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Fun Fact Friday!

It’s Fun Fact Friday.

Today we’re looking at the Grey Heron!

1. Grey Herons are tall birds, averaging at 100cm with a wing span of almost 6ft

2. Irrespective of their height, they are surprisingly light birds, weighing in on average at 1.5kg

3. Herons, although solitary when hunting, are actually very sociable when nesting

4. Heron nests are known as ‘heronries’, most of which is built in trees around 25m from the ground

5. Grey Herons are found throughout the world – occurring in Asia, as far east as Japan and much of Sub-Saharn Africa and Europe

So, there you go. Probably everything you ever wanted to know about the Grey Heron?

We can’t claim to be as prolific throughout the world, but we do have clients throughout the UK, Europe and Australia.

When we’re accepting new clients in the future, why not see what C Allan & Son Accountancy Services can do for your business? With the magic of cloud based accounting software, you can engage us to act for you from anywhere with an internet connection.

We’re partial to Quickbooks but will invest in whichever platform you prefer to keep your numbers in order.

Have a great Friday and an even better weekend 😊

VACANCY! Assistant Accountant

Due to ongoing growth of long term clients, we urgently require an Assistant Accountant to join our small team, based in Paisley.

Due to ongoing growth, we’re recruiting for an experienced Assistant Accountant.

Role:

Using a mix of Quickbooks, Xero, FreeAgent and BTC; the role will include

• Preparing monthly & quarterly management accounts
• Drafting statutory accounts
• Drafting corporation tax computations
• Drafting sole trader accounts
• Drafting personal self assessments
• Processing journals, prepayments & accruals
• Preparing VAT returns
• Balance sheet & bank reconciliations
• Adhoc bookkeeping and accounts work

We are looking to appoint an Accounts Senior who’ll manage their own portfolio of clients but also help to develop junior members of staff.

This role is perfect for someone looking to step into a more hands-on, meaningful role for a small firm with a fantastic reputation for looking after its staff and clients.

The ideal candidate will be someone who works well as part of a small team and has the initiative, motivation and communication skills required to manage a group of clients with varying deadlines and requirements.

To be considered for the position you must have experience working at this level in an accountancy practice/firm.

Particulars of Employment:

Hours of Work: Open to negotiation, preferably 9am – 5pm, Mon – Fri
Hours per Week: 35
Contract: Permanent
Rate of Pay: £27,000 per annum
Pension: 5% paid by employer, 3% employee contribution
Holidays: 30 days (including public holidays and 2 gifted ‘duvet days’)

Secondly,

The second piece of good news is applicable to those clients who are part of the wedding sector.

The Scottish Government has announced that it will increase the money available to assist those businesses in the wedding industry.

“A £25 million fund to support the wedding sector and its supply chain will open to applications this week.

In recognition of the ongoing challenges faced by the sector, a further £10 million has been added to the £15 million announced in December.Launching on Thursday (28 January) the fund will provide one-off grants of up to £25,000 for eligible businesses in the sector impacted by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, including wedding venues, photographers, caterers and suppliers”.

For more information please search ‘find business support Scotland’ in your preferred search engine!

Good News for a Monday!

We have two pieces of good news to report today!

Firstly, HMRC today announced that “Self Assessment customers who cannot file their tax return by the 31 January 2021 deadline will not receive a late filing penalty if they file online by 28 February”.

This doesn’t apply to any of our current clients, as we will have everyone completed before the deadline.

It is good news for people who are still looking for an accountant to help them complete their self assessment!

To discuss how we can assist you with your tax return, please email info@caas.org.uk.

Fun Fact Friday

Fun fact Friday!

Today’s fun fact is about thundersnow, because apparently, some parts of Scotland witnessed this phenomenon through the night (see Twitter).

1. Thundersnow, is an unusual kind of thunderstorm with snow falling as the main precipitation instead of rain

2. Thundersnow occurs when the air closest to the ground is warm enough to rise and form a thunderstorm, but still cool enough that it freezes into snow

3. Thundersnow is unusual because it can only occur in a few months of the year, the Met Office explains. What a dampener!

4. When thundersnow occurs at night the lightning appears brighter – this is because the light reflects off of the snowflakes

5. Normally thunder from a typical thunderstorm can be heard many miles away. The thunder during a thundersnow event will only be heard if you are within 2 to 3 mile radius of the lightning

So, there you have it; possibly everything you ever wanted to know about thundersnow?

We’re also here to answer any accountancy questions you may have – in fact, that’s primarily why we are here.

For help with company formation all the way through to Limited Company accounts and VAT, you can contact us on info@caas.org.uk to arrange a video/telephone call.

Happy Friday!

Our Charity Donation, 2020

We’ll never forget the support shown to us from our wonderful Renfrewshire community.

As such, we always make a donation to a Renfrewshire charity of our choice.

We try to choose charities or not for profits that are smaller (like us!) but the help they provide is immeasurable.

In the past these have included:
– comfort dolls for dementia
– the Renfrewshire food bank
– the Renfrewshire Christmas toy bank (x 2)
– Reaching Older Adults in Renfrewshire (ROAR)
– Finding your Feet Renfrewshire

We learned about the work being done by a local business owner last year and we’re delighted to be in the position to make a donation to help him this year.

Many of you will already know of Rekz Afzal from popping in to his shop, RSA Your Local Shop at 27b Moss Street, Paisley.

Since 2017, Rekz and a number of volunteers have operated the Community Fridge. This is a discreet service for anyone who finds themselves in a position of need.

Simply pop in to the shop and ask for food items from the fridge, to see you through the period of hardship. For free.

Rekz and the volunteers have helped thousands of Buddies throughout the years, gaining several awards and recognition along the way.

A true act of kindness that is also assisted by local people and businesses. It felt fitting to pick the Community Fridge this year, as now more than ever we’ve needed each others support and understanding.

And with that, we’d like to thank each of our clients who’ve stuck with us during the hardest of times. Without you, there would be no donations and no C Allan & Son. We hope that this festive season you’re safe, healthy and happy.

With sincerest regards,Chris & Michelle

Monday Motivation

Wow! It has been a lifetime since we felt motivated. Both in work and our personal lives.

But, we’re back and are truly feeling grateful for our health and our lovely clients who’ve helped our business to continue throughout these very challenging times.

We received a totally unexpected gift from our clients Stuart and Michelle, from M.E.R.J Transport Ltd. and it reminded us as to why we do what we do. Thanks guys! We’re blown away with your generosity.

From the bottom of our heart, thank you to all our clients for keeping us going. From gifts, to a supportive chat when we go for our lunchtime walks, it all makes such a difference.

We’ve been reminded that we’re appreciated and it’s given back our spark.

Stay safe and in good health everyone.

Grants for Small Businesses Affected by Covid-19 Pandemic

Grants to help Scottish businesses with COVID-19 impact.

Businesses can now apply for grants to help them deal with the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

The one-off grants are designed to help protect jobs, prevent business closures and promote economic recovery, and more than 90,000 ratepayers across Scotland will be able to benefit.

The grant support is additional to separate tax relief measures and is part of a package of measures worth £2.2 billion.

Small businesses in receipt of the small business bonus scheme or rural relief, as well as hospitality, leisure and retail business can benefit.

Two types of grant are now available to ratepayers:

• a one-off £10,000 grant to ratepayers of small businesses

• a one-off grant of £25,000 available to retail, hospitality and leisure business ratepayers with a rateable value between £18,001 and £50,999

The list is not exhaustive and if businesses think they may be eligible for one of these grants, they should contact their local authority, which are administering the scheme on behalf of the Scottish Government.

Cabinet Secretary for Finance Kate Forbes said:

“While our primary concern is for people’s health, it is clear that the Coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak will have severe economic consequences, and we are treating it as an economic emergency.

“We are determined to help keep companies in business and support them and their staff during this difficult time.

“Local authorities are the most efficient way to deliver this and we have worked closely with them to deliver these measures – and eligible businesses can apply now.

“Local authorities will aim to make payments within 10 working days, and I’d like to thank them for their help in ensuring this support is delivered as quickly as possible.

“The COVID-19 situation, however, is both severe and fast-moving and requires a coordinated UK response: I will continue to work closely with the UK Government and the other devolved administrations.”

The one-off £10,000 grant is available to ratepayers of small businesses in receipt of the Small Business Bonus Scheme (SBBS) or Rural Relief, or eligible for SBBS in receipt of Nursery Relief or Disabled Relief, and with rateable value up to £18,000.

The Scottish Government has taken the decision to exclude non-domestic property classifications which are not small businesses in the traditional sense. Examples include Advertising, ATM Sites, Car Parks, Public Toilets.

** The deadline for applications to the Business Support Fund is 31 March 2021 **

Help Available for Self Employed

New self-employed support scheme, headline points:

– Pays 80% of average profits over the last 3 years;
– Up to £2,500 per month for AT LEAST 3 months;
– For those with average profits of £50k or less per year;
– Will not be available until June at the earliest;
– HMRC will write to you if you are eligible;
– The scheme is open to those with a trading profit of less than £50k in 2018-
19 or an average trading profit of less than £50k from 2016-17, 2017-18
and 2018-19
– To qualify, more than half of their income in these periods must come from
self-employment.
– To minimise fraud, only those who are already in self-employment and
meet the above conditions will be eligible to apply. HMRC will identify
eligible taxpayers and contact them directly with guidance on how to apply.

The income support scheme, which is being designed by HMRC from scratch, will cover the three months to May. Grants will be paid in a single lump-sum instalment covering all 3 months and will start to be paid at the beginning of June.

Individuals should not contact HMRC now. HMRC will use existing information to check potential eligibility and invite applications once the scheme is operational.

Those who pay themselves a salary and dividends through their own company are not covered by the scheme but will be covered for their salary by the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme if they are operating PAYE schemes.