The Brief
Our client is a Danish fintech company with an innovative International payment system operating to disrupt the market for International payments monopolised by the banks and credit card companies.
They needed to open internet bank accounts in as many countries as possible as fast as possible to secure first mover advantage. They did not have the in house team, contacts or experience to do this and recognised that it would take at least 6 months to build an in house team. In the short term Rotherham Taylor’s team, international contacts and experience would be contracted whilst in house recruitment took place.
The Solution
Rotherham Taylor’s network of International contacts in Europe, South Africa, the Middle East, Africa and Australasia were contacted and using the services of Rotherham Taylor’s retained banking consultants we were able to open accounts in 40 countries giving the client the first mover advantage.
What was originally foreseen as a six month assignment turned into a two year contract as it proved more difficult to build the in house team than anticipated.
The Outcome
Rotherham Taylor’s International contacts and connections provided a robust and flexible solution to the client’s inability to recruit an in house team overnight. First mover advantage was delivered. Rotherham Taylor remains contracted to take care of the clients UK compliance needs and management of overseas structures.
The Brief
The family owners of a long established substantial construction company found themselves facing a liquidity and compliance crisis as a result of the fallout from the global financial crisis of 2007/2008. RBS’s infamous GRG had taken control of the family business and installed new management leaving the owners emasculated. The existing advisors (accountants, lawyers etc.) had taken the company position leaving the owners personal tax positions and finances abandoned. Substantial personal tax liabilities existed and Tax Returns were not up to date.
The Solution
We agreed at the outset only to work on the family personal position and leave the company to the existing advisors.
The family had accumulated considerable net wealth and assets over their 50 years in business.
A reorganisation of the families assets including sale of property, conversion of a SIPP to a SSAS pension fund and legitimate sale of assets to the pension fund, bringing personal tax affairs up to date, negotiate with the existing bank and HM Revenue & Customs enabled the family to settle their reduced tax liabilities and establish a personal family plan for the next 20 years.
The Outcome
The family’s tax affairs are fully up to date. The previous advisors had overlooked accumulation of losses which, once established, substantially reduced the tax liabilities. Continued ownership of valuable assets will release very substantial gains over the next 20 years.
GRG’s ‘plan’ to remove ownership from the family by starvation was thwarted and the family have regained control of the family business following a refinance. Rotherham Taylor’s assistance bought them the time to achieve it.
Rotherham Taylor continues to act for the family in respect of their personal affairs.
The Brief
The client is a London based venue management company. As a small team they wanted to outsource the financial function of the business from the beginning to ensure that the time and resources they had in-house were utilised to generate sales and grow the business. Rotherham Taylor were approached to take over the financial function, acting as bookkeeper, credit controller, purchase ledger clerk and management accountant as well as fulfilling the statutory compliance obligations.
The Solution
Rotherham Taylor work closely with the client and have a system in place so that they can remotely receive information from the client which enables them to act as the Financial Controller alleviating the Directors of this responsibility. Rotherham Taylor control the bank account of the client and so can provide advice over cash flow and help schedule and plan payments which is crucial in any new business. The Directors have the confidence that the financial back office is being expertly looked after and so they can spend their time doing what they do best.
The Outcome
Rotherham Taylor continue to work alongside the client for a fixed monthly fee. The client can use the resources of Rotherham Taylor rather than recruiting someone in-house and this therefore gives them increased flexibility and ensures that Rotherham Taylor know the business inside out and are best placed to give strategic advice as and when it is needed. Although the client based in London, Rotherham Taylor primarily fulfil the role from the North West and so the client is able to receive the support they need but take advantage of the competitive rates that Rotherham Taylor can offer.
The Brief
An existing client, previously employed for circa 20 years decided to form her own limited company to offer high end niche consulting services. As an employee of an international firm, the client had been used to a support network and had been able to access both accounting and administration staff on a daily basis. Starting from scratch on her own, the client had to take on all roles of the business herself. Rotherham Taylor came on board to help form the company and then implement a strategy for the day to day operation of the financial aspects of the business.
The Solution
Rotherham Taylor worked closely with the client in the initial stages of the business to ensure that the client knew what the ongoing compliance responsibilities would be and also introduced the client to Xero, a cloud bookkeeping package. Through a cloud based offering like Xero, Rotherham Taylor is able to work closely with clients, regardless of location, helping them to input data on a daily basis (if needed) and then analysing the information periodically to judge performance. During the early stages of a business Rotherham Taylor can offer close supervision to ensure clients feel that they have someone to call on if needed.
The Outcome
After some initial training and the custom designing of invoices and templates on Xero by Rotherham Taylor, the client is now able to input all data on their own, with Rotherham Taylor reviewing the information quarterly and finalising VAT returns. This has enabled the client to have a real understating of the financials of the company and enabled them to feel in control of the company as it grows. The client can call on Rotherham Taylor as and when needed but is not locked into an expensive monthly arrangement for bookkeeping.
The Brief
Our client, found themselves left without their full time internal management accountant following an employee leaving and unsuccessfully being able to recruit the appropriate candidate in the notice period of the exiting employee.
Our client is a company which predominately focuses on the online sale of nutritional supplements and with a turnover of over £4m, the company has a high volume of transactions each day resulting in the management accountant role acting as the lynch pin in ensuring the business operates smoothly.
The Solution
In order to allow our client the time to recruit a high calibre management accountant, Rotherham Taylor were able to step into the breach and send a member of the team to the client’s offices for between 2 to 3 days a week over a 6 week period. Ian Sergeant, on behalf of Rotherham Taylor, was able to go to the client’s offices, learn the current systems with a view to updating a back log of information but also implementing new streamlined systems for the replacement to use going forward. Ian was then able to train the new management accountant when the candidate was found and helped ensure a smooth transition into the company
The Outcome
With Rotherham Taylor’s support the client was able to take the time to recruit the new employee that they wanted rather than rush the decision. Ian was able to take on the role of interim management accountant, offering both onsite and offsite support as needed. Given Rotherham Taylor’s understanding of the client from preparing statutory accounts and compliance work, Ian was able to start immediately, meaning the disruption to the client was minimal. Once the candidate was in place and trained to the standard needed, Rotherham Taylor’s involvement was reduced and so the client benefited from the flexibility in terms of both time and cost.
The Brief
The owners of a limited company were looking for an exit strategy to extricate themselves from their business over a five year period.
The owners were happy to continue working within the business in the interim but were keen to achieve a solution that protected their business and its 20+ employees whilst giving them access to funds at a low rate of tax
The Solution
On behalf of Rotherham Taylor, Rebecca Bradshaw met with the business owners and discussed different options, including, but not limited to, management buy outs, a sale to a third party and a sale to an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT).
After exploring a sale to a third party and an EOT, the business owners decided that the EOT route was the option they wanted to pursue. The owners instructed a specialist EOT advisor to help them sell 70% of the business to a Trust, for the benefit of their employees.
The Outcome
Rebecca worked with the owners and the specialist advisor in order to facilitate the business sale. The owners were able to sell 70% of their shares for an agreed tax-free amount, to be paid in instalments over the five year period.
The owners are now concentrating on developing an internal management team to take over the day to day running of the business, maintaining the business ethos that they have developed and safeguarding the jobs of the employees.
Rotherham Taylor assisted the sales process by preparing a valuation for the business, working with the specialist advisor ensuring the sale of the business happened quickly and with little disruption.
On an ongoing basis Rotherham Taylor will act as an advisor to the company and the EOT.