John’s Updated Summer Blog 2015

The arrival of the very hot weather in early July was at least welcome and enabled me to have a few days holiday and I trust that my readers would have found some time away from the demands of business and our daily lives.

We were disappointed that Alex from Oxfordshire was unable to join us in the summer as originally expected due to very difficult personal circumstances. I still seek to bring in a high level qualified accountant to assist me in the running of the firm and we are exploring various avenues at the present time which I hope to give more detail of in due course.

However, I am delighted to announce that Sebastian Stracey is joining us at the beginning of September. As I am writing this Sebastian is waiting for the results of his final examination for the Institute of Chartered Accountants. Sebastian comes from a medium sized firm in Sussex and will be a welcome addition to our accounting and tax team. Sebastian is joining with us to widen his skills in the world of Charity accounting and I am sure he will prove to be a valuable asset to the firm.

All the recent media news regarding The Kids Company does highlight again the necessity for good accounting records. Without knowing the full details it is difficult to comment but looking at their Financial Statements which do not show any audit qualification whatsoever, it is obvious that a Charity of that size, over £20 million income and expenditure does need adequate reserves. The Charity did not have good reserves and when difficult days come and funds start to dry up the inevitable financial crisis follows. It is just a warning to my Charity clients of the need for good governance and the setting aside of monies for ‘rainy days’ is necessary to provide working capital for the ongoing work of the Charity.

As I have said in other articles, the summer budget brought many changes and although there is certainly evidence of the Chancellor giving there was also evidence of the Chancellor taking away, particularly in the area of the new dividend tax. This starting in April 2016 which will certainly affect a lot of our owner managed Company clients.

We will obviously be advising in this area in due course.

I wish you well for the rest of the summer and will be reporting in my usual autumn blog.

JOHN CALADINE