Testimonials

Bereavement can be one of the most distressing times of our life and I was so pleased that Friend & Grant were able to take away some of the stress that came with that when my Mother died.  From my first meeting with Jan Friend I began to feel at ease.  Friend & Grant were able to carry out all the necessary legal work right from the very beginning, arranging for the granting of probate through to the end distribution of the Estate to beneficiaries.  Throughout the process Jan Friend offered me good sound advice, identified areas I would certainly not have considered to need addressing and helped bring closure to my bereavement.  I would certainly use Friend and Grant again and would recommend them to others in the same situation.

At such a difficult time after losing a loved one, I was daunted by the prospect of how to deal with the administration of Seymour’s estate and everything that that entails.

Jan kindly took control and dealt with every detail with the minimum of fuss, making the whole process simple and completely stress-free.

And all at the fraction of the cost that I was quoted by various solicitors!

A huge thank you to Jan and the team!

We are approaching two years working with Friend & Grant as our accountancy partner, they were appointed when our previous provider had failed us. Our experience with Mark Friend and his team (special mention to Simon) has always been excellent; they have always given honest, expert advice that is delivered in a way for our directors to understand, ultimately, educating us to become a better business.

This year we were lucky enough to be enrolled in their business growth accelerator program and I was selected to join the meetings (there is limited space). Mark Friend with his 25+ years of management experience leads a seminar in their board room with other business leaders to develop new strategies in business growth. This included increasing revenue & accounts management, day to day business operations, marketing, team leadership, goals and target management, customer services, social media and more.

The program was conducted over 4 months which included businesses preparing their own reports based on the plans we developed with Mark and the panel and reporting back on our implementation of the new strategies and their results. What we learned was very useful, saving us time and energy by doing things correctly or helping us to recognize our own limitations and how we can overcome them and ultimately, become a more successful business.

Mark has become more than an accountant, he is a lifelong learner who fanatically reads, he studies and regularly attends other expert training seminars to constantly improve himself. He doesn’t need to do this, he does it because he wants to – he even gave away his own resources and books if he felt we could learn from it. His personal interest in our business, taking the time to listen and being able to analyze our company is more than we expected from an accountant and Mark has taken the time to personally discuss things with us, becoming a trusted advisor and a friend.

I meant to thank you for last management session and for the books you gave me especially ‘They Ask You Answer by Marcus Sheridan.

As you know, I was mostly interested in our website and its management. We did not get enough enquiries and SEO felt like we were pouring money in a bottomless pit.

Your session and the lecture of the related chapter of the book sparked a major brain storming session and exchanges with my SEO guy. We made lots of changes to the website, moving away from Agriculture to concentrate on the Buildings. Changes include text, keywords …. and we introduced a chat line for quick questions and answers with visitors.

The chatline is visible part of the iceberg.

We also made major changes to our Google Adwords Campaign.

And it worked.

In the space of 6 weeks  we have 4 times the number of enquiries. The enquiries are a lot more relevant and have lead to much quicker sales.

All thanks to Mark ‘s management session.

As a seafarer impacted by unconventional legislation, Friend & Grant have helpfully provided me with the professional expertise and flexibility that I require to correctly report my affairs to HMRC, calculate complex deductions that minimise my taxable income, and ensure that I am not overcharged National Insurance.

Debbie Hales from Asbestos First Ltd, talked to us about her experience in claiming Research & Development (R&D) Tax Credits from HMRC with our help. Here’s Debbie’s story….

“As a business we’re recently transferred our accounting services to Friend & Grant and within 3 months of engaging with them they had helped me secure £13,000 in corporate tax savings by making a Research & Development tax credits claim.

“My previous accountant had not mentioned anything about R&D tax credits and so we’d lost out on thousands of pounds! How I wish I’d known about this brilliant tax scheme years ago as we’re been developing innovative solutions in our business for years.

“Mark talked about R&D at one of our very first meetings. He explained what they were and how they worked.

“Whilst I knew it would be a little extra work to get the numbers together I knew that it would be worth it, so we jumped in.

“First of all Slava came to see me, so I could show and explain to him what we do. He asked lots of questions so that he really understood our work.

“We’d recognised that off the shelf ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) technology for the hazardous waste management industry wasn’t up to scratch. The legacy software couldn’t cope with planning, tracking and processing customer interactions neither could it be integrated into the regulatory bodies’ systems.

“So we had to design our own bespoke software to solve the problem.

“Part of the development involved taking an off-the-shelf framework application that was capable of processing the datasets and developing this further to allow the integration into the wider systems architecture.

“We’ve also developed a responsive interface for the ERP software making sure the compatibility of data between the old software and the new systems and allowing this to be synchronised with regulatory bodies systems. We were even able to claim for part of the project that had failed to deliver a result.

“This was challenging. Extensive testing showed very promising progress in tackling these technological uncertainties and the development work continues.

“Slava said to leave everything to him and a week later I received the project outline from him. He prepared the claim which was accepted by HMRC and a few weeks later we received a corporation tax saving of £13,000 for the year to 2017.

“As the development work continues we’ll be submitting a further claim to cover this year’s R&D work.

Debbie said “This is a great initiative by HMRC to help smaller businesses invest in essential R&D. Our development was essential, but knowing that the R&D scheme is available it will help us to pursue new R&D with more confidence.”

If you’ve had to work to solve a problem in your company then talk to your client manager or give Slava a call on (01634) 731390 and we’ll see if we can help you too. For anything to do with asbestos and preferably nothing else contact Debbie Hales. www.asbestos.ltd

I was very impressed with the thoroughness of Friend & Grant compared to my prior advisors. They were instrumental in assisting me to:

• efficiently plan future pension contributions,
• claim back previously overpaid Income Tax, and
• navigate a complex situation in order to avoid charges on past pension contributions.

Paul Beckett from Total Machining Solutions, talked to us about his experience in claiming Research & Development (R&D) Tax Credits from HMRC with our help. Here’s Paul’s story….

“I first heard about R&D tax credits in one of our planning meetings when Mark raised the subject. He explained what they were and how they worked, but I wasn’t keen to move forward. I just felt as though it would be a lot of work for a ‘maybe’ and I was already very busy. The following year Mark tried again and got pretty much the same response.

“But if I’d known then what I know now I would have leapt at the opportunity.

“In the end, it was a piece of direct-mail from another company trying to sell me R&D tax credits that finally made me pick up the phone to Mark.

“Then it all happened quickly. Slava came to see me, so I could show and explain to him what we do. He asked lots of questions to fully understand our work and said to leave everything to him.

“I received the project outlines for the three projects Slava had identified.

1. Design and bespoke manufacturing of a new joint connections for the filmmaking industry.

2. Design of a solution (jig) for a skateboard sublimation. Whilst this R&D project failed we were still able to claim the R&D expenditure.

3. Material resistance for precise CNC milling. We’d developed a unique freezing method to harden the modelling foam so that it could be cut to the correct tolerances.

“Two projects worked and one didn’t, but we were able to put in a claim for all three.

“Slava worked his magic and the claim was accepted by HMRC. A few weeks later we received just under £10,000 tax repayment and that was just for the year to 2016.

“We’ve now submitted a further claim for another £10,000 repayment to cover an R&D work for the year 2017. We’ve other projects for this financial  year on the go that should also qualify for R&D tax relief.”

Paul summed up by saying, “The beauty of the R&D tax credits scheme when your accountant prepares it, is they already have all of the numbers. I’d be surprised if it took more than three hours of my time. But a genuine surprise to find out that I had a £10,000 refund and that we’re looking at the same for last year and the current financial year.

“As a business we won’t hesitate to carry out R&D, when the government is prepared to reward the time effort and innovation we put in.”

If you’ve had to work to solve a problem in your company then talk to your client manager or give Slava a call on (01634) 731390 and we’ll see if we can help you too.

Friend & Grant have been excellent advisors to me over the last 8 years.  Their efficient service and prompt advice has greatly reduced the stress of tax matters and I’m extremely grateful for their support.  They’re also nice people to do business with which makes a huge difference.

We have worked together now through two recessions and there is little doubt that without the help you gave us last year with your cash flow forecast, which highlighted some serious times ahead and your suggestions for the various changes we would have to make to avoid these potential problems we could have found ourselves in dire straits.

As a property landlord and investor  Friend & Grant have provided me with exceptional tax advice and assistance over the last 20 years and invaluable forward tax planning for the years ahead with their detailed knowledge of inheritance tax implications and advice on future property disposal and asset transfer strategies.

I have been a Client of Friend and Grant for many years now and they have dealt with my House Rental Portfolio for me.

This has included up to date advice on all the various Tax issues that arise both current and forward planning for future too .

Friend and Grant do all my Tax Returns which gives me total peace of mind I would happily recommend them as a company to anyone venturing out into the Rental Market.

 

 

Structuring a Business Case Study

“Change has been constant throughout my business life. My businesses have evolved, as have my customers and the marketplace.  Keeping a business (or multiple businesses) structured properly is vital for tax planning, but not just for when things are going well, but also when it is time to cease trading. Recently, technological changes meant one of my companies had to close, which Mark organised in a very tax efficient manner.

“In 2013 I had the opportunity to start a new business (which was actually Mark’s idea) and it has grown consistently every year since.  This year it was time to take on a business partner, a move which could potentially cause many problems in the future if not done correctly.  I have never had a business partner before so after consulting with Mark we changed my company’s Articles of Association to allow Laura to buy a 50% share in the company.  With open and frank advice from Mark we restructured the business with differing levels of shares and rights, giving me the protection I need, providing Laura with the opportunities and reward she deserves, and putting in place all rights and responsibilities to cover any unseen future events. This is the kind of advice is priceless!

“Structuring my businesses properly with Mark’s help has allowed them to operate in a tax efficient manner and over the years Mark has literally saved me and my companies tens of thousands of pounds.

When it came to looking for an accountant to handle personal tax returns, I wanted to be able to deal with people that understood my needs and would provide the appropriate level of support. Fortunately I chose Friend & Grant and found them able to consistently provide excellent levels of professional service in a friendly manner. They have been responsive to any queries with clear advice.

I’m really pleased that Friend & Grant are my accountants. They always have everything in order and completed on time, that’s why they have been my accountant for many years! I like that they are pro-active in making tax saving suggestions and very reactive to my questions!

Since returning from our working lives overseas, Friend & Grant have been guiding us through the unforeseen minefields of repatriating our investments and life-savings. This has required lengthy and substantial research into reporting and tax compliance with HMRC. F&G have produced a multi-year plan to ensure fully compliant repatriation and reporting. Whilst it has been a lengthy process we are now confident that all aspects are understood and there won’t be any uncomfortable surprises in years to come.

Friend & Grant are a good company with whom to do business.  They do not seek to confuse you with ”accountancy jargon” but explain what I need to know in plain English.  They take a sincere interest in my business, are always efficient, enthusiastic and a joy to work with.

This part time ‘hobby’ suddenly took off and I realised that my days working in IT in London could be numbered if I worked hard. It was time to take this venture more seriously and after some head scratching and huge family support I quit IT and started the new adventure. My first accountant didn’t last long and neither did the second one. The third stayed a while; they were OK but failed to explain things in simple terms to someone not accountancy trained or experienced, almost failing to understand what I needed from an accountant.

“Then in 2007 I set up a second business, KBGM, with my then business partner. He introduced me to Friend & Grant and they have been our company accountants ever since. The relationship with Friend & Grant is a good one, with staff from both companies working together sometimes daily managing client accounts.

“Over the years Andrew has seen that Friend & Grant have grown and manage our requirements very well, with an ever-growing team who understand our business and client requirements. They have an understanding of the Landlord and Tenant Act and ensure the accounts are completed in accordance with requirements . At KBGM we work with a number of management companies. Friend & Grant are the accountants for nearly all of these management companies and it is not unusual to see Andrew or Scott at one of the AGM’s and if required at Board meetings, ready to explain issues and answer questions of our client Directors. We think it is important for our clients to see this independent professional service.

“The support, advice and help that Andrew, Jan, Scott and the team have given me; sometimes during some difficult times, has always been spot on. Without them I’d have been paying huge amounts to the tax man rather than using that money to grow the companies.”

Friend & Grant have been completing my self assessment tax return since 2003. I have always found the service provided by Mrs Friend to be efficient and accurate. Any queries sent during the tax year concerning, for example, capital gains on proposed disposals, are always answered promptly.

“I can’t remember exactly how I came across Friend & Grant, but I’m glad I did. I needed some urgent tax advice as I was exiting a company. Jan the tax partner, was just brilliant.

“So when it was time to venture out on my own, Friend & Grant seemed the obvious solution to my accountancy needs. I started working with Andrew and Questor Insurance was set up in 2007. On our first day we sold 10 policies and I’m proud to say that we have sold at least one policy every day since 4 August 2007.

“We’ve moved premises, now have 26 staff and have grown considerably in the past 11 years. Andrew has helped us with my three companies and is currently working on a group structure that is just what we’re after.

“I couldn’t justify a part-time let alone a full time Finance Director for the first few years and so relied on Andrew, Jan and the Friend & Grant team to help me with anything financial. We built great systems, have our accounting in the cloud, and now we’ve a financial controller; Dale.

“Dale and Scott (at Friend & Grant), work closely together on the day to day technical and compliance work. We outsource our Payroll to Friend & Grant because as an employer, that’s one thing you can’t afford to get wrong!!

“I work closely with Andrew and continue to value the advice, support, pre-planning and especially the specific tax & remuneration planning. Friend & Grant manage my personal tax affairs and whilst I’m on the ball with money and understand what’s needed, I do need a few nudges to get my paperwork in on time. Perhaps this year I will be earlier…….”

Age UK Medway have engaged Friend & Grant Ltd as our auditors for the first time to conduct the year end audit for our charity 2012/13.

We found the process to be;

• Supportive
• Informative
• Robust
• Intelligently Lead

We have been pleased with the auditors across Friend & Grant, both the senior auditor and the visiting audit team.

Working alongside during the audit, I found as CEO that the process was reassuringly thorough and highly professional.

Good humour and healthy discussion was a key part of the engaging process and I feel that this is a rare find amongst such professionals.  We look forward to our continued relationship.

Building a Business Case study  

How do you choose an accountant to help you grow your business when you don’t know anything about running a business?

Sound like a familiar question you’d ask yourself as a novice business owner.

That’s exactly what Mark Devaney asked when he first needed an accountant. He didn’t know what that involved but he knew he needed someone who could help him. He hit the yellow pages and called a few on a Saturday; of course no one was in. He only left one voicemail message – Mark at Friend & Grant. Why? “Because he sounded like a real person rather than a stuffy accountant. As a young IT Consultant I was looking for someone a bit more dynamic.”

Mark met Mark; they got to know each other – they liked each other and over the past 19 years Mark has helped Mark (and his business partner Laura) on many aspects of his growing business and there’s now a strong trust bond. Here’s Mark’s (the client) story ….

“I knew my business and my market; I knew how to make money; attract and retain customers; buy and sell stock but that isn’t enough for long term success. I didn’t actually know how to run a business and I had no-one to help me. That is where Mark and the team at Friend & Grant became my virtual FD. I couldn’t afford a full time FD but I couldn’t afford to be without one either. They were there to provide help and advice on how to plan, forecast and build a sustainable business.

“Whenever I need to, at least twice a year, we sit down and simply talk through my current position, ideas and plans. I use my Mark as a sounding board. We also talk about my personal goals which motivate me to drive my business forward.  Mark gives me suggestions, and his team keeps me up to date on legal, financial or technology changes that could impact my business.  Without the help and advice from Mark and his team my businesses would not have grown as they have.”

“Whenever I have a new business idea, big or small, my first call is always to Friend and Grant for advice from one of the team.  That’s how much I value my accountant.”

4 ½ years ago, Karen Maynard started her company Apex Education Training; she wanted an accountant that she could trust and work with her from the beginning.  She found Friend & Grant on a Google search and met with Mark.  As Apex Education Training was a start-up business, Friend & Grant helped establish the right legal structure and got all of the accounting systems & processes in place. Karen was very pleased to get this help right at the beginning.

Karen says “I’m an organised person & I’m good at knowing what is happening in my business. I’m naturally curious and I want to know how everything works. But I know my limitations when it comes to accountancy!”

“When you start a business there’s so much to think about and whilst I knew my company, I was aware that I didn’t know what I didn’t know. I relied on Mark to point me in the right direction, challenge me, help me and stop me doing something illegal or that would cost me a lot of money.”

Mark has been alongside since Apex Education Training incorporated and with his accounting advice, help and support, it’s gone from strength to strength. The back-up team at Friend & Grant are great too – always ready to help when I have a question.

“As my company continues to expand and develop, I’ll be working even closer with Mark to identify more improvements that I can make so my business continually improves, generates more income and pays less tax!

We moved from our previous accountants due to the lack of personal service we received.  Friend & Grant have provided exactly the opposite and it has been a pleasure to do business with them for the past few years.  They really are a friendly bunch at Friend & Grant.

Why I have been a client for more than 20 years?

• Consistent quality with unrivalled personal attention
• User friendly professional practical advice
• Proactive in communicating any legislative changes
• An ability to maintain excellence in customer service
• The staff and directors make you feel that you are a valued customer.

Having been a client of Friend & Grant for nearly 20 years I can say that it has truly been a satisfying experience with a professional and valuable service provided in a genuinely friendly manner.

Friend and Grant have been our accountants for over seven years. We have always found them to be extremely helpful in all they do for the School. The whole staff has always provided unequalled support and an excellent service. I would recommend them unreservedly.

Having been with Friend & Grant for the past 15 years or so I have found that they provide a friendly and professional service that has helped me move from a sole trader to limited company through good economic times and bad times.  I would recommend Friend & Grant to any company big or small.

We have been in business for ten years and have long been looking for a reliable firm of accountants that best suit our needs – we now believe we have found that in Friend and Grant. They came highly recommended, and although they are not local to us, it has been well worth travelling to meetings at their Rochester offices.

They advised us that we needed to change to a limited company and handled the registration and changeover from our old partnership smoothly and efficiently. They are now handling all our accounts and advising us on all aspects of our business.

We have found all at Friend and Grant approachable, friendly and professional, from the receptionist Julie, to Simon our advisor, and Mark the managing director. Queries are dealt with promptly, and nothing is ever too much trouble. We cannot recommend them highly enough.

A very good, personal service, well-tailored to individual needs.

Darren, I would like to thank you and Jan for all your help over the years.

I remember my first meeting with Jan when I had not filed any returns for the flat and knowing I owed for a few years. I was quite nervous but everything was sorted out, I paid the back dues and felt a massive relief.

Since then it has been a painless annual exercise and you have both looked after me very well.

You both worked very hard on my Capital Gains tax bill.

I would recommend your company to anyone, everyone was always so polite from me walking through the door to exiting at the end of a meeting.

Our first meeting with Friend & Grant was in June 2013. We needed financial advice regarding the accounting of our church. Friend & Grant advised us to create a Community Interest Company. The whole process was easily done with their professional help. We always find a friendly response to any of our queries. We can certainly recommend Friend & Grant Ltd to anyone looking for honest, trustworthy and professional financial and accounting services.

Thank you!

My experience of dealing with Friend & Grant Ltd from the viewpoint of a new start-up business has been simply a pleasure.  Everybody from reception to Andrew have been very helpful in every respect and I would have no hesitation in recommending Friend & Grant to anybody.

I’m into my second year with Friend & Grant now, and have found them to be both friendly and professional in supporting me through my first year of trading. Would absolutely recommend their services.

Since moving the computerised accounts from Sage 50 to Xero cloud accounting, I have continued to find Gavin and his team at Friend and Grant capable and supportive as I gain the knowledge on how to use Xero day to day.  Gavin proved invaluable in my initial training, being careful to explain how Xero processed transactions and willing to check that I had set up the recurring invoicing correctly.

His proactive approach enable the direct bank feed to be operational, swiftly. The technical support and business advice and expertise from Friend and Grant made the decision to move to Xero simple and effective, improving the credit control process by 30%, within 6 weeks.

We are into our third year working with Friend and Grant and found them very proactive by giving us pre-year-end tax planning. We have been using Sage accounting for a couple of years and we have received excellent training from Gavin and the rest of the Business Support team.

They have even recommended and implemented an add-on which allows us to deal with the VAT margin scheme. This automatically posts our transactions to Sage whereas before we were putting information into an Excel spreadsheet to calculate the VAT and then putting the same information onto Sage.

We have seen that this accounting system is a major time saver and we are looking at using some of the other functions that the software has. The support we have from Friend and Grant for the implementation and assistance with this system has been fantastic!

I have been so happy with the service from Friend and Grant with tax returns and advice, and recently Jan has completed my Probate application which was a great help at a stressful time.  I have no hesitation in recommending them, a very professional team.

We have worked closely with Friend & Grant for several years and it is no exaggeration to say that the growth of our business might not have been possible without the level of support we have received.  Having taken considerable time to understand what we do and develop a package that suits our business and our clients’ needs, the service has been second to none.

Friend & Grant have been my accountant for 5 years and in that time they have proved to be an extremely professional company.  I have found all their staff to be helpful and they have always strived to give me good advice.  As a sole trader I have found it helpful to have an alternative professional view with regards to the direction I have taken my company, Andrew Grant and Mark Friend have always achieved that.

Starting out in business can be a very daunting prospect as you enter the world of tax and employment law, as well as having to learn to undertake roles required in business, book keeping, management, marketing and sales etc.  This is where I believe Friend & Grant Ltd differ from other accountants.

Any accountant can balance your books and submit your accounts however Friend and Grant do much more than that.  Over the past 13 years Mark and his staff have helped me expand my simple service company into multiple Limited Companies selling internationally, employing a range of staff and owning our own property.

Friend & Grant Ltd is a modern, forward thinking and progressive company and is much more than just a firm of accountants.  Their friendly and approachable staff are always my first port of call when I need any business advice and I trust them completely to manage my financial affairs in a 100% professional and tax efficient way.  I have no hesitation in recommending the services and staff of Friend & Grant Ltd to any business.  They have taken the time to understand my business and provide me with professional and knowledgeable service whenever I need it.

 

 

I have been a client of Friend & Grant for a number of years.  We have always found them to be knowledgeable, efficient and above all approachable.  They have supported us at all times offering business and financial advice and suggestions which have helped us along the way.  We have always found them to be consistently reliable and upon this we recommend their services to others without hesitation.

Friend & Grant have been instrumental in the success at Ecosse Motorcycles since 2005.

• First rate and unbiased support from inception at business concept through to delivery.
• Multi-faceted support, no issues too small or too large.
• Impartial and straightforward advice.  Take time to understand our business and industry.
• Financial planning assistance has had a positive input on our overall profitability.
• All Friend and Grant staff are customer focused and treat us like a highly valued customer.

Friend & Grant have the great mix of being very professional and friendly too.  They consistently give me invaluable business and financial advice and guidance and are always at the end of the phone if I have a quick query.  The depth of knowledge that they have is reassuring.  Needless to say I will continue to recommend them.

We had a terrible experience with our previous accountants and we were at a complete loss as to where to turn. We desperately needed guidance and support…and a friend. Well, we certainly found that in Friend and Grant!

From the initial phone call, we have found that every member of staff is polite, friendly and helpful. Nothing is too much trouble to ask.

The training they provide is exceptional and they talk you through the different accountancy software that works best for your business.

We cannot speak more highly of everyone! When we have felt at complete rock bottom, and unsure as to which direction to turn, Friend and Grant have pulled us out of that. They have helped us grow in confidence and encouraged us to grow our business.

We look forward to many more years working with the team.

Friend and Grant compiled and managed my application for probate, and I cannot recommend them highly enough. Their calm efficiency and attention to detail through a complex process took much of the stress away at a difficult time for me. I was particularly impressed and grateful for the level of personal service, marked by regular contact and updates, and for going the extra mile to ensure a timely submission of the application.