HLAS

Innovation has generally been recognised as essential for value creation, both for individual companies and for the UK economy as a whole. The development of new ideas, processes and technologies and their flow across different sectors is a significant driver of economic growth and productivity. Recently, innovation has also been identified as crucial to the transition of the economy away from fossil fuels and carbon-intensive business activities. There are many factors that affect whether and how businesses innovate, for example the availability of skills and capital and government policy measures such as tax incentives. However, none are more important that [...]

If you are looking for some new business ideas then ask us for a copy of our guide called “57 Ways to Grow Your Business”! Our publication is packed full of bright ideas for the Serious Entrepreneur and starts with the four basics of growth. All the ideas in this guide ultimately revolve around four basic insights about growing a business: Increase the number of customers; Increase the number of times each one does business with you; Increase the average value of each transaction; and Increase your own effectiveness and efficiency. Here are some other business principles that we explore in [...]

Professional foresters, landowners, nurseries, and seed suppliers are being encouraged to come forward for the latest round of Seed Sourcing Grant and Tree Production Capital Grants, which opened on the 5 December. The Tree Production Capital Grant supports efforts to build nursery capacity and grow trees and seed supply chains for the long-term. Funding will increase domestic production of trees and seeds, supporting investments in expansion, automation, and mechanisation of facilities and equipment. It has been designed to complement the Tree Production Innovation Fund, which provides support for research projects that enhance tree production methods in England. The Seed Sourcing Grant helps boost [...]

The UK’s Online Safety Act has recently become law and Ofcom has recently published their first consultation on implementing the new rules, including draft codes of practice and guidance. Businesses are invited to a series of webinars which will cover Ofcom’s proposals on how online services should approach the new duties relating to illegal content. This webinar series will provide an overview of how Ofcom proposes to implement the law in practice, the draft guidance and codes published, what businesses will need to do to comply with the new illegal content duties, and how you can respond to the consultation. Dates and [...]

Major plans to speed up connections and increase capacity on the electricity grid have been set out alongside £960 million investment in green industries. The package of measures will bring forward investment by building network infrastructure faster and speeding up grid connections. Launched by the Chancellor and Energy Security Secretary, government has published its response to Electricity Networks Commissioner, Nick Winser CBE, accepting his recommendations in all areas. These measures will halve the time it takes to build high-voltage power lines from 14 years to 7. Building on this, the Connections Action Plan will cut the average delay time projects face to connect to [...]

The Autumn Finance Bill 2023 has been published to enshrine tax changes into law. Measures in the Bill include helping businesses invest for less and making full expensing- an effective corporate tax cut - permanent. In March 2021, the former Chancellor announced the super-deduction, under which companies saved up to 25p in each pound they invested. Then at Spring Budget 2023, the now Chancellor introduced temporary full expensing, a three-year capital allowances policy which also delivered up to a 25p saving for every £1 invested. To provide certainty, when announcing full expensing, the Chancellor was clear that his ambition was [...]

Listed below are a number of live HMRC webinars that will help employers with payroll. The webinars are free and last around an hour. Employer filing obligations Wed 13 Dec at 1:45pm Taxing employees' benefits and expenses through your payroll Thu 14 Dec at 9:45am Statutory Sick Pay Mon 18 Dec at 1:45pm Statutory Maternity and Paternity Pay Tue 19 Dec at 9:45am

Artificial Intelligence (AI) holds enormous potential for businesses, enhancing productivity and competitiveness. However, adopting AI technology can be challenging. That’s where “BridgeAI” comes in to support businesses harness the power of AI and unlock their full potential. The Alan Turing Institute, a partner of the Innovate UK BridgeAI programme, is offering artificial intelligence (AI) mentoring support for small and medium-sized businesses This support is targeted at companies and organisations facing barriers to data science and AI adoption who would benefit from a bespoke approach. While other BridgeAI offerings focus on skill-building and knowledge transfer, this bespoke advice initiative addresses the [...]

P2P is a relatively new concept which bypasses the banks to allow businesses to borrow money directly from ordinary people. Businesses get the funding they need, and lenders get a better rate than they would from leaving their money in the bank. In between the borrower and the lender stands the P2P platform which handles the collection and distribution of loans and repayments. P2P is very bespoke. The idea is to assess what the business needs first, rather than attempting to fit them into a ‘product’. Consequently, an early informal chat-through is often the best way to progress. Our P2P [...]

While we all want to see our businesses thrive and grow, this is unfortunately not always the case. As a trusted adviser, accountants are often the first port of call for company directors facing the possibility of insolvency and we can often point them in the right direction. Enlisting the assistance of a licensed insolvency practitioner during this stage is highly recommended, particularly if your business is already in an insolvent position, or you believe it will soon become insolvent. Depending on the current position of the company in question, together with its likely future viability, there are several options which [...]