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When you’re starting out in business, it’s an all-too common instinct to try and do everything by yourself. Your business is, after all, your baby and nobody knows it as well as you. You keep an eagle eye on its daily operations and prefer to keep all operations “in-house”. Even if you do choose to outsource you apply laser focus and unmatched scrutiny to the companies to whom you entrust your business’ future. You ensure that their work ethic and ethos matches your own. This is commendable, and applying this level of scrutiny means that even outsourced aspects of your business feel organic and homogenous. While this logic is applied to any outsourced company that facilitates your business operations it also needs to be applies to an oft-overlooked facet of business… Your accounts.

Why You Probably Shouldn’t Do Your Own Accounts

The resourcefulness and determination that enables entrepreneurs to take the reigns and build their own companies can also be a rod for the dogged entrepreneur’s back. They tend to assume that with a little research and a whole lot of willpower they can turn their attention to virtually any facet of business but this mindset can be hugely counter productive. Not only will it draw your attention away from the important daily operations of your business, your lack of familiarity (and inevitable time constraints) can leave you open to irregularities and errors in your accounting that could create a serious hindrance come tax season. Attempting to cut costs by doing your own taxes is likely also wrong headed as a good small business accountant will likely save you more than they cost. With so many accountants out there, however, it can be hard to choose the right one for your business.

They should be chartered or registered

Believe it or not, anyone can legally call themselves an accountant without any formal training, qualification or experience. In the fast paced and ultra competitive world of today’s business landscape you need to cling to whatever dependability you can get and a chartership is a mark of quality in accounting. It means that their practice meets certain professional standards and that the accountant will have had at least 3 years’ training and have passed a series of stringent exams. Your business deserves the best and that means choosing chartered!

They should be affordable but not cheap

It’s understandable that entrepreneurs should want to control their overheads but high quality and low cost rarely go hand in hand. If someone is advertising themselves as the cheapest on the market, they’re unlikely to have the expertise your business needs.

They should be busy

If you’re courting an accountant who seems a little too keen to get your business this may be a red flag. A good accountant worth their salt will have a healthy cohort of clients. Ask them about their existing clients and whether they have any clients with comparable businesses to yours. This will show that they have an interest in and understanding of their clients’ operations.  

They “get” your business and share your enthusiasm

As with any outsourced asset, an accountant needs to share in your passion and vision for your business. Your dream accountant should be on board with your business strategy and will be able to tailor their services to suit your business’ individual needs.

A lot of businesses tend to move their headquarters to another country now, and whether it is due to financial constraints, or there is a more lucrative market elsewhere, there are, of course, many diverse challenges ahead. But, with adequate preparation, this process can be less stressful, and more lucrative. So, what is the best approach?

Consulting Your Business Plan

The best business plans will have what is known as an executive summary, which will give you an overview of the business. By following this, especially if it has got a corporate migration path, this will make it an easier process to establishing your business in a different market. As well as this, your research should undertake suitable locations, and, although a market can be lucrative, does it mean you should move your business there? You could end up moving your business to an area that is extremely high-risk, but there are political risk consulting firms that deal with businesses in high-risk areas and can advise accordingly. In addition to this, if you are venturing into an area that is deemed risky, not just in the physical sense, but in the financial sense, your business plan should have some failsafe options in how to prevent disaster, and recover accordingly. A lot of this can be preempted before the big move.

Market Research

Once you have decided to move your company abroad, you need to undertake the relevant market research, not just for the product’s suitability, but also the administrative details, such as the packages offered by offshore banks. By checking these various protocols, you may find yourself spending more money than you anticipated.

The Financial Implications

It’s always important to consider, not just the cost of moving, but what the rules and regulations are in the area you plan on moving to. It’s always important to seek professional advice on the regulations, and there are some offshore company formation agents who have working relationships with tax experts, such as chartered accountants. When it comes to incorporating your company into the new country, you need an active bank account in that jurisdiction, so by seeking the advice of chartered accountants, and knowing exactly what you need in preparation, this will make for a smoother transition.

Employing Staff

In many ways, this is the biggest challenge, because of the cultural barriers, especially if you’re moving to the other side of the world. This can be an incredible sticky issue, but an approach that many organizations undertake before moving over fully is to send a representative of the business out there to train staff up, not just in the processes, but in the whole business ethos. This makes life easier when you do set up shop officially, but in having someone go over to lay the groundwork, everything because simpler, and you’ve got a better foundation to build up from.

It’s never an easy task, but things can be done to make the whole process easier if you truly think that moving your business to another country is the way forward. And while businesses move for financial reasons or the fact that their product carries in another area, it’s never clear-cut and straightforward.

Data breaches are hardly uncommon right now. In the last couple of years alone, we’ve had high profile hacks of Ashley Madison, Talk Talk and even the NHS in the UK – and that’s just the tips of the iceberg. That means that if, during the course of your work, you collect and use data. Even if it’s just the email addresses of people who’ve signed up to your newsletter, you need to be careful about keeping your data out of the wrong hands because it can be a marketing disaster if you don’t. I mean, it could literally sink your business should confidential data be leaked!

If you aren’t exactly tech-savvy, it might seem like trying to climb Everest without any equipment, but a good local IT Support company should be able to help you if you’re stuck. Whether you do it yourself or have help, here are the main things you need to do to keep your data in your company’s possession and your company’s possession alone:

Encrypt Always

Encryption is one of those things that seems more complicated than it really is, but it is actually pretty simple to encrypt your data – you can do it at the touch of a button if you have the right software installed – and doing so will help to keep it safe. Even if someone does breech your network or get a hold of your hard drive, they’ll find it almost impossible to see any of your data, and that will keep you and your customers safe.

Passwords Shouldn’t Be Passed On

It should go without saying that every device you use should be password protected for the security of everyone, but it should also be the case that neither you or any of your employees share your passwords with anyone else. Not only that, but you should have a policy in place that forces your employees to generate more complex passwords and change them on a regular basis. A good password manager program will help with this, and your IT team should keep an eye on what’s going on, especially if you use a single sign-on model of access.

Malware Should Be Hunted Down

There isn’t a business in the land that should be operating without malware detection software that they update regularly and use in real time, but you’d be surprised how many are actually operating without this most basic of protections. If you’re one of them, you’re going to want to change that right now.

Don’t Allow Access Willy-Nilly

Of course, keeping data safe isn’t just about the correct employment of technology. Depending on your business, you will probably have various members of staff, often in HR who have access to sensitive data. That means you need to think very carefully about which employees you let see data and whether or not they are able to remove it from the premises. Most of the time, you should restrict the use of data to inside the building because it can so easily get lost or shown to the wrong people, but if you must allow data to be accessed outside of your place of work, at the very least it should be encrypted and left to only the most trustworthy of employees, and only when absolutely necessary.

I hope this helps you keep your data safe!