Episode 6: Live from Town Square. Join Ellie and Nigel for a lively and highly informative afternoon out - as they gather tips and answer questions from business owners at Kingston’s new Town Square co-working space. These range from how to respond to lost business or a slowdown in trade to advice on minimising your accountancy bills. 

For starters, your hosts discover for themselves why a business problem shared really can be a problem halved. Everyone they meet there speaks to the benefits of sharing your trading dilemmas, ambitions and little wins with like-minded people who are going through it all themselves - most likely in an entirely different field. There are more ways you can help each other than you can imagine.
Our dynamic duo kick things off by picking the brains of the co-working space chain’s inspiring founder Gareth Jones. He explains how successful freelancers and business owners learn to be risk aware - but not risk averse. This is why family and friends may not always be your best port of call for business advice. As a busy accountant, Ellie admits she is happy to spend much of the day holed up in her office working for her clients. But Gareth explains how true networking is not about going to dull events, swopping business cards or accepting Linked In connections from strangers. It is all about earmarking time to get to know other professional people you trust - people who are far more likely to share their experience and give you valuable pointers for free in a casual or sociable setting. People like local entrepreneurs Raj Rajendram and Steve Grant - two centre regulars who share some of their business journeys so far.

Warning to business loners: listening to this podcast could change your whole approach to building your enterprise!

Episode 5: Paying People. Taking on your first worker - or even just employing a mate to help you on a casual basis - is a big step for any start up or small firm. "Suddenly, you're all grown up - so hats off to business owners who take people on" says Ellie. In this episode, she's joined by payroll whizz Esme Rush to set out all the essentials of registering as an employer - and the mechanics. paperwork and costs involved. Nigel asks about issues ranging from workplace pension responsibilities to tax coding, whether you need payroll software, and the different treatment of contractors as opposed to direct employees. Ellie also estimates typical costs for getting your accountant or a specialist firm to run your payroll for you.

Episode 4: Charging Ahead. With average vehicle costs up 40% since Covid, buying or leasing a car or van for your business is a huge expense - where mistakes could land you with costly tax bills. Special guest Toby Poston, corporate affairs director at the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association, joins co host Ellie Rayner of Accord Accountants to guide you through key options and choices for getting on the road in a world where the tax regime has bounced the business user into the electric future. Salary sacrifice, benefits in kind, VAT, emissions taxation and much more is all explained in this highly informative episode that's a must listen for anyone who needs to get mobile for their work. An influential voice in the UK car world, Toby also surprises Ellie and co-host Nigel Cassidy with his explanation of how a glut of previously-leased electric vehicles is flooding the second hand car market, at prices competitive with petrol cars - though ultimately distorting the market. We also discover how Ellie took her first tentative turns at the wheel on the roof of Brent Cross shopping centre - and Nigel probably inhaled too much fibreglass in his youth patching up his first rusty Mini.

Episode 3: Coping with Calamity. Trading is taking off - at last there's much needed cash sitting in your business bank account. But best call your accountant rather than assume that what you have earnt is all yours to keep and readily available. That's because you're going to have to keep aside a bare minimum of 20% to meet your tax bills. In another really useful episode, Ellie sets out some of the most common mistakes to be avoided with tax, VAT and other everyday but crucial financial matters. Mortgage and protection consultant David Fear from Roebuck joins Nigel and Ellie to set out how business owners or the self employed need to approach securing a home mortgage. David Fear also has a cautionary tale about why it's important to consider the consequences of unexpected events preventing you from continuing to make money as you expected.

Episode 2. Entity Matters. Ellie and Nigel quiz a young entrepreneur about her financial journey from a side hustle making candles to profitable sales of creative kits online. This episode majors on understanding the key help an accountant can offer from the very start when choosing between earning profits as a sole trader or setting up as a limited company and taking out dividends. The lively case study offers several great new business tips, such as getting happy customers to post photos on Instagram and other social media platforms, identifying your most successful products and selling them to more people - and getting to grips with accounting software to get an instant handle on your business progress.

Episode 1. Start As You Mean To Go On

"Don't fleece it, milk it or rob what's in the bank". Friendly landscape and fencing business owner Dave Green shares sound advice from his own profitable trading journey - from self-employed jobbing gardener to going limited, buying the assets of a much larger firm, paying and managing a team of staff - and later selling out for ten times what he paid.

Ellie and Nigel get to know each other and chat about the business basics anyone starting out needs to get their head round. These include business registration, record holding, banking, VAT and tax considerations.

Dave explains why he was only too happy to learn about accounting software and so be in a position to hand over VAT, payroll and other mission-critical tasks to his accountant. This freed him up to focus on his customers and local reputation - in his case by prioritising honesty, leading staff by example on jobs, and paying supplier bills on time.

This initial episode aims to give a first insight into how SMEs can benefit from an accountant's expertise, even during the toughest of times.

If your start up is stuttering, or you're on thin ice with the VAT people or the taxman, then this is the show you can't afford to miss. Five star-rated accountant Ellie Rayner and business host Nigel Cassidy are here with real-life case studies - and practical, unbiased tips to help you get on top of your small business finances so you can focus on what you do best. Self employed or limited company? Take a salary or a dividend? What are the implications of buying business property or vehicles? All this and much more to come. Powered by Accord Accountants.