By David Solomon, Blueprints
Financial Technology (FinTech) is an exciting area to be in at the moment. Recent technology has opened up almost unlimited possibilities and disruptive businesses are using technology to undermine established global players.
Even before the 2008 financial crash, many people had begun to realise that the financial system was profiting only a small group, as private citizens were burdened with bailing out major global banks.
Deeply entrenched services, practices, and products at traditional financial firms weren’t evolving for their customers’ needs. They were also maintaining old banking practices, for …

By Jonathan Amponsah CTA FCCA, The Tax Guys
If you don’t plan there is a good chance that you and your business will pay more tax than is necessary.  What action can you take to avoid overpaying?
Show income in correct period
If you normally receive money before carrying out work, the income should be shown in your accounts when you’ve performed the work, matched with the costs and expenses of doing the work. Say you’ve received £5,000 in March for a consultancy project to be delivered in April.  This should not be …

We live in a materialistic society. Social media accounts offer a tantalising glimpse of another world, one that we would love to be in. If you check out the feeds of some of the Rich Kids of Instagram, it’s hard not to be seduced by endless images of fast cars, luxury mansions, and gratuitous displays of wealth. Sure, we’d all love to own a Ferrari and spend a month in the sun on Mustique. Sadly, life isn’t quite like that, yet many people are determined to live a lifestyle they …

By John Auckland, TribeFirst
 
Raising funding for your business can be difficult for all types of businesses, and there’s not a lot of advice to go on.
 
However, there are some rules when it comes to developing an investor comms strategy, and from my involvement with over 30 fundraises, I’ve created a system that’s remarkably effective.
 
There are three essential topics for effective communication with investors and funders:
 

How to spot investor hot buttons, and create a core message that brings them on board
The optimal investor journey
How to engage investors in-person and online

 
 
Investor hot …

by Inna Kaushan, co-founder of Solna
Freelancers are important to the UK economy, and contributed £271 billion in 2017. Almost three million people have been engaged as freelancers or under self-employed status during the last 12 months.
Freelancing has many benefits: you work for yourself, select projects which excite you, and in many instances earn more than when you were a permanent employee.
That said a major challenge faced by freelancers is fighting to get paid. Recent research shows that only 19% of freelancers get paid on time, with related invoices being paid …

By Amanda Hamilton, NALP
 Whether you work for yourself or run a small business, the most difficult thing to manage is cash flow. So, what can you do if you are owed money and the person is ignoring all your phone calls and letters?
 
Firstly, don’t panic!
 
It’s easy to start thinking ahead of yourself about the cost and aggravation of taking someone to court – especially if you have no experience of such things.
 
Stop right there. Most situations don’t end up in court but if there is no alternative, and if the …

Credit checks can be confusing and many of us are unsure what they entail. That is why we have put together this handy guide, covering all the info you need to know.
What is a Credit Check?
A credit check is when a company looks at your financial history in order to assess your ability to repay the debt. The information on your credit report will include how much you have borrowed, the kind of credit you have and how well you have managed your lending, e.g. if you have any …

A late invoice payment can cause unnecessary hassle for a business. Cash flow problems, late wage payments and even a dip in company growth could be the results of a poor invoicing process.
However, there are ways to increase your chances of being paid in time and accessing finance to aid your working capital.
1. Invoice Discounting with Bad Debt Protection
With invoice discounting, your chosen financier pays you an advance on any outstanding invoices. Generally, this is at a percentage of their complete value – one which the pair of you …

Getting an acceptable yield from any investment has been an enormous challenge over the past decade or so, since interest rates ground almost to a halt, both in the UK and across the wider western world.
This has caused investors to think hard about their investment strategies in two very particular ways. One it to look at innovative investment types that would have seemed beyond the purview of the casual or private investor 20 years ago. The other is to ensure that when they do invest, they do so in the …

By Inna Kaushan, co-founder of Solna
Sending out clear, concise, well-designed invoices is very important if you want clients to deal with them quickly. Making it easy for your clients to pay you is necessary to get you paid on time.
Good invoicing can be achieved quickly and to help you here is our handy guide:
 
What should an invoice include?
An invoice is an important accounting document that requests payment in return for goods or services.  This means an invoice should always include:

The word ‘invoice’
The date of issue
Your name or your business …