week included Marketing support, Emergency First Aid at Work delivery & thank you for invite to local sportsman dinner with Shaw Gibbs

The Treehouse play centre has been shortlisted as a finalist of the South Oxon New Business Competition. See www.sonbc.co.uk

Discussion Forums

Over the last few months, we have been exploring the use of forums and if it is a good use of our time. We have found that if you find the right forum for your business, then they can be invaluable, however, choose the wrong one (a bit like a networking group), then it can be a total waste of time.
We have recently won new work from discussions within a financial based discussion forum, learnt some new useful information to integrate into our business model and also generated enquiries for our bookkeeping franchise, simply by sharing our expertise or creating new discussions. By launching forums for a couple of our clients and voluntary groups, we have found a new strategic direction for consideration when areas of interest in that business or group have been discussed in the forum.
However can we rely on everything that is posted? We have seen a number of replies or comments acting as advice to a question that has been technically incorrect and sometimes very misleading. So, as always, we recommend to check the sources with other information when approriate. As always continue to measure the value of using areas like forums, but we do believe the right ones can help your marketing, competitor awareness, research and decision making.

week included bookkeeping, VAT returns, first aid assessing, volunteering to assist the 'Take the plunge' event in Oxford, a game of golf!

National Insurance contributions up to state pension age

You pay National Insurance contributions throughout your working life. They currently build up your entitlement to the State Pension and to certain social security benefits. You stop paying them when you reach State Pension age. From 6 April 2010 the State Pension age has started to gradually increase from 60 to 65 for all women born after 5 April 1950. The DirectGov web site has a calculator to help calculate such actual State Pension ages and this is particularly helpful if you are running a payroll that includes employees in this age range, as the NI contribution no longer simply stops at 60 for Women.

week included new clients, very positive discussions with potential A1 bookkeeping franchisees and a busy play centre!

Compare your results with your competitors

So you have received your year end financial accounts and you are pleased with the profits made last year. However is it really a good result? Could it be that the industry has seen a lift or your sector has received some specific attention generating new business for you? Even vice versa, if it was not a good year, was that just you or was it the industry?

Have you considered comparing your business results against others in your line of business? Why not take a look at the Benchmarking service offered by Chapman Robinson & Moore accountants, A great way to compare your key numbers and performance indicators for that wider picture.

week included great coverage in the press with front page of Primary times for The Treehouse play centre & Oxford Mail 'the issue'

week included Bookkeeping, Marketing support, First aid supplies, Excellent Oxford Business Network social at Cockadoo,

A1 welcomes Guildford based franchisee

A1 Financials would like to welcome our new franchisee, Mark Butcher, to the team. Mark will be based in the Guildford area. If you know anyone in the Guildford area looking for a bookkeeper or management accounts support, then please see Mark's contact details on our web site

Details about our bookkeeping franchise can be found at www.a1financials.co.uk

First Aid DVD - version 2

Together with Concept Filming, A1 First Aid are soon to release version two of the DVD, A Comprehensive Guide to First Aid. The new version will include the latest updates, that were recently introduced by the resuscitation council, plus more general scenarios on how to deal with an incident plus a link to a set of evaluation questions to check your understanding. Mike said "Version one has proved to be a very popular refresher tool for many first aiders and we believe these additions will make the DVD extremely good value for money during times when businesses are reducing their training spend".
For more details, please see www.firstaiddvd.co.uk

Pressure against your prices

Are you seeing pressure on your pricing model? Perhaps customers are looking elsewhere or reducing orders or simply asking directly for a price reduction?
This may not be simply down to your service or the perceived value of your offering, but simply the external factors impacting many business owners that is forcing us all to look at our day to day costs.
Many businesses are seeing their cost of sales increase. We have heard in the press the likely impact of the increased cost of materials like cotton, metals or food supply. Additionally we have the ever rising fuel costs. So most people are facing increased costs, and with the VAT rise recently increasing some sales prices already and our margins being continually squeezed, as business owners we feel it is difficult to raise prices in the current climate.We recommend that you keep good communication with your customers and understand the factors impacting their business. Then if they come to speak to you, it will not be a surprise and you will be prepared for your response instead of being caught on the spot!