Tips & Advice

Sole traders and small business owners working from a home-based office actually have a lot more pressure put on them when compared to doing a paid job working from an employers office space.

While the majority of people imagine that being your own boss comes with a lot of freedom, but in most cases the opposite is true.

You may think that every solo entrepreneur or small business owner can sit around all day in their pyjamas, drinking coffee and having the TV on in the background while they work from a laptop.

This image may seem really appealing, especially if you have to face the daily grind of commuting to an office every day, sitting in slow moving traffic, feeling uncomfortable sitting at your desk all day while wearing a suit, tie and tight shoes.

However, there are a lot of things that you can take for granted in your employed job that a small business owner must factor in. We are talking here about time-consuming, yet very important tasks, such as emptying your office waste bin, keeping your office environment clean and free from dust that can seriously affect the inner workings of your electronic equipment, and more....

More responsibilities than you think!

But it is not only the added tasks of a bit of office cleaning that you will need to take care of – the security of your home office will also fall squarely onto your shoulders.

An employer will provide their workers with a safe environment to work within and this includes having Health & Safety policies in place to keep staff physically safe and free from injury, but also Data Protection procedures that prevent sensitive data breaches and company information falling into criminal hands.

Working for an employer will also mean that your boss will be the one paying out for security staff, CCTV, security access points, fire alarm systems and equipment, smart locks and physical window and door locks.

Just because you run your business from your home office doesn't mean that you don't need to have security measures in place to protect your customer information and business data to remain compliant with the current Data Protection Act.

However, there are a lot of steps you can take to help automate your home office and free up your time from your day-to-day administrative tasks that are essential to the success of your business.

How to utilise digital assistants in your office

With the introduction of digital assistants in the form of Amazon's Alexa and others, we have been able to revolutionise our homes. Digital assistants have fundamentally changed the way a growing number of us interact with our digital devices.

Voice-activated AI technology is growing more versatile by the day. We are now seeing Alexa and other digital assistants being able to take on many different tasks in the day-to-day operation of our small businesses.

Setting up Alexa or an Echo-dot in your home office can immediately start to pay for itself through automating task such as scheduling your diary, conferencing calls, running productivity tools to keep you focussed on your work, organising your to-do lists, and delivering data.

Here are just three useful examples of how using a digital assistant can save you time and effort:

Automate your conference call schedule:

You can use a conferencing managing tool to sync with Google Calendar. This will help to remind you of your next conference call and will automatically connect your call without you needing to dial the number. You would simply need to say out loud: "Alexa, tell Conference Manager to start my conference call."

Organise your travel with email assistant:

If your home business involves visiting clients, then you can sync Alexa with an email assistant tool. This handy tool will parse your email inbox to find and read back travel confirmations, so if you want a quick rundown about your car rental, hotel booking or flight details, you will get the information you need without needing to physically check your emails for the information. You would simply need to say: "Alexa, ask Email Assistant what time is my hotel check-in."

Get up to date web analytics:

As well as delivering current news and curated data, your digital assistant can also give you real-time website data. Alexa offers web analytic tools that can sync with Google Analytics to deliver you fresh, real-time updates on your website data, such as visitor numbers and web traffic.

There are new skills being added by the day to digital assistants such as Alexa and Google Assistant. It is worth keeping up with the latest releases and useful tools that can help free up your time and keep on top of your office based tasks.

Automating your business bookkeeping and accounting

Balancing your books and keeping track of your business expenses can be an incredibly tedious job for most small business owners. Rather than sitting and pouring over your business bookkeeping and accounts for hours each week or month, you can look at automating these essential, yet quite boring tasks.

By using an online bookkeeping and accounting service, such as Quickbooks for example, you can transform how you do your company accounts.

Many sole traders will start out simple and use free tools and easy systems to get them off the ground and the money rolling in. This can involve creating a simple invoice in Word and sending this to your customers at the end of each month, or on the completion of your work project.

A physical paper-based cash book would then be used to note down all income and outgoings, along with petty cash and recording of business-related receipts.

Instead, by automating your bookkeeping and accounts through an online service, you can save yourself a lot of time and effort. Your accounting service will sync with your business bank account and any merchant trading accounts you have. Every time you make a business transaction it will be recorded. You can scan in physical receipts for petty cash and non-electronic spending.

What is also a major time-saver with online accounting software is that you can create and send invoices in seconds. These will be logged and tracked and you will be sent an automatic reminder of any late payments and outstanding invoice details.

You will be able to see at a glance how much you are owed, how much you have spent and know instantly the state of your business cash flow. This is so much better than having to work out all of your figures by hand.

Automating your Annual Reporting

As a sole trader or small business owner, you will need to complete and submit your annual tax return based on your income and expenditure for each tax year. You can prepare and submit these easily by yourself by using an online accounting solution, such as Quickbooks or a similar option.

As a sole trader, you will need to pay tax according to your income tax band. You will also need to pay either Class 2 or Class 4 National Insurance contributions, depending on your total business profits. Again, your tax and NI contributions can be automatically worked out for you using your online accounting solution.

If you are a limited company, you will also be required to complete and file your audited company accounts each year. This is necessary to keep your company compliant with the law, but it will also show you the financial health of your business. Your figures will also be used to work out how much corporation tax you will need to pay.

Ideally, you should have your company accounts drawn up by a qualified business accountant. This can be an expensive overhead for a lot of micro-businesses owners, especially if they are used throughout the year to keep checks and balances on your business finances, so using an online accounting system to do all of the legwork for you can make your record keeping as simple as possible.

You can set up your own personal gateway online with HMRC and this portal will allow you pay your self assessment tax bill each year, as well as check on things such as your pension entitlement assessment for when you retire, and details of any benefit payments that you currently receive, such as Tax Credits.

Freeing yourself from your home office

As a business owner working from home, you will have important day-to-day tasks to perform that are essential to keeping your business ticking over. This includes completing menial tasks without becoming distracted or sidetracked.

It can be hard to concentrate on your work if you are worried about what is going on right outside of your home office door. You may have a sick child at home that needs your attention, or you may be trying to work during school holidays and your kids are causing chaos.

Before you know it, you have lost a day's worth of productivity and important business calls have been missed or cut short. Your incoming business mail is piling up and left unopened, and your emails are stacking up in your inbox, but you are unable to work through them because you are struggling to juggle with so many other office tasks.

You can take steps to free yourself from your everyday office tasks and be there for your family whenever they need you. It is possible to escape your home office to take care of family matters knowing that while you are absent all of your important business telephone calls are still being answered promptly, professionally and in a friendly manner.

Now would be a perfect time to make use of very flexible and cost-effective virtual office services, such as those offered by Capital Office, London.

Whether you want to have your business phone calls covered when you need to concentrate on work, meet with important clients, or simply spend time looking after a family member when they are sick, you can use our unlimited business call answering service or you can go the whole hog and have our complete virtual office services at your fingertips when you need a little extra help.

By using virtual office services to free you from your every day time-consuming administrative tasks you can focus your time and energy on other more important things, such as getting a work project completed to meet an impending deadline, meeting with customers or potential new B2B partners or trade suppliers.

Capital Office, London is here to help you if you are struggling to run your own business from home or find your everyday business admin tasks are becoming a little overwhelming. You can find out more about the benefits of using an unlimited call answering service and how it can set you free from being tied to your home office telephone. Or you can discover how using a complete virtual office can actually be good for you and your business if you are a sole trader.

Running your own business takes a lot of hard work and effort. Any business owner will agree and appreciate that fact, but a big part of making your business a success is to be open to the latest ideas and innovations in technology.It can take a good while to establish an efficient and productive workplace with a lot of testing, trial and error along the way to find what works best for you. However, if you want to stay on top and run your business to maximum efficiency than you cannot risk becoming complacent about your work processes and procedures.

How is technology improving the workplace?

There has been a technological explosion over recent years that has seen the rapid adoption of new technology and computer apps and tools that have provided great advancements in the workplace. This has meant that a lot of brand new startups have jumped in with a completely different workplace design that looks nothing like how a traditional business was structured, even as little as five years ago.There is no denying that the workplace has been gradually evolving over the years with small improvements and updates, but throughout many decades the humble office has pretty much stuck to the same tried and tested structure that existed 150 years ago, or even longer.New start-up businesses are finding new ways of working that not only help to improve productivity in the workplace, but also enable entrepreneurs to start their new ventures as a lean business operating on a minimal budget.This involves creating the right workplace environment to attract and retain their key staff members that will act as the foundation nuts and bolts of their business. Many new business enterprises are started these days on a very small scale with just a handful of key staff that are essential to the company. Modern technology has enabled more entrepreneurs to launch their successful business ideas without needing huge financial backing or business loans for large-scale office and workspace premises to work out of, or the need to hire as many employees as would have been needed on the ground as say 15 or 20 years ago.Modern technology has now been providing new business owners with the right tools for productivity, effectiveness and efficiency at the fraction of the cost of having to pay in-house staff to do certain essential everyday tasks.

Flexibility to grow and expand or scale down as needed

A lot of business owners can face fluctuations in business revenue throughout the year. This is quite commonly expected for seasonal businesses and for those who's manufacturing output depends on the consistency of incoming orders. Navigating the ebbs and flows of a variable cash-flow and managing it well is one of the key elements to running a successful long-lasting business.The flexibility that modern technology offers a business owner means that they can scale up or scale down their operations to match their workflow and will mean that they are not paying out a huge chunk of their business revenue on costly office rental contracts or staff wages.These days your company staff no longer need to be chained to their work desks or glued to their computer screens to ensure that their tasks get completed. The introduction of portable IT products such as laptops, tablets and smartphones have enabled workers to carry their work with them. This has lead to a lot of employers offering flexible work contacts to their employees that has enabled many of them to hire remote staff that can work from home so they don't have to pay out to supply their workers with a physical bricks and mortar office, the IT and telecommunications infrastructure needed, or power and water services that go with a standard office lease.For the business owner, this is a very freeing approach because they can simply take on more remote freelance or contracted staff to help them complete an incoming large project that their existing team may struggle to cope with on their own. It also means that they don't need to turn down any opportunities that come their way simply because they lack the capacity to handle large projects with the staff they currently have.The use of online collaboration tools such as Slack and Smartsheet means that you can control all of your team members from one place, no matter where in the world they are! Your team can collaborate and share files, progress and essential information in one place and you can keep an eye on everything that is going on without needing to leave the comfort of your office.

Scaled-down workplaces

With the use of modern technology combined with flexible working patterns, many business owners find that they no longer need as many office desks or workstations than before. Because not every employee is in your office all day every day, you can look at saving yourself a lot of money by having a scaled-down office structure where desk spaces are shared between employees.Technology is a wonderful thing for productivity and efficiency at work, but you may not want to go as far as using smart sensor technology to monitor your desk occupancy, but it is useful to know how many people are using desk space at any one time.Knowing how long desks are left vacant can help you analyse how much desk space your company actually needs. You could look at incorporating hot desks or workspace benches where your employees have somewhere to work from while in the office, but isn't their own designated area and is shared by your team as a collective.

Virtual Office Options

Is there actually a need for you to have a workplace office or reception area at all?This is a very important question to ask yourself, especially if you are setting yourself up as a sole trader or solo-entrepreneur. You may be thinking of starting up a small business from home or from a small workshop or retail shop where you either don't have the space for an office set up, or you simply don't need to run an office or have a reception area.Of course, if you are setting up on your own, you will have to realise that you need to handle all of your business administration tasks by yourself and that includes answering your business calls, doing your own bookkeeping and business accounts as well as opening and dealing with all your business post.For a lot of solo-entrepreneurs with big ideas, the thought of doing everything yourself, right down to being your own receptionist and office clerk, can be very frustrating. The time it takes to do your everyday administration tasks can be huge, and it is time that could be better spent more productively elsewhere on your business.This is why Complete Virtual Office Services have taken off in recent years, especially amongst small business owners that are trying hard to start and grow their business on a limited budget. Virtual office services are wonderful tools for a solo-entrepreneur simply because they don't need to blow their budget on leasing office space and hiring administrative staff to look after these essential business tasks.By using virtual services you can free up your time to spend engaging with prospective new customers or building your business network, or simply actually doing your work instead of getting distracted and interrupted by answering the phone every time it rings.If you think you can handle your incoming business post by yourself because that is just one task per day and can be handled in the morning, then this task is still time-consuming enough to tie up a decent chunk of your working day. Answering your telephone on top of this is different because the phone can ring at any time during the day. This is why it makes good business sense to look at using a professional call answering service such as the one offered by Capital Offices.Professional call answering services can free up your time and allow you to concentrate on your work without constant interruptions. This means that you can become more productive and are able to better meet your client deadlines. Your business calls will be in the safest of hands and will ensure that not a single phone call is missed because you are busy working or are with an important client that needs your full attention.With a call answering service alone you will greatly benefit because you will never lose any new opportunities coming from curious potential customers and your callers will be impressed that you have a professional receptionist answering their call instead of the stressed-out boss who is obviously struggling to manage everything on their own.

Better communications

Winning new clients and holding on to your existing customer base is crucial if you want your business to remain sustainable. A lot of business success is down to your customer service and the way you communicate with people.There is so much modern technology available that you can take advantage of to make managing your customer relationships easier, and that includes outsourcing some of your essential business tasks to experts in their field that can help you.Rather than struggling with numbers and balancing your books, you can look at hiring a professional accountant or using an online bookkeeping and accounting solution, such as QuickBooks. For your business administrative tasks, you can look at hiring either Complete Virtual Office Services or just having your business calls taken care of via a Professional Call Answering Service.Additional physical workspace such as meeting rooms are also being changed for the better by modern technology. No longer do you need to pay out rent on a meeting room that is hardly used on a regular basis. Instead, you can look at taking advantage of hiring ready to use meeting room space in London for your important client meetings or as a gathering place for your annual AGM.All these advancements mean that you can help your business to reach high levels of productivity, collaborate easily with all of your team without the need to keep them tied to your office, and save a lot of money by using apps, software tools and virtual services.If you would like more information about any of our professional business services, feel free to call our friendly team on 0207 566 3939 or email us: OFFICE@CAPITAL-OFFICE.CO.UK or why not pop in to meet us at Capital Office, Kemp House, 152 - 160 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX.

For many decades going back in time, office space was an element that business owners paid little attention to. Very little thought went into the office because as far as a business owner was concerned, as long as there was enough space to house their staff and the building was cheap enough to buy or rent, that was enough for them to consider. Office design and layout was never really a decisive element of whether a building would be suitable or not.However, times are changing and now more than ever before employers are having to take into consideration the mental health and well-being of their staff. Office design and position are now being looked at in more detail to ensure that the environment delivers a positive impact on their staff and how they work.There are a number of factors that are now being looked at from open space, natural daylight levels, ergonomic furniture design, colour choice for décor, plants and greenery, lighting, heating and air circulation.A number of flexible working arrangements are also becoming more popular, such as splitting the working week between the working in the company office for two or three days per week and from home for the remainder of the week.For smaller business start-ups and micro-businesses, many more owners are now working a lean operation where they don't operate any offices at all. Instead, all administration work is outsourced to outside professionals such as Capital Offices that provide fully comprehensive Virtual Office Services. Taking this option can be a very cost-effective move and can mean that a new company will have more money to re-invest back into their business for future growth rather than see it spent on office rent, building insurance, utilities and staff wages.

Working arrangements and employees mental health

According to a report from Kelby Ergo Design (KED), nearly 90 per cent of our time is spent indoors. Those adults that are employed outside of the home will spend a whopping 33 per cent of their time within their workplace.It doesn't come as a surprise to learn then that the UK is currently suffering from a severe mental health crisis. According to the Office for National Statistics, one in four young women are reporting mental health problems, so concerns from employers for the well-being of their employees are now becoming a major consideration.Many modern business setups are moving away from old-fashioned cubicle office designs that had quite an isolating impact of their employees. Instead, more thought is being put into improving working conditions to allow more social and physical interaction that encourages stronger working relationships. This, in turn, helps to improve working collaborations, raises the mood and well-being of staff and goes a long way to improving productivity levels for the company.Improved office layout and flexible working conditions have also seen a positive rise in performance levels, reduced rates of errors, and fewer workplace injuries and sickness absences. This is why it very important to consider the psychology behind your office design should you consider running a physical office on your business premises.

Alternative design-thinking

Making positive changes to your office space can help to boost your productivity and the mental well-being of your staff. You will also be helping to create a more pleasant and enjoyable working atmosphere that will help you to retain the best talent that your company currently has. Unhappy workers will quickly seek alternative employment should their working environment be an unhappy one.Many business owners just starting out across the UK are now choosing new office space that offer well-designed layouts rather than cheap as chips commercial spaces where offices are often shoe-horned into corners without much thought. Even though the rent may be a little higher on well-planned office spaces, the saving your company can make over the longer term can be greater because of the positive effect your office environment will have on your employees' mental health and well-being.Flexibility is also another major factor for new business owners to consider here. To cater to the demand for more flexible working options, company owners are now looking at digital offices that work in the cloud and allow for collaboration from team members wherever their location. This means more flexibility for staff to work from home or on the road visiting clients face-to-face at their places of work.

Virtual office revolution

Another major change to the landscape of the working office is that of benefiting from virtual office services from professional providers such as Capital Office in London. This concept has been a positive shift in thinking by new business owners.With many new companies, the traditional corporate office set up is fast becoming a thing of the past. More businesses are adopting either a home-away-from-home approach to their office environment, incorporating more staff rest and recreational areas, organising yoga sessions, mindfulness classes and discounted gym memberships.Many more company owners are even eliminating many day-to-day administration duties such as telephone call answering and mail sorting by outsourcing these tasks to outside professionals. By doing this the company can save a lot of money by not having to employ their own office administration staff or payout for office space to accommodate them.A lot of research and design companies appreciate a working environment that offers peace and quiet to allow them to concentrate on their work. By removing the distractions of constant telephone calls, office chatter and the hustle and bustle of mail sorting duties, staff can focus more of their attention towards developing their projects without interruption or distraction.By putting your essential day to day office duties into the hands of a professional virtual office provider, business owners can be rest assured that all of their important telephone calls are being handled correctly in a timely and responsive manner. They can also greatly benefit from the time-saving mail sorting services on offer. Adopting these virtual services means that your mail sorting company can handle and deal with your business post in an appropriate way so you don't have to!Should a company owner decide to offer more flexible working arrangements for their staff, this can mean them having members of staff working from various locations, but all interconnected through modern technology to allow collaboration and teamwork to continue unheeded.By outsourcing regular office admin duties to professionals such as Capital Office, it will also mean that no piece of important mail will go astray or crucial telephone call missed. No matter where your key staff are working at any particular time, they will always be kept up to date with important phone calls and mail notifications through your virtual office service provider.We can take your incoming calls and deal with them as per your instructions. This means that if you don't want to be disturbed, we can take phone messages and forward them to you in a timely manner. Or if you are waiting for an important call from one particular client, we can ensure that they are put through to you with high priority.Important letters and documents can be scanned and emailed through to you so you are kept completely up to date with your post without having to experience any delays. We can bundle up your incoming mail and forward it on to you at regular intervals as designated by yourself, or if you are passing by our London offices, you can call in to pick up your mail in person if you so wish. This is how flexible our virtual office services are.

Freedom from the constraints of the office

Company owners are now realising that their staff don't need to spend so many working hours stuck behind a desk. More companies than ever before are offering their employees the freedom to decide how and where they work. This change in office structure has seen a rise in happier and more productive staff.Introducing flexible working conditions and outsourcing day to day administration tasks that used to tie-down staff has helped to improve their general well-being and mental health.Business owners, especially solo-entrepreneurs or sole traders, are also seeing greater savings by operating a lean company where they don't need to spend out a large chunk of their revenue on renting unnecessary office space and all the associated insurance, utility bills and maintenance costs that come with it.As the business environment evolves over time, it is becoming more apparent than ever that the days of work cubicles and cramped, clinical office settings are being left well behind.Find out more about our flexible virtual office services and how using our cost-effective professional services can save you a lot of money!

The statement of capital is the information used to show an overview of your company's share capital. It also describes what share classes that you have and the amount of money invested into your company. It also explains what shareholder rights are attached to the shares that you have issued.The statement of capital was introduced through the Companies House Act 2006 and came into effect from the 1st of October 2009. Previous to this act a company had a maximum set limit of authorised share capital. The new act meant that a company could now have as many shareholders as they wanted without restriction.The requirements for your statement of capital were revised and updated in 2016. The new forms specifying the information required were issued on 30th June 2016. The statement doesn't in itself list who owns all of the shares in detail, but you may be required to submit a full list of shareholders details to Companies House for their records along with your statement of capital. This is a requirement for companies limited by shares, but if you have a company that is an LLP or is limited by guarantee, it isn't a requirement.The 2016 changes also mean that companies need to submit the total amount unpaid on the company’s shares. When shares are issued, they may be awarded without the shareholder needing to pay for them at the time of issue. It can be the case that the shares were only partly-paid shares, leaving a per cent of the shares unpaid. It is up to your company if you choose to call in all unpaid shares and partly-paid shares at a later date when your company may need a cash injection.Companies House will need to know the total of all of your unpaid shares, so it is simply a case of adding up the value of all unpaid shares and the unpaid amount of partly-paid shares to get a figure.

The information you need to provide on each share you issue:

• Currency that the share was sold under
• Number of shares issued in the company
• Value of each share
• Type of shares (Redeemable, Preference, Ordinary and Cumulative)
• The owners of a limited company (company directors): the first shareholders (subscribers) that were needed at the time of your company formation

The statement of capital also requires the original subscribers (first shareholders) to submit the following information:

• The address of each subscriber
• The full name of each subscriber
• The number of shares owned by each subscriber

The actual share capital is the value of the shares that have been allocated. So for example, if one company share is worth £1.00 and if you own 10 shares you will have a share capital of £10.00. If you set your share value at £10.00 per share and you own ten shares, then your share capital will be £100.00, and so on.

Issuing shares

You are allowed to issues as many shares in your company as you wish. There are no imposed caps on the number of shares that you can issue. While this may sound wonderful, you must remember that your shareholders will be liable to pay for any unpaid shares owned, so in most cases new companies will start off small with just a limited amount of shares, to begin with, and may choose to issue more further down the line once the company has been established and is growing successfully.

Many thousands of budding entrepreneurs start up new businesses each year. Many of them go on to become very successful and continue to grow from strength to strength, but one thing is true of all of them – they all had to start somewhere and the successful ones needed to have a strong foundation from which to grow.Knowing which business structure to set up for your business is crucial if you are going to establish your business and grow from a strong foundation. Here we will take a look at the different business structures that are open to you and the pros and cons of each one. Whether you were thinking of setting up as a sole trader, a partnership or a registered limited company, it is important that you make the right choice from day one of your new business.

The four main business structures

For most new start-ups there are usually four main business structures to choose from.

• Sole trader
• Partnership
• Limited Liability Company
• Limited Liability Partnership (LLP)

The four business structures listed above are the most popular choices for the majority of new business owners. However, there are other business structures available such as not-for-profit community interest companies and charity organisations, but for most of our readers, the above four choices are where we are going to focus our interest.

Sole trader business structure

One of the most common business structures to set up in the early days of a new business is going it alone as a self-employed sole trader. There are currently hundreds of thousands of sole traders registered with HMRC. If you have a fantastic business idea that you can start up all by yourself, it is easy to register online as a sole trader with HMRC to get your business off the ground.Setting up as a sole trader is quite possibly the easiest route to starting a business because you don't need a huge amount of money to invest in your business. Quite often a sole trader will be a self-employed person with some sort of skill that they can sell or hire out to others. Sole traders vary greatly, so can be anything from a creative crafter, artist or designer making and selling their own wares, or a highly knowledgeable professional working as a freelance business consultant or accountant etc. There are also thousands of sole traders working as independent hairdressers, beauty therapists, personal trainers, lifestyles gurus, photographers, writers, web designers and more.While the name 'sole-trader' implies that you are some sort of one-person setup, you can actually employ staff if your business needs an extra pair of hands. However, there are certain rules to follow around employing staff as a sole trader that you need to adhere to.If you are starting to tinker with a business idea in your spare time, then depending on how much money your side business creates will determine whether you should register your business with HMRC. You need to set up as a sole trader if any of the following apply:

• you earned more than £1,000 from self-employment between 6 April 2017 and 5 April 2018
• you need to prove you're self-employed, for example, to claim Tax-Free Childcare
• you want to make voluntary Class 2 National Insurance payments to help you qualify for benefits

Once you have set yourself up as self-employed you will be registered for Self Assessment and will need to file a tax return every year to HMRC.As a sole trader, all business decisions are your own. This can be a benefit because you will not need to run your business decisions by any board members or shareholders that may not be receptive to your ideas and business decisions. You also get to keep all of the profit your business makes after tax has been deducted.

The disadvantages of being a sole trader

The one major downside of becoming a sole trader is that the law makes no clear distinction between you and your business. This means that you will be personally liable for everything that happens in your business name. Should your business fail, you will be fully responsible for paying off any outstanding debts that have been run up in your business name. This means that you will be putting your personal assets at risk, such as your home, car and personal money in your bank account.Another disadvantage to consider is that should you decide to give up your business, the business will not continue to operate in your absence. This is also the case should you decide to retire or if you die.You should also consider your tax position. As a sole trader your profits will be taxed as income, so once your earnings start increasing you will end up crossing a tax threshold that will see you paying 40% tax once you reach £41,865 and then 45% tax above £150,000.A vast majority of sole traders will eventually go on to grow their one-person business into something larger. As their business grows, the need to take on employees or a business partner (or a number of partners) will become a crucial next step in developing their business. At this point, most sole traders will look at stepping up their business and upgrade to form a limited company or a limited liability partnership.

Forming a regular partnership

A regular partnership is run in much the same way as being a sole-trader, but working with a person or people that you know well. Many partnerships are created among family member that want to work together to build a family business. This can work well in the beginning, but if you want to develop your business and go after big contracts, most larger companies that you approach will usually only look to work with incorporated partnerships (LLPs), so this is something to bear in mind.Regular partnerships are often a natural progression from a sole trader set up. This can often occur when a husband and wife or two or more siblings decide to join forces to support their family member. The great thing about setting up a partnership is knowing you have someone that you trust who has got your back. Should you be ill or have an accident that means you cannot work for a while, you will have someone to pick up the slack and keep things going in your absence.The only legal requirement of setting up a regular partnership is the same as with a sole-trader – as in each partner registers as self-employed with HMRC and will submit an individual tax return each year.As standard business partners, you will each be responsible for the debts owned by your business should it fail, just as sole-traders are. This is why it is very important that you completely trust anyone that you are planning to go into business with.

Limited Liability Partnership (LLP)

A safer route to setting up a business partnership would be to go down the Limited Liability Partnership route. You can take your partnership and incorporate it by going through the company formations process. This means that your partnership will be registered with Companies House as an official LLP, and you will benefit from all the legal protection that comes with it.Registering as an LLP will give your business great credibility in the business world, and will enable you to approach and work with larger companies that will only work with officially registered businesses.Being an LLP can also make it much easier for you to source business financing, should you need it. This can help if you have plans to expand your business and move to larger premises, take on employees or upgrade your essential company assets, such as tools and machinery.

Disadvantages of forming an LLP

By registering your partnership with Companies House, you will be letting yourself in for a lot more paperwork. You will have statutory mail coming from both HMRC and Companies House that you cannot afford to ignore or incorrectly complete. There are also harsh financial penalties attached to late submissions or errors in your submissions.In these cases, it would be wise to employ the services of an accountant that is used to handling business accounts and dealing with HMRC and Companies House.

Limited Liability Company formation

By far the most common business structure after a sole-trader is the limited liability company structure. Most limited companies are limited by shared and owned by their own directors and shareholders. You can register your company as a solo operator and be the company director as well as a company shareholder.The biggest benefit to setting up a limited company is the fact that should your business fail, the most your shareholders will have to pay out is the face value of the shares they own in your business. This means that you can protect yourself from financial risk because there is a distinct line between your own personal money and the finances of the company.Because a limited company has a separate legal identity in its own right, it will be your business that shoulders the financial liability and debt should the business fail. This means that your own personal assets such as your home, car and personal finances are all protected.

Tax considerations of an LLC

If you are looking for more favourable tax conditions for your business, then forming a limited company will also bring you tax benefits that cannot be enjoyed as a sole-trader or as a standard partnership.Registered limited companies will pay corporation tax on their business profits and you as the company director will be taxed as an employee of the company, this means that you will only pay tax on what your company pays you for your salary. Currently, corporation tax rates stand at 19% with a government commitment to lowering the rate to 17% by 2020.

The downside of forming an LLC

There are more statutory responsibilities that come with forming a limited company, these include submitting full statutory accounts and a company tax return to HMRC each year. You will also be required to make monthly or quarterly payments of employees’ income tax (PAYE) and NICs. Companies House will also require you to file your statutory accounts and confirmation statement each year.As you can see, there are more benefits to registering your company with Companies House than remaining as a sole trader. If you want to protect your personal assets, then it makes sense to reduce the risk of losing them by taking your business down the limited liability route.

Since the creation of the world wide web, home business start-ups have sky-rocketed in number. For many, the idea of starting a home-based business can bring them a new pathway to a lucrative career without feeling that they are simply working a job that is lining the pockets of others. Many people start home businesses because it can offer them the flexibility of building a business around the needs of their growing family.By drawing inspiration from notable entrepreneurs such as Jeff Bezos, who started Amazon from his home garage back in 1994, we can realise our dreams of owning our own businesses and carving out our own slice of a niche market.The internet has made running a small or micro business much simpler. Modern technology has also enabled us to roll up many important business tasks into one, so we can now automate things that would have taken up a lot of our time in the past, such as bookkeeping, invoicing, banking and managing our business accounts.Social media tools and communications management apps allow us to stay connected with our existing clients, as well as take the hard work out of marketing our products or services to new customers. All these digital tools allow us to compete with the big boys on the same platforms and enable us to win a piece of the action.No matter what business idea you want to try out, or if you can see a gap in the market for a solution that you can provide, there has never been a better time to launch your own business.Let's take a closer look at some home-based business ideas that you may find appealing, especially if you have the desire to work from home, but haven't quite found your niche just yet.

Private Tutor

There are so many different educational, teaching and learning areas you can enter into. You don't necessarily have to be a trained academic that has a masters degree in mathematics either! It really doesn't matter whether you have a passion for algebra, can speak fluent French or German, can play the guitar, bake amazing cakes, love flower arranging, can turn a lump of wood into a thing of beauty or can code in five different computer languages – if you have a skill that you are passionate about, you can offer your services as a tutor for that particular subject.Whether you choose to run live online courses in real time via Skype, create a video course for subscribers to download and watch in their own time, or run weekly classes at your local community college in the evenings, there could be a niche opportunity for you to utilise an existing skill or passion for a subject that you can share with others.For some ideas take a look at Tutorful for inspiration, or check out what evening classes your local community college offer. You may spot a gap in their programme that you could fill with a skill, or you could approach a different college with a talent you have that your local college already provide.

Graphic designer

There are so many business opportunities open to a good graphic designer. The fact that you work from home usually makes no difference to the customer as they will only be interested in your results. Just about every business launched today needs a good foundation of design to work from. Graphic designers are constantly in demand to help create company logo's, come up with creative images for brand recognition and marketing design coordination.To be successful in this line, you will need to have a genuine creative spark, a good imagination and a willingness to learn and keep up with new design technology. The added benefit of being a graphic designer is that you don't necessarily need an awful lot of space to get going. Working from a spare bedroom or home office can help to keep the costs down while you get yourself established.

Florist

People love flowers and they are very popular gift choices for significant events throughout the year, such as birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, graduation, landing a new job, to celebrate a new baby arrival, Valentines Day, and Christmas. Not forgetting that flowers are the gift of choice to help cheer up poorly loved ones that are having a spell in hospital or recovering at home.Starting a floristry business from home is a great idea if you have some spare space like a garage or outbuilding that you can turn into your workshop. Hiring a bricks-and-mortar shop can help to get your business noticed, but they can come at a hefty price with commercial rent and business tax to pay out, let alone paying out for utilities such as water, heating and electricity.Because floristry is a very visual creative art, you should take advantage of raising your awareness on a social media platform that uses a lot of imagery, such as Instagram. With floristry, seeing is believing, so you can set yourself up a wonderful portfolio of work and keep photographic galleries of creations to suit every niche market.

Freelance Writer

If you have a way with words, then freelance writing can offer a very flexible home-based business to start up. Again, there are many different niches you could look at working within, so if you have a particular passion that you would find easy and inspiring to write about, then you could look at creating useful content to sell to others, or write your own books or guides and publish them yourself to sell.There are writing opportunities on freelance job portals that you can bid for, or you can attract buyers to book your writing services by creating a profile and outlining what you can offer. It is also worth approaching newspapers and magazines to pitch ideas and articles. Newspaper and magazine editors are always on the lookout for fresh content so they may be willing to pay you for topical articles or even hire you to write some copy for them.Look on Twitter and other social media sites for job opportunities. Quite often a company will circulate a journalism request, so if you spot one that is right up your street you could be on to a good thing for future bookings, especially if they like what you submit to them.

Virtual assistant services

If you have worked in admin and find yourself a natural at organising your workload, running diaries and communicate well with people, then working as a virtual assistant could be an ideal business idea to start!There are many small business owners, sole traders and solo-entrepreneurs that would really appreciate a hand with a lot of day-to-day admin tasks that need to be done, but can keep them from doing other important things.You can expect to given tasks such as handling customer enquiries and communications, uploading web content, managing diaries and appointments, inputting orders and more, depending on what your customer needs you to do.You will need to set out exactly what tasks you are prepared to do and what hours you will be available for work. You will also have to decide how many clients you can handle at one time.These are just a few of our favourite working from home ideas, but there are many more that you could look at, for example:

• babysitting
• cake making
• car valeting
• childminding
• cleaning services
• computer repairs
• DIY handyman services
• dog walking
• eBay seller
• entertainer
• garden maintenance
• Ironing services
• pet grooming
• translation services
• personal training

Don't let yourself become overwhelmed

While it can be a very exciting time to start your own business from home, it can also be very daunting. Be prepared to put in a lot of hard work in the early days and risk sacrificing a lot of your spare time to get things up and running.Once you start to get your business established then you may also face demand rising very quickly, which can put a lot of pressure on you. In this case, it would be wise to look at getting some help with your everyday tasks to allow you to focus on other important areas of your work.A lot of solo-entrepreneurs and small business owners can ease the pressure of managing they are everyday administration tasks by using professional virtual office services such as ours. Capital Office virtual office services can be an ideal solution for when you need to focus on your work, meet with important clients or suppliers, or while you are travelling for work and cannot afford to be tied to your office.We can take care of your everyday administration duties so that you don't have to! We can ensure that every business call is answered so you never have to miss a business opportunity because you were busy in a meeting dealing with clients.Our fully trained and experienced administrative assistants have years of business knowledge and service under their belts, so will work very efficiently for you. Our virtual office team will answer your calls with your preferred greeting and handle each call as you direct us to. We will take care of all your incoming business mail and manage it to your specifications. We offer a lot of flexible options for your mail sorting and handling needs, so you don't need to worry about missing an important business letter or mandatory notification from HMRC or Companies House.If you are quite happy handling your own administrative tasks by yourself, but you could do with a hand to manage your incoming business calls, then you should look at hiring a professional call handling service. There are many benefits to be had from using a call handling service and the main point of it is to free you up from being tied to your company phone for every hour of your working day.Take a look at our professional call handling services to see how we can support you and help your company to grow from strength to strength.

The world of tax and business is an ever-changing place. Each year there seems to be a number of changes, both significant and small, that small business owners are obliged to keep up with and understand. Lets take a look at some recent changes that may affect your small business, or that you need to be aware of.

The National Living Wage

The National Living Wage for all employees aged 25 and over was increased by 30p an hour from April 1st to £7.50. The rates of pay for all age groups are now as follows: For 21-24 year olds it is now £7.05; for 18-20 year old it is now £5.60 and for under-18s the hourly rate is now £4.05.

It is law that every business owner pays their employees at the appropriate rate for their age, and you should pay particular attention to adjust pay rates for younger employees once they reach the next age bracket.

New Business Rates for 2017

From April 1st this year, the new Business Rates came in to force for England, Scotland and Wales. The new rates have been based on new commercial property valuations and many small businesses have seen a steep increase in their rates. For those businesses in England that are concerned about a rise in their business rates, you may be eligible for reduced rates for a period of time, but this will be at the discretion of your local council authority.

The government promised extra transition funds for local councils across England, so it may be worth checking to see if you can qualify. There are separate local and national rate relief schemes for Scotland and Wales too, and these can be applied for via the local council.

Changes to the appeal system

Should you wish to appeal for your Business Rates because you believe your business premises have been overvalued, the system you go through for appealing your rates has been changed in England. Small businesses wishing to appeal their new business rates must now pay an upfront fee of £150.00 before going through the three-stage appeal process. The £150.00 fee will only be refunded should your appeal be successful.

A change to the Code of conduct for Business Rates appeals firms

Many small business owners don’t particularly want to go through the business rates appeal process on their own. Many owners don’t want the hassle of the extra work involved so will hire consultancy agencies that will go through the appeals on their behalf – but often for a hefty fee! Should you choose to take this route then it is wise to hire a firm that is registered with the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

There has been a new level of protection added to protect small businesses from bad practice from these agencies. The newly strengthened RICS code of conduct that agencies have to sign up to will help protect the small business owner from being overcharged or from receiving a sub-standard service.

The introduction of the new £1 coin

The new £1 coin was introduced into circulation on 28th March this year. The new 12-sided design replaces the old style round £1 coin, which can still be used as legal tender up to the 15th October 2017. Should you still have some old-style £1 coins after this date, you can take them to a bank or Post Office and they can still be used in deposits for a limited time. This will be up to the individual bank or Post Office, so it is best to check with them to find out if they have a cut-off date. Most banks are stating around a 6 month period after this date to allow businesses to deposit the old style coins.

As a business owner, you are under no obligation to accept old £1 coins after the 16th October. You can find out more information about the new £1 coin and how it affects business here.

No tie to one water provider

It used to be the case that businesses in England were tied to their regional water firm, but now are free to choose who they wish to supply their water services. Those eligible to change their supplier can now choose to have their water supply from one company and even go with a different one to handle their wastewater service. This sort of choice has been available to businesses in Scotland for quite a while now and has been working well.

New Lifetime ISA

The Government introduced a new lifetime ISA on April 6th 2017. This individual savings account has been particularly aimed at encouraging the self-employed to save. Following research published by the Federation of Small Business that showed only around 30% of self-employed workers are saving into a private pension, this has been introduced to encourage savings with a Government top up of 25%. To qualify for the top-up you need to be under the age of 40 and put up to £4,000 a year into the ISA.

VAT Flat Rate Scheme changes

A new flat rate VAT of 16.5% was announced at the Autumn Statement and was introduced on 1stApril 2017. The eligibility criteria to qualify for this rate has changed. Small businesses affected are those who are considered to be ‘limited costs traders’. This is where your VAT-inclusive expenditure only takes up a very small percent of your business turnover. This can be either:

• less than 2% of their VAT inclusive turnover in a prescribed accounting period
• greater than 2% of their VAT inclusive turnover but less than £1000 per annum if the prescribed accounting period is one year (if it is not one year, the figure is the relevant proportion of £1000)

More information about the new VAT flat rate changes can be found here.

Charges for hiring non-EU workers

The Government’s new Immigration Skills Charge to incentivise training of British workers was introduced in April 2017. This means that businesses seeking to employ new workers from outside the European Economic Area on a Tier 2 (skilled workers) visa will face paying a fee. The charge is £1,000 per employee per year, but there are reduced rates for qualifying small business of £364 per worker per year. The charges have been introduced to help cut down on the number of businesses taking on migrant workers, and instead hopes to incentivise them to train British staff to fill those jobs. More information about the introduction of the Immigration Skills charge can be found here.

Faster payments for small businesses

A requirement for better payment practices has been introduced. This means that larger companies have to give details of how promptly they will pay smaller businesses upfront for their goods and services. Larger firms will now have to specify the proportion of invoiced cleared within 30 days, between 31 and 60 days, and above 60 days.

Small business owners have long faced a struggle where they are financially stretched while waiting to be paid by larger firms holding off payment for an overly long time. This has sometimes resulted in smaller firms going under or failing to re-invest in the business due to a lack of circulating funds and payments being withheld. The Government considers a delay of 60 or more days before payment as poor payment practice, so it wants to encourage more transparency over payment arrangements and for invoices to be paid more quickly to benefit smaller businesses.

With the General Election voting day fast approaching and the release of party manifestos, emerging businesses are keen to see how each party propose to help UK businesses and if their policies are going to be favourable for business growth.

According to the latest Growth Climate Index, businesses believe that the most important areas for focus at the moment is on industrial strategy, the intervention of the government and the ongoing question of productivity. The survey spoke to 280 business leaders and entrepreneurs with the aim of measuring the confidence of the UK’s business growth environment.

Top of the list

The survey was conducted by the Business Growth Fund and was the first since just after the June 2016 Brexit vote. Of those surveyed, 88% said that the UK requires a comprehensive industrial strategy while some 77% also said they want to see the government’s proposal strategy back emerging businesses and sectors including clean energy and biotechnology. This is opposed to just 11% who want the government to prioritise support for the establishment business sectors and companies.

In fact, there is an overall approval among business leaders for the industrial strategy that the current government has formulated. 86% of business leaders think that under certain circumstances, it is a good thing that the government intervenes with the private sector – primarily to support economic growth. And 82% of those surveyed believe that the government should focus on SMEs in order to boost overall productivity.

Divided opinions

One area that caused division among those who took part in the survey was Brexit. For example, 49% believe that Brexit is more important for British business than industrial strategy at this point versus 47% who think strategy is ahead of Brexit in importance.

One area around Brexit where opinions have changed is in terms of the outlook for growth. In the previous survey, just after the Referendum vote, some 72% said that growth would worsen versus just 12% who expected to see an improvement. Now, figures are more even with 38% expecting an improvement in growth, 33% thinking things would stay the same and 29% who think it will worsen.

Similarly, when asked about the last quarter and if conditions for growth had improved, 38% think things haven’t changed while 26% said things were worse and 36% think things have improved. This shows an improvement from the July 2016 survey when only 10% thought that conditions had improved.

Support for the government

Stephen Welton, chief of the BGF, said that there was strong support from the private sector for the current government’s industrial strategy, showing that business leaders wanted a break from the past. They approve that the government has moved away from just supporting established companies and the biggest names in any industry and instead helping emerging businesses. Leaders also approve of the new acknowledgement of the importance of smaller businesses in driving innovation and helping to eliminate the productivity gap.

He went on to highlight the fact that this will become more important as we leave the EU and build a new trading relationship with European partners and those around the world. He confirmed that the survey shows a cautious optimism in business leaders and that companies are starting to have a positive and pragmatic vision of the country’s future.

For someone just starting out in business and wanting to officially register their business with Companies House, there are a few regulatory requirements that you need to apply to your business. One of these requirements is allocating an appropriate SIC code. Every registered UK company must report a SIC code. But what exactly is a SIC code and how does it apply to your business?Firstly, the term SIC code stands for 'Standard Industrial Code'. While SIC codes are important for your business, they are still quite misunderstood by many new business owners.Basically your SIC code is a way to describe and categorise what your business does. It is a system that Companies House use to provide information about the type of business you have and to give a general overview of your business activities. The classification of each company is available for anyone to view on the public record. You will need to know your SIC code for when you submit your Confirmation Statement each year.

SIC Codes Explained

Depending on what your particular business activities are, your company will fall into a certain category. Companies House keep a comprehensive list of possible types of businesses that operate in the UK which are arranged together under similar trade classifications. There are now approaching 100 different SIC code categories to choose from. Your SIC code will be the one that matches or is the closest type of business sector you operate in.Each sector or trade group has a SIC code applied to it, but more detailed classifications are allocated within each group according to their specialisation. So for example, trade group I refers to Transport, Storage and Communication businesses. Obviously this can cover a very wide variety of different businesses under this umbrella, so further individual codes are then assigned according to what they actually do.Each and every registered UK company selects one or more SIC codes that express the nature of their business from an official list of SIC codes provided by Companies House.Lets say you run a heavy haulage freight transport company. Your company would fall under category 49.4 that covers Freight transport by road and removal services. This group includes all land-based freight transport activities other than rail transport. Because your business specifically uses the road network to operate, you would then come under SIC category 49.41 Freight transport by road. This class includes all freight transport operations by road including:

• logging haulage
• stock haulage
• refrigerated haulage
• heavy haulage
• bulk haulage, including haulage in tanker trucks including milk collection at farms
• haulage of automobiles
• transport of waste and waste materials, without collection or disposal
• renting of trucks with driver
• freight transport by man or animal-drawn vehicles

When do I need a SIC code?

SIC codes are something that as a business owner you don't necessarily think about or even have to deal with on a day to day basis. The fact that you actually need to have one is only realised when you are submitting your Confirmation Statement to Companies House when there are any changes to your SIC code(s) that need reporting. A SIC code is also needed to form a new company and to be able to allow you to successfully complete your filing process for your first annual Confirmation Statement should your business undergo any changes.

How do I discover my business's SIC code?

In order to find the correct SIC code to suit your business, you should use the Companies House official SIC code list. You will first need to find out what your actual trade description is before you can find the right SIC code category on the list. There is a condensed PDF version of the SIC code list here.The SIC Code list is divided into different trade groups, and while you can search for your code by entering your trade description, it may take a little bit of digging around to find the most relevant match to suit your business activities. This can be quite difficult to define if you work in a particularly obscure sector, so it may take a while to find the closest possible match if there isn't an exact category that fits.Some of the trade classification categories are very specific and will be quite obvious by its very description,‘Striking of coins’, for example. But other categories are a bit more vague and can cover quite a variety of different activities, 'Other food services', for example would be a category to choose if you cannot find an exact match for your food-related business activities.

Changes to the SIC Code System

The list of SIC codes is ever growing and changing because it aims to be the most comprehensive list of classifications as possible. The most recent major changes came about in January 2008, where a 2007 version of the code was introduced. This means that all 2007 codes have five digits, while the older 2003 revised codes only had four. All Annual Returns made since 1 October 2011 have required a 2007 version of the code.Whether SIC codes will go under any further changes in future is unknown, but as more diverse industry sectors evolve and develop, it is highly likely that SIC codes will undergo some more changes in years to come. In fact, since the original list was created back in 1948, there have been revisions published in 1958, 1968, 1980, 1992, 1997, 2003, and 2007.

How many SIC codes does my company need?

In most cases a business will only need one single SIC code to cover their activities. This may be one that best describes the nature of the business, especially if it involves dealing with just one product or service, such as business accounting or carpet manufacturing etc.There is an option for a company to choose up to four SIC codes should they need to, so if your particular business is quite complex in nature, or you offer varied services that cross different sectors, then a single SIC code will not be able to fully describe what your company does. In this case you can choose more than one code to cover all you bases.

Do I need a SIC code to form a new Company?

As of the 30th June 2016, all new businesses need at least one SIC code to be able to form a company. The SIC code should be chosen that best describes the planned business activities of the new company. Without at least one or more valid SIC Codes, Companies House will reject your formation request. It would save you a lot of time and hassle to plan ahead and sort out your SIC code before you go through your company formation process.

Reporting your SIC Code

If you formed your company after 30th June 2016, your SIC codes need only be included in your Confirmation Statement if they have changed during the year since formation. It can be more common than you think for a change to happen. Should your company expand, change its business sector or offer a more diverse range of services that would require different SIC codes to explain its activities, then Companies House would need to be updated with this information.You will only have to report your SIC codes in your annual Confirmation Statement each year as and when they change. There is no need to report SIC code changes immediately – you can wait until your next annual Confirmation Statement to report them.

Attracting new clients or customers is an important part of growing and sustaining any business, so what can you do to earn the trust of prospective and new customers to convince them to take a chance on you rather than one of your competitors? The answer to this is to obtain an official document from Companies House called a Certificate of Good Standing.A Certificate of Good Standing, otherwise know as a Certificate of Existence, is simply a certificate that demonstrates to your potential new clients and customers that you are a trustworthy business and that you are up to date with all of your legal requirements in the eyes of the law.

Who can get a certificate?

A Certificate of Good Standing can only be ordered for a company that has already been incorporated. It can be requested by both public and private limited companies. Your company will only be granted a certificate if you satisfy these requirements:

• Your company must be up to date with all of your legal filings and be in good standing with Companies House.
• Public limited companies must have a registered secretary and at least two directors, one of whom must be a ‘natural person’.
• Private limited companies must have at least one director who is a ‘natural person’.

If your business satisfies these requirements, then you are able to request a certificate for your company. You can have the certificate delivered to you or you can arrange for collection yourself.

How much does a certificate cost?

You can apply for your certificate through Companies House. There are two options available to you:

• A standard order will cost you just £15.00 and usually takes around four working days to process. Your certificate will be posted out to your Registered Office Address.
• A same day order will get your certificate issued much quicker, but comes in at £50.00. The same day service allows you to access and instant PDF copy of your certificate should you need it, but generally speaking a paper certificate actually carries much more gravitas because these are the only copies that carry an actual signature from a Companies House representative.

What is listed on the certificate?

Your certificate will detail certain pieces of official information, depending on your requirements, but will usually include the following:

• The company name and registration number.
• The date of incorporation.
• The name of the company director(s).
• Some additional details about the directors, e.g. nationality.
• The name of the secretary (for a public business).
• The Registered Company Address.
• The company’s objects (if applicable).
• Statement of good standing.

The aim of the certificate is to confirm that the company is genuine and trustworthy. The good standing statement would be considered to be the most important piece of information on the certificate. The statement effectively certifies that your business has been in continuous existence since its incorporation date, and confirms that there is no action being taken against your company.

Is having a Certificate of Good Standing useful?

Having a certificate could prove useful to you, especially when you are dealing with other well-established organisations that may need some reassurance of your status before they would consider working with you. A certificate will also prove useful when opening a company bank account. It can also be used as an example of trust when trying to attract new investors into your business.For those looking to get a foothold in overseas business, a certificate can help to reassure overseas authorities that your business is genuine and up to date with all legal documentation and filing. You will generally need one if you wish to set up a foreign branch for your company abroad. However, if you plan to use your Certificate of Good Standing abroad, you will need to get it legalised with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). Once legalised, your certificate will carry the same weight and status as it has in the UK. For these purposes, you will need to get a paper copy of your certificate. You cannot get a digital copy of your certificate legalised by the FCO because it doesn't carry an actual seal and signature from a Companies House official.

Can my request for a certificate be refused?

To be issued with a Certificate of Good Standing you will need to satisfy their requirements as listed above. You will be turned down for a certificate under the following circumstances:

• Your company has not supplied sufficient information to Companies House about the ownership or constitution.
• Your company is not up-to-date with its annual confirmation statement and annual accounts.
• Your company lacks at least one natural (human) director.

Something to also bear in mind is that Certificates of Good Standing are only valid for three months from the date of issue. After this time you may want to consider applying for a new one as many organisations and authorities will expect to see a more recent up-to-date certificate.Most registered companies operating in the UK may not have a particular need for a Certificate of Good Standing, however many will request one to satisfy themselves and any shareholders and investors in the business that the company is meeting its regulatory obligations. It can also help to give confidence to clients, customers and suppliers that you run a trustworthy and reliable company.