Starting your new business

The answer is as much as you want to learn from our experience as commercially successful entrepreneurs. We started MAAP Accountants from scratch in 1989, and it is a given we have made a good living from accounting for the wealth our clients create of their own accord. We have many years of advising our clients on how to develop and grow their businesses, as well as deal with the unforeseen threats that sometimes arise to challenge their aspirations and plans for the future.

Our firm's principals have also taken sabbaticals to work full time in starting and building a range of separate businesses in software development, sales and marketing agencies, graphic design, web development, contract social housing refurbishment, H&S compliance, training, and the entertainment sector.

Can you afford to ask us to help you? It is a very sensible question to ask, and the answer is equally straightforward. It is a matter of enlightened self-interest with no strings or obligations attached. Unless you are exceptionally fortunate, the chances are there will already be too many demands competing for the funds you have available … and that is before you even consider opening your doors to begin trading. The way look at it is this. If we invest our

free time and energy at this early stage in helping you get your business up and running, our payback will come in a life-time stream of higher fees in the future.

The choice will depend upon a range of factors that include:

• Who is involved and will share in the profits of your intended business.
• What services and/or products you will provide to your clients, and to a lessor extent which sectors you intend to serve.
• Whether you will employ staff directly, or perhaps rely upon sub-contractors.
• What is your personal liability risk exposure if things go wrong. A limited company does afford some protection against becoming personally liable for all the debts of your business activities.
• How much time you are prepared to spend administering your business. Trading as a company is more expensive and demanding than operating as a sole-trader or in partnership.
• What tax system you will be subject to, which in turns dictates when and how much tax you pay each year.
• Whether the business is only planned to trade in the short-term, or intended to operate for many years with the expectation that it might be sold as a going-concern in the future.

In the normal course of events we base our monthly fees on the time we expect to spend dealing with your business and tax affairs each month, once your business is up and running. To arrive at that happy state of affair, we write-off the extra time we will spend working with you:

• To register you and your business with the HMRC, and Companies House if you are trading as a limited company or a Limited Liability Partnership.
• To establish a working accounting system that will allow you to meet your statutory duty to keep accurate and compliant accounting records.
• To install and start using the free accounting software we can provide you as a client of MAAP.
• To set-up and operate a monthly payroll (if applicable)for you and your staff, including filing the mandatory monthly and annual reports to the HMRC.
• To set-up and account for CIS (if applicable) and file the monthly CIS reports to the HMRC.
• To set-up and account for VAT (if you are, or become VAT registered) and file the quarterly VAT returns with the HMRC.
• To prepare your first annual business tax returns and submit them to the HMRC.
• To prepare your first financial statements and submit them to Companies House and/or the HMRC as required.

We will prepare a formal letter of engagement, written in plain-English, that clearly and unambiguously sets out our respective obligations and duties one another to achieve the end goals set out above.

Within the bounds of reason, we actively enjoy using our experience and expertise to mentor new entrepreneurs starting out on their journey to success. We recall how much we learned from the mentors who guided us when we first started out on a pathway we never regretted taking all those years ago.

Like any advice, it is only as good as the understanding and experience of the person giving it. So, with that in mind here are credentials to indicate what we have to say, may be worth listening to:

• We have acted as accountants and tax advisers to hundreds of clients over the years. They were drawn from the medical, dentistry, manufacturing, construction, professional services, printing, retail, food, and entertainment sectors.
• Our principal director started his career with 7-years in medical sales and marketing after securing his first degree in medical sciences. He then joined KPMG to retrain as an accountant and later joined their KPMG Consultants division and specialised in taking companies to the stock exchange. He took a gamble and stepped out of a corporate career into software development to create (from the proverbial garden shed) a market leading accounting product that was eventually was sold to Sage Plc. His interest in technology continues with developing interactive training videos. He recently gained an MSc in Risk and Safety Leadership (2022) and a Level-6 Diploma in Fire Risk and Building Safety Management in 2025.
• Our other principal has a career specialising in corporate identity, printing and graphic design. She now heads up our corporate marketing division.
• In recent years we have specialised in running social housing refurbishment companies and professional qualifications in risk, H&S, fire and building safety management.
• Our principals sit on various institutional panels and committees for the disciplines stated above.
• We have lectured to peer-professionals on medicine, law, accounting, employment status, H&S, fire safety, and building safety management.

It is the breadth of experience we have to draw upon that makes our advice so valuable. We have been there and earned the T-shirts from the places you might end up needing to travel to on your journey. We aim to help others avoid the (many) mistakes we made along the way, as well as what we got right in the end.