Business Advisory · North London
Business advisory in Cockfosters
Owners in Cockfosters rarely have anyone to think out loud with who understands the numbers. Our advisory sessions are that: a structured conversation about the question you bring, prepared from your figures, with a written summary afterwards saying what we recommend and why. Fixed fee per session, no retainer required, no hourly clock.
from £149 · fixed, per session
Next deadlines
- VAT return and payment for the quarter that ended last month
- VAT return and payment for the quarter that ended last month
- VAT return and payment for the quarter that ended last month
- Tax year ends: last day for pension, ISA and dividend timing decisions
Who this is for
Business Advisory for Cockfosters
Owner-managers in Cockfosters facing a decision or a recurring problem: businesses that are busy but not profitable, owners considering a first or next hire, companies choosing between loan, invoice finance and investment, founders preparing to scale or to sell, franchisees and partnerships needing an independent view, and anyone who wants a quarterly conversation about the numbers with someone who has read them.
What is included
Everything inside the fixed fee
- A structured 90-minute session on the question you bring, with preparation from your numbers beforehand
- A written summary within three working days: what we discussed, what we recommend, what to do next
- Pricing and margin review: unit economics, price points, discounting and the gross margin you actually make
- Growth readiness review: hiring plans, funding options, systems, controls and what breaks at the next size
- Quarterly advisory retainer: a session each quarter with your management figures and a standing agenda
- Introductions to lenders, grant bodies and specialists where the question needs them
How it works
Business Advisory from Cockfosters, step by step
Scope the job
We find out what you need filed, when it is due and what state the records are in, and tell you which fixed-fee package applies.
Agree the price
The fee is confirmed in writing. There is no hourly billing and nothing added for questions during the work.
Hand over the records
Photographs, PDFs, software access or a spreadsheet, sent however suits you. We confirm what we have and what is missing within two working days.
Approve, then we submit
You review the draft with our explanation, sign off, and we file. Receipts, copies and the next deadlines come back to you immediately.
Why IGI
What you get in Cockfosters
No hourly rate and no surprise invoice. Cockfosters clients know the fee for business advisory before they send a single document, and it stays fixed.
Deadline-first: the dates that matter for business advisory are shown at the top of this page, diarised for every Cockfosters client and chased before they arrive.
Online only, UK based. There is no office in Cockfosters to pay for, which is why the fee is the same here as anywhere in England; the work is done by people in the UK who answer the same day.
You get one contact for business advisory, not a queue. Cockfosters clients message the same person throughout and get an answer in working hours, usually within a few hours.
We explain business advisory in the words Cockfosters business owners use, not in accountant's shorthand, and we show our working so you can check it.
You stay in control of business advisory: drafts go to Cockfosters clients first, with the figures explained, and nothing leaves us until you say so.
Local facts
About Cockfosters
Cockfosters is in North London, within Enfield, in the EN4 postcode district, England. For businesses in England the tax rules are those set by the UK Parliament: the 20/40/45% income tax bands, Class 4 National Insurance for the self-employed at 6% and 2%, Corporation Tax at 19% to 25%, and Stamp Duty Land Tax on property. Business rates are set locally by the council.
| Place | Distance | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Oakwood, Enfield | 0.8 mi | E |
| East Barnet | 0.9 mi | SW |
| New Barnet | 1.0 mi | W |
| Oakleigh Park | 1 mi | SW |
| Osidge | 1 mi | SE |
| Oakleigh | 2 mi | SW |
| Southgate, Enfield | 2 mi | SE |
| Highlands Village | 2 mi | E |
Worth knowing
Rules that come up in this work
CIS deductions
CIS turns construction subcontractors into advance taxpayers: a fifth of every labour payment goes to HMRC before they see it. Registering keeps the rate at 20% rather than 30%; gross payment status, for established businesses with a clean record, removes deductions altogether. The annual return is where the overpayment comes back, and filing it early brings the refund sooner.
Confirmation statements and identity verification
The confirmation statement is the annual check that the public register is right: officers, registered office, SIC codes, shareholders and the PSC register. It carries a £50 fee and no financial penalty for lateness, but failure to file leads to compulsory strike-off. The identity verification regime introduced in November 2025 has added a further check to every statement.
Payments on account
A common surprise in Self Assessment is the January payment that is far larger than expected. That is the balancing payment for the year just ended plus the first payment on account for the year ahead, which HMRC sets at half of the bill just calculated. We put the figure in your hands months ahead and tell you how to adjust it legitimately when circumstances change.
The Self Assessment calendar
The tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April. Anyone new to Self Assessment must register by 5 October after the end of the tax year in which their untaxed income began. The online return and the balancing payment are due by 31 January, with a second payment on account on 31 July where they apply. Paper returns have an earlier deadline of 31 October and are rarely sensible.
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax
The biggest change to Self Assessment in a generation is Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, now live for higher-earning sole traders and landlords and arriving for the rest in stages. Quarterly updates are due by 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May, built from digital records. The practical consequence is that spreadsheet-and-shoebox bookkeeping is ending for anyone above the threshold.
Late filing penalties
Lateness is expensive in a way that compounds. For individuals, £100 immediately, then daily penalties, then percentage-based ones at six and twelve months, with interest running on unpaid tax throughout. For companies, Companies House penalties scale with delay and double on repeat, and HMRC adds its own for a late CT600. Filing on time is the cheapest tax planning there is.
Corporation Tax rates and marginal relief
Since April 2023 there have been two Corporation Tax rates, 19% small profits and 25% main, with marginal relief smoothing the transition between £50,000 and £250,000 of profit. The band is where planning matters: each pound of profit in it is taxed at an effective 26.5%, so pension contributions and capital expenditure timed to keep profit below £50,000 are worth more than they look.
Questions
Business Advisory questions from Cockfosters
Do you need to be my accountant for compliance?
No. Advisory is available on its own, and we work from management figures or accounts prepared by another firm. Where the session reveals a compliance issue we tell you, and where implementing the advice needs ongoing accounting we quote it separately as a fixed fee.
Can a session be about a partnership or shareholder disagreement?
Yes, where the question has a financial core: how profits are shared, how a partner is bought out, what a shareholding is worth, how to structure an exit. We give an independent financial view. Legal advice on the agreement itself needs a solicitor, and we tell you what to ask them.
Do you advise on selling a business?
We advise on preparing a business for sale: cleaning up the accounts, documenting what the buyer will ask for, understanding how value is calculated and what reduces it, and the tax position on exit including business asset disposal relief. For the transaction itself you need a corporate finance adviser or broker, and we work alongside them.
My business is busy but there is never any money. Can you tell me why?
Usually, yes, and usually within a session. The common causes are margin erosion through discounting or cost creep, slow-paying customers tying up cash, stock or work in progress absorbing it, overheads that grew with turnover, or the owner's drawings exceeding profit. The pricing and margin review goes deeper where margin is the cause.
Can you help with funding?
We help you decide what kind of funding suits the need, debt, invoice finance, asset finance, grant or equity, and prepare the figures lenders or investors want to see. Our cash-flow forecasting service produces the forecast pack. We introduce you to lenders and grant bodies we know but we are not brokers and take no commission.
Can you help me decide whether to hire?
Yes, and it is one of the most common session topics. We model the full cost of the hire including employer National Insurance at 15%, pension, equipment and management time, against the revenue or capacity it releases, and the cash impact month by month. The answer is often yes but later, or yes but part-time first.
How do I get started from Cockfosters?
Message us on WhatsApp or email with a sentence about your business and what you need. We reply in working hours with any questions and a fixed fee for business advisory. Once you confirm, we tell you exactly which records to send and the work begins. Most Cockfosters clients are set up within a day.
Which deadlines matter most for business advisory?
The next four dates that apply to business advisory are shown at the top of this page, calculated from today. For Cockfosters clients we diarise every one of them from the day you join and send reminders before each, so the work is done in good time rather than in the last week before a penalty.
Get a fixed quote for Cockfosters today
Tell us what you need. You get one fixed fee in writing, and nothing is filed until you approve it.