When Play Tech Limited were introduced to Sean Farnell of Burgis & Bullock they never expected to find that they needed to sway accountants which would result in the company saving thousands they din't know about.
Play Tech Limited are a small family owned business installing specialist surfacing for school and council play areas. Based in Manchester, the business was formed in 2011 by husbandand wife team Geoff and Karen who work across the UK with insallation teams who leave the Manchester area around 4AM on a Monday and return on a Friday evening.
Having grown the business rapidly they were struggling to keep adequate management controls and the finances were suffering. At the time the company used a local firmof accountants who were preparing their day to day books on Sage and also lookign after their payroll, VAT and other tax compliance work.
Through a mutual contact they were introduced to Sean at Burgis & Bullock and had an exploratory meeting. During this meeting it became apparent that HM Revenue and Customs were pursuing the company for unpaid VAT in excess of £60,000 and had turned up at the owners' home to restrain goods.
Unfortunately the directorsdid not have up to date financial information and were unable to explain why there were such high VAT arrears, which looked like they would result in the business having to close.
After appointing Burgis & Bullock we immediately contacted HMRC to inform them that we were new advisors, and agreed to give us 60 days to get to a position that could be defended. We also moved the accounts on to Xero to give the directors day to day visibility of their finances and set about unpicking the existing Sage records.
In the end we had to reprocess the entire years' worth of transactions from source data and also work on Construction Industry Tax scheme with the company's major customer before presenting to HMRC that in actual fact there was no VAT due, and the company's Corporation Tax was also clear resulting in a repatment of ~£8,000 to the company (which was repaid within 30 days of request)
Subsequently we have implemented systems for the installation teams to submit expenses claims via their mobile phones, and brought in tighter controls over hotel and subsistence expenses.
In this case the client was saved from imminent liquidation brought about by poor record keeping and a lack of day to day financial control.
The directors now have 24/7 visibility of their finances which are maintained up to date on a weekly basis and have the assurance that all HMRC taxes and returns are up to date, leaving them to focus on running and growing their business.
"They're very professional. They're always getting in touch with me. We speak every other day to make sure we've got everything we need. They've been great. They sort out our books, tax, VAT and do a great job."