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Auto enrolment: are you ready?

Nearly 600,000 small employers reach their staging date for auto-enrolment during 2016/17, and a further 1.1 million new employers stage in 2017/18.

Most of our clients are turning to us to help them comply with these new pension regulations.

If you haven’t taken action yet – you really should speak to us.

Advising employers on workplace pension schemes is time consuming, risky and challenging if you don’t get proper advice from us.

We’re on official partner with Workplace Pensions Direct, which enables us to offer all of our clients – without exception – a comprehensive and affordable auto-enrolment package, from initial assessment right through to declaration of compliance, and beyond.

Make sure you comply with the new regulations – and speak to our team now.

 

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Secret Diary of an Entrepreneur: Matt Davies, CEO of Tesco

Matt Davies the CEO of Tesco joins us at Hale Wine Bar

Alexander Knight & Co is excited to host an exclusive breakfast event on the morning of Friday 31st March. This will feature a candid Q&A session between Matt Davies, CEO of Tesco UK & ROI and our founder Murray Patt.

Matt is one of the youngest Chief Executive’s that Tesco has ever had although this is by no means his first major management role. He was previously CEO of Pets at Home for 8 years and Halfords for 3 years.

Manchester born and bred, he will discuss the challenges, inspiration and experiences that he has encountered on his impressive ascent to the top.

It’s a valuable opportunity to hear from one of the country’s leading business figures, enjoy a breakfast and network with like-minded business owners and company directors in the heart of Cheshire.

Tickets are strictly limited, so please contact alison@alexanderknightaccountants.co.uk now, to book your place & get further details.

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Fancy £600 tax free?

One of the most underused perks of being a company director is the ability to award directors with an annual £300 ‘trivial benefit’.

To get £600 – you draw £300 before April 5th – and £300 after April 5th and purchase a retail gift card with the funds. John Lewis, Selfridges or Tesco – whatever takes your fancy. That makes a total of £600 tax free over two days.

If your wife or husband is a company director, they can also have the perk. Meaning that, as a family, you can collect £1200 tax free!

This tax perk is because HMRC considers it acceptable to reward directors with a ‘trivial gift’ up to the value of £300 each, per tax year.

For more details on how to do this correctly and in accordance with current HMRC rules speak to one of our tax team.

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New private healthcare deal

If you’re a company director of a growing business it makes sense to review your choice of private healthcare provider. In our experience, too many of our clients are paying too much for distinctly average ranges of cover.

As a result, we’ve teamed up with Vitality Healthcare – and we feel that we’re able to offer a much more competitive rate and more comprehensive cover than your current arrangements. As well as protecting you when things go wrong, it also helps you to lead a healthier life. – meaning you don’t need to make a claim to benefit. It’s the way insurance should be.

Whether it’s a fresh look for you and your family or a scheme you’d like to introduce or update for your staff, speak to us and we will arrange a competitive quote. Switching healthcare provider is easy and hassle free – so in our mind, it’s worth getting a quote so that you can reduce your expense on this increasingly important benefit.

Speak to Murray Patt to arrange a FREE quote.

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Keeping you safe

cyber essentials logo

As part of our ongoing commitment to improving our information security management system we took the decision to gain the Cyber Essentials certification. We’re proud to be the first accountants in Greater Manchester to gain this certification and one of the first in the Northwest.

Cyber Essentials certification is aimed at helping companies guard their client data from hackers.

Keeping your data and information confidential is a top priority for our team.

In today’s climate of increasing numbers of cyber-criminals hacking into the servers of professional advisory firms we’re committed to staying one step ahead for our clients.

This certification provides you with the assurance that we are taking the necessary steps to prevent future cyber threats.

The certification recognises organisations that have taken appropriate steps to protect against most common cyber threats as a baseline for security. It was established by the UK Government in 2014.

Some of the things we do as standard practice in our business include:

●       downloading software and app updates as soon as they appear on devices and computers

●       using strong passwords

●       deleting suspicious emails

●       using anti-virus software

●       training staff

If you need to upgrade your own cyber protection for your business, talk to us and we can point you in the right direction.

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