Finance Monthly Global Awards 2018 Edition

ENTERPRISE INVESTMENT SCHEMES ADVISORY FIRM OF THE YEAR Why did Ian set up Certius? Having worked in large advisory firms and multinational companies but having dealt with individuals and SME’s whilst one of HM Inspectors of Taxes, Ian began to realise that start up and growing businesses lacked access to affordable, bigger picture, good quality tax advice that was available to larger concerns. The balance between fee earning and client needs seemed to be focussed too much on the former, with clients being offered “planning” based on the focus of the advisory firm rather than the aims, resources and situation of the client. Ian decided to found an accountancy firm with a difference, relying less on image, market share, time sheets and a “suit and tie” approach, and more on client relationships, client aspirations and on providing more certainty in the increasingly uncertain world of both tax and business. What is different about Certius ? Certius is primarily an advisory firm, offering all of the usual compliance services, but focussing on providing timely, bespoke business and tax advice to its clients. Our staff do not complete time sheets, they do not wear a suit and tie to the office every day. When meeting clients they dress in the same way as our clients do, either formally, or informally depending upon the requirements of the individual client. Whilst we have fixed “opening times” at the office, staff are free to work flexible hours and to work either in the office or at home depending on their circumstances. When we are engaged by a client we scope the work, whether it be compliance or advisory, in detail, then agree a fixed fee for our services. We utilize notional charge out rates in order to determine the fee but do not charge clients on a time basis. If we overrun on the work we bear the cost of that overrun, where there is an overrun as a result of a change in scope of the work or undue client delays then we might have a conversation with the client to agree a fee increase. We do not charge clients for telephone calls or meetings, including these in our fee strategy, so clients do not have to be afraid that the clock is ticking every time they speak to us. In addition, we discount client fees where we Q Q receive referrals from existing clients, as a way of saying thank you. All of our business and current client base has been generated from referrals and recommendations either from clients or from business and personal contacts. What are the areas of expertise that Certius Offers? Certius offers the full range of corporate, trust and personal tax accounting and advisory services including tax return, VAT return preparation, management accounting, statutory financial accounts preparation, company secretarial services. We do not offer an audit service, as we concentrate on the SME sector. Our advisory services are widespread, ranging from basic personal, corporate, capital gains and inheritance tax planning, through to UK and cross border corporate structuring, profit extraction and investment structuring including statutory reliefs available on such investments. We do not, and never will promote or participate in the selling of so-called tax avoidance schemes. There are many reasons for this: We take the view that reasonable and fair taxation is an unwelcome but necessary fact of life, necessary to enable the functioning of a civilised and advancing society with ever growing needs and aspirations. That said, we also believe that every individual and business have the right to pay the lowest tax permitted by law and to organise their affairs accordingly, provided that they are acting within both the letter and the spirit of the law. We saw in the UK a growth in the tax avoidance industry, where schemes with no underlying commercial basis were sold at vast cost to taxpayers in attempt to circumvent the spirit of tax law, often utilising relatively generous tax reliefs in a way not envisaged by legislators. This led to strong challenges first by HM Revenue and Customs, then by supporting legislation, leading to inevitable losses to taxpayers and a general clamping down on tax avoidance, effectively blurring the lines between hitherto legal avoidance and illegal evasion. Because of this we focus on providing advice based on real commercial activity, utilising to their maximum the tax reliefs available under the law. Our areas of expertise lie in the field of business structuring and investment where we have a strong and growing UK and international client base. In particular we have a very strong expertise and success rate in the area of EIS. Q www.certius.co.uk Finance Monthly Global Awards 2018 www.finance-monthly.com 43 UNITED KINDOM