Restaurants face a unique range of cashflow and operational challenges. Keeping a restaurant running at its best can be difficult at the best of times, and that’s without the pressure of accounting and taxation eating away.
If your restaurant is facing cashflow problems or accounting issues, such as a difficulty predicting tax, calculating VAT and sending returns, a good accountant will be worth their weight in gold to your business.
In our work for restaurants, we often find that restaurant managers and owners are so fixated on the running of the business that accounting comes secondary. We have audited and prepared accounts for restaurants that haven’t kept meaningful records for a whole tax year, so we know better than most the challenges ahead.
Authenticated advice
One of the most common problems we find restaurant owners have is taking on bad financial advice from non-authenticated sources.
If you want financial and accounting advice for your restaurant, the ONLY place to get it is from a Chartered accountant. Everything you read online is too general and the advice you get from an accountant will be legally sound.
Ambitious growth
If you want your restaurant to grow, it has to be profitable. A good accountant can help you become more profitable and run better numbers.
For example, we have helped restaurants lower their overheads, increase turnover and generate new sources of income. We have also helped restaurants save money on admin with PAYE and VAT returns automated for them.
Paying employees
If you don’t want to have to fuss around with payslips and paying your employees, your accountant can automate this for you. Payslips can be provided by us and handed out to your employees by you. Your payslips can be branded to your company and everything will be properly recorded for the tax year.
If you pay minimum wage, it’s important to remember that rates are revised each year, so you need to keep on top of these.
Cash wages
A common issue restaurant owners have is cash wages. The concept of paying employees cash in hand is perfectly legal and normal, but accounting for the money and deducting the right amount of PAYE tax and National Insurance can be difficult.
A good accountant will be able to set up payroll software for you that enables you to automatically calculate PAYE tax and NIC. You will then be able to pay your employees in cash and keep back the correct amount to pay HMRC.
