh dear… we owe you a coffee and a doughnut! Call us on 0208 5300730 and let’s chat!

Thanks to Images_of_Money for the pic (via Flickr)

Thanks to Walesonline.co.uk for sharing the photo

Member