Accounting

Business Advisory · South East London

Business advisory in Foots Cray

Whether the question in Foots Cray is whether to hire, how to price, how to fund growth or why the business is busy but not profitable, we bring the accountant's view to it for a fixed fee. Businesses across South East London use the single session for one decision and the quarterly retainer for a standing conversation. Everything online.

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 Foots Cray

Owner-managers in Foots Cray 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 Foots Cray, step by step

  1. Tell us your situation

    A short message or call about what you do and what needs filing. We ask the questions that determine the right package and nothing more.

  2. Fixed fee in writing

    You receive one price for the work, confirmed by email before anything starts. It does not change if the job takes longer than we expected.

  3. Send records, review the draft

    Records come by WhatsApp or email. We prepare the draft, explain the figures in plain English and answer your questions.

  4. We file, you get the receipts

    Once you approve and the fee is settled, we submit electronically and forward the HMRC or Companies House acknowledgement the same day.

Why IGI

Why Foots Cray businesses file with IGI

The price for business advisory is published on this page and is what a client in Foots Cray pays. We confirm it in writing first, and the invoice matches the quote.

Deadline-first: the dates that matter for business advisory are shown at the top of this page, diarised for every Foots Cray client and chased before they arrive.

Online only, UK based. There is no office in Foots Cray 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.

Continuity matters in business advisory: the person who prepared last year's work for your Foots Cray business prepares this year's, and remembers what was agreed.

The output for Foots Cray clients is never just a form. It is the form, a one-page summary of what it says, and a note of the decisions it points to for business advisory.

Approval before filing is a rule, not a courtesy. For business advisory in Foots Cray, every submission to HMRC or Companies House follows your written go-ahead.

Local facts

About Foots Cray

Foots Cray is in South East London, within Bexley, in the DA14 postcode district, England. Income tax in England follows the UK rates: 20% basic to £50,270, 40% higher to £125,140 and 45% additional, with the personal allowance of £12,570 tapered away above £100,000. National Insurance, VAT and Corporation Tax are UK-wide, and Stamp Duty Land Tax applies to property purchases.

Nearby places we also serve for business advisory
PlaceDistanceDirection
Frognal0.6 miW
Ruxley0.7 miSE
Cray Meadows0.7 miNE
North Cray0.8 miNE
Sidcup0.9 miNW
Upper Ruxley1.0 miSE
St Paul's Cray1 miS
Albany Park1 miN

Worth knowing

Rules that come up in this work

Crypto records and reporting

Most crypto holders have taxable events they do not recognise, because every swap is a disposal even when no pounds change hands. The computation requires the complete transaction history from every exchange and wallet, pooled by asset with HMRC's matching rules applied. Exchange-generated tax reports are frequently wrong because they cannot see transfers between a user's own wallets.

The 60-day property CGT return

Selling UK residential property that was not your main home for the whole period of ownership triggers a separate Capital Gains Tax return, due within 60 days of completion along with payment of the tax. This is in addition to the annual Self Assessment. The gain is taxed at 18% or 24% depending on your income band, after the £3,000 annual exempt amount.

Record keeping

Record keeping is a legal obligation with a penalty of up to £3,000 for failure, but its real value is in making every other filing cheaper and more defensible. Keep invoices, receipts, bank statements, mileage logs and any HMRC correspondence, digitally if you like, for five years after the relevant filing deadline for individuals and six years for companies and VAT.

Allowable expenses

The expenses sole traders most often miss are home working costs, claimed by actual proportion or HMRC's flat rate, the business share of phone and internet, mileage at 45p for the first 10,000 business miles, and training that maintains existing skills. The ones most often claimed wrongly are commuting, entertaining customers and clothes that could be worn outside work.

Employer National Insurance

Since April 2025 employer National Insurance has been 15% on earnings above a £5,000 secondary threshold, a substantial increase for small employers. The Employment Allowance rose to £10,500 at the same time to soften it for the smallest businesses. Directors deciding their own salary weigh this cost against the Corporation Tax deduction a salary provides.

Workplace pensions and auto-enrolment

Auto-enrolment duties begin the day you take on your first employee, not when the Pensions Regulator writes to you. Eligible staff must be enrolled, contributions paid every pay period and re-enrolment carried out every three years. Director-only companies without employment contracts are usually exempt. Fines for non-compliance are fixed and escalating.

Dormant companies

A dormant company is one with no significant accounting transactions in the year, where the only permitted entries are the payment for shares on incorporation, Companies House fees and penalties. It still files a confirmation statement and simplified dormant accounts every year. A bank charge or an accountant's fee paid from the company ends dormancy and requires full accounts.

Questions

Business Advisory questions from Foots Cray

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.

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.

Is this consultancy or accounting?

It is advice from accountants who read your numbers, which is different from both generic business coaching and from pure compliance. We focus on the decisions the figures inform: pricing, hiring, funding, cost structure, cash. We do not advise on marketing strategy or operations beyond their financial effect.

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.

What is the growth readiness review?

For £399 we look at what the business would need to operate at the next level: people and roles, funding and cash, systems and controls, pricing capacity and the owner's own role. The report identifies what will break first at the larger size and sets out the fixes in order, with costs. It is often used before a fundraise or a major hire.

How does the quarterly retainer work?

For £129 a quarter you get a session each quarter with your management figures, a standing agenda of the things you are tracking, and a written note afterwards. It is for owners who want a regular, structured conversation about the business rather than one-off help, and it works best alongside our management accounts.

Do you have an office in Foots Cray?

No. IGI Accounting is an online-only firm. We serve Foots Cray and every other UK postcode remotely, with records sent by WhatsApp or email and everything filed electronically. The absence of local premises is why the fee for business advisory is the same in Foots Cray as anywhere else in the country, and why there is nothing to visit and nothing to print.

Is business advisory in Foots Cray really the same price as elsewhere?

Yes. The fee published on this page is what a client in Foots Cray pays and what a client in any other part of England pays. It is confirmed in writing before work starts and the invoice matches the quote. Where a higher package applies because your situation is more complex, we say so at the quote stage, never afterwards.

One message from Foots Cray, one fixed price

Tell us what you need. You get one fixed fee in writing, and nothing is filed until you approve it.

WhatsApp for a fixed quote