How much support has your accountant given you during Lockdown?
Posted on 9th November 2020 at 10:07
On 23rd March 2020 lockdown was first announced for the UK, taking everyone completely by surprise. Businesses didn’t have time to plan or react to the sudden closures and restrictions around trade. Nor did they have time to put aside any cash they might have had to weather the storm.
An upsetting and stressful time for thousands of business owners across the country, most did what you would expect and turned to their accountant for advice and support. We received an influx of queries from clients right across the board, large and small, in all sectors:
How do we get through this when we can’t trade or our ability to trade is significantly restricted?
How can I claim financial support from the Government’s support measures?
How do you calculate furlough and how can I claim it? And when?!
I don’t qualify for anything how do I survive?
Our answer was to try and support each client as best we could. Their survival was key, it was also our survival.
To support them we put into place a range of measures:
As standard we made sure to process each furlough without charge for every client that wanted us to do it.
We offered them regular updates via email on support measures that each business could claim – every time the Chancellor made an announcement we processed it, put it into plain English and sent it out to all clients, so they understood what they could and couldn’t claim.
We helped people obtain grants where their businesses had been damaged by Covid and the closures.
We negotiated with finance companies and lenders for better payment terms to free up cash for clients who were struggling to trade.
We prepared cashflow forecasts so our clients could have some visibility of what they could and couldn’t pay, including whether they could pay themselves and their team members.
Most importantly we stayed in touch with clients. We offered them a friendly ear when they needed one. We offered them support during the stressful days when they had to completely change how they operated simply to survive.
Being a trusted partner to our clients is really important to us, we know them and want to help them. They know they can rely on us to do our best for them. If you didn’t get the same support from your accountant then make the best decision you can for your business and find a better one – you deserve support during difficult times and if there ever was a difficult year this is it.
If you want to talk about how we can help support your business there are a few ways to get in touch: request a call back, email victoria@mouldsandco.com or call on 01937 584188.
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