Excel automation

March 23, 2017 By Bob Lewis-Basson

Not more spreadsheets to analyse and chart…

Always a regular cry in the office. Reports produced on a regular basis need to be embellished, with charts that involve some fairly complicated calculations – cross-reference look-ups, previous month comparisons, and all that sort of thing.

Probably, now this is done largely by hand. The data sits in several spreadsheets and/or databases, and is extracted, filtered, pivoted and everything else that was necessary to get it ready, before feeding into a chart. When the chart was ready, it is pasted into the report.

Wouldn’t it be great with the data is all in one place, and with a single front-end, the necessary criteria set from drop-downs. Once these selections have been made (locations, benchmarks, which dataset to use, and so on) you click a button and go and make coffee. Actually, you haven’t really got time to make coffee as the process takes just a couple of minutes – if that.

In this instance, any number of queries can be run; sometimes one query, sometimes several to generate the data. Each one automatically loading a into an Excel workbook, in to the right columns, in the right order to aid presentation. Then, your screen explodes into a fresh multi-coloured set of charts based on the information just collated! And is that the pivot table I slave over every month appearing before my very eyes!

In the past that has meant spending anything between a couple of hours to a couple of days for more complex reporting every period. Multiply that by twelve, and it becomes a not insignificant amount of time in a year m to get these twelve reports, graphs and charts prepared.

Say it was half a day of someone’s time, at the average salary of £26,000 – that’s a cost of around £60+ to the business for each report, or chart. Each and every time.

If reporting is weekly, that’s going to be more than £3,000 every year – more likely a lot more than that. If it now takes 30 minutes to do the whole job, that’s a total of just over 4 days for the whole year’s worth (at one report a week). The four days will cost under £500. So you get to keep £2,500 to do something else with.

What would you like to do with it?

Excel automation by Bob Lewis-Basson – 07802 441 728

Data Protection

March 22, 2017 By Bob Lewis-Basson

Under the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) you must:

use personal information fairly and lawfully;
collect only the information necessary for a specific purpose(s);
ensure it is relevant, accurate and up to date;
only hold as much as you need, and only for as long as you need it;
allow the subject of the information to see it on request; and
keep it secure.

Good information handling makes good business sense, and it provides a range of benefits. You’ll enhance your business’ reputation, increase customer and employee confidence, and by ensuring that personal information is accurate, relevant and safe, save both time and money.

Your business has established an appropriate Data Protection Policy?

A policy will help you to address data protection in a consistent manner. This can be a standalone policy statement or part of a general staff policy. The policy should clearly set out your business’s approach to data protection together with responsibilities for implementing the policy and monitoring compliance. The policy should be approved by management, published and communicated to all staff. The policy should also be reviewed and updated at planned intervals or when required to ensure it remains relevant.

Your business has nominated a data protection lead?

It is good practice to identify a person or department in your business with day-to-day responsibility for developing, implementing and monitoring the data protection policy. Allocating these responsibilities to a data protection lead will help you effectively manage and co-ordinate data protection, and make your business more accountable. The lead should be appropriately skilled and have the necessary authority and resources to fulfil their duties.

Your business provides data protection awareness training for all staff?

Any data security breaches are accidental and result from insider actions. You should brief all staff handling personal data on their data protection responsibilities. It is good practice to provide awareness training on or shortly after appointment with updates at regular intervals or when required. Specialist training for staff with specific duties, such as marketing, information security and database management, should also be considered. The regular communication of key messages is equally important to help reinforce training and maintain awareness (for example, intranet articles, circulars, team briefings and posters).

If you are not sure where you stand in respect to DPA (Data Protection Act) or the forthcoming GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) call me now …

Bob Lewis-Basson 07802441728, or email bob.lewis-basson@tvba.co.uk

Power up your business with a Virtual Non-Executive Director

March 6, 2017 By Gordon Carmichael

The benefits of Non-Executive Directors are well understood by many successful business owners. They bring an independent view and additional experience that enable better decisions to be made by the management board. Our Home Counties and London Group Business Advisors have developed a Virtual Non-Executive Director (VNED) service that offers Managing Directors and business owners the same independent view and advice without the complexity of shareholdings, appointing legal directors and director’s service agreements.

Every company is different and yet there are many similar and transferable aspects from other industries and markets. Our experts are able to utilise their broad business experience and extensive network of contacts to support companies to achieve their strategic objectives. An independent view that challenges existing or new strategies can substantially enhance the robustness of a company’s direction. Sometimes difficult decisions are required to deal with business problems and the VNED can act as a sounding board to provide guidance and help the decision making process.

Our approach recognises that established and start up businesses have different needs at different times in their life cycle. New businesses often have a need to demonstrate credibility externally to customers and investors. Appointing a Virtual Non-Executive Director can enhance this.

How does it work?

The optimal Virtual Non-Executive Director approach varies with the needs of a business, the existing in-house skills and the “personality” of its MD and management team. Our experts are adept at engaging with companies to strike a balanced approach between coaching, practical advice, strategic input and holding the management to account where appropriate. Prior to engagement, we offer a confidential, no obligation, no holds barred discussion to establish what is actually needed and to establish priorities. A flexible approach is adopted to accommodate the practical time constraints of running a business, the need to react to short term opportunities or threats, planning for growth, the changing needs of the business and potentially planning for exit.

Businesses need to get things done but don’t always have access to the in house skills or expertise required for projects or specialist activity. If appropriate, our business experts can introduce trusted resources from their network that can jump start new requirements.

What does it cost?

The VNED service is charged on a monthly retainer basis with no long-term commitment and no surprises. The service is designed to deliver on-going value to the MD and the company. The monthly cost depends on the level of engagement agreed and will be tailored to your needs.

Contact Gordon Carmichael on 01276 818125 or gordon.carmichael@hcbusinessadvisors.co.uk to discuss how our Virtual Non-Executive Director service can benefit your business.

Impending Employment Law Changes for 2017

February 6, 2017 By

As MDs think about the New Year or start planning for the next financial year there are a number of forthcoming employment law changes that may affect you and your business.

Gender Pay Gap

True this applies only to large employers (employing over 250 employees) but it is likely to be cascaded down to the SME sector in coming years. So why do something about this now? Gender pay gap reporting applies both to bonuses and pay. If there are discrepancies between male and female workers on either score when employees are doing the same job, there are likely to be fines, the cost of immediate remedial action and potential claims for back pay equalisation going back 7 years.

The reporting requirement for large employers will be to publish:

the difference in mean pay between male and female employees;
the difference in median pay between male and female employees;
the difference in mean bonus pay between male and female employees;
the difference in median bonus pay between male and female employees;
the proportions of male and female employees who were paid bonus pay; and
the proportions of male and female employees in each quartile of their pay distribution.

This should be a relatively quick job for the SME to see if there are any discrepancies and, in any event, is good practice to check that there is no unconscious bias creeping into pay decisions. Unless there is objective performance criteria to explain the difference, MDs might well consider putting in place a remedial action plan where appropriate. Given that SMEs are unlikely to be affected for several years, it gives MDs the opportunity to manage any discrepancies over a number of pay rounds.

Apprenticeship Levy

SMEs will be able to receive government funding towards the costs of apprenticeship training and assessment through co-investment, with the likely date of this new system of funding in England coming into effect from 1^st May.

The Government will pay 90% of the price agreed with the training provider, up to the maximum allowed by the funding band for the relevant apprenticeship standard or framework.

Employers with fewer than 50 employees will not be required to pay a contribution to the cost of the apprenticeship where the apprentice is aged 16 to 18 inclusive, or aged 19 to 24 inclusive if he or she has previously been in care or has a local authority education, health and care plan. The Government will pay 100% of the training and assessment costs in these circumstances.

Changes To Rules Employing Foreign Workers

From April 2017, an immigration skills charge will be introduced, so that SMEs that employ migrant workers under Tier 2 of the points-based system of immigration will be subject to a levy of £364 per certificate of sponsorship per year. The immigration skills charge will be in addition to current fees for visa applications.

In April 2017, the minimum salary threshold for “experienced workers” applying for a Tier 2 visa will increase to £30,000. New entrants to the job market, and some health and education staff will be exempted from the salary threshold until 2019.

National Minimum Wage

Cycles for national minimum wage increases – including the National Living Wage – will be aligned, with the next round of changes taking effect on 1 April 2017.

From 1 April 2017, the rates payable will be as follows:

For workers aged 25 or over, the rate will be £7.50 per hour (the National Living Wage).
For workers aged at least 21 but under 25, the rate will be £7.05 per hour.
For workers aged at least 18 but under 21, the rate will be £5.60 per hour.
For workers aged under 18 who are no longer of compulsory school age, with apprentices excepted, the rate will be £4.05 per hour.
For apprentices aged under 19 and apprentices aged 19 or over but in the first year of their apprenticeship, the rate will be £3.50 per hour.

Interns

Not a change but linked to the previous point about the national minimum wage, we often get asked about what an intern should be paid, if anything at all. Whether an intern qualifies for the national minimum wage depends on whether or not he or she satisfies the definition of a “worker”. Where, under an agreement with an organisation, the intern is obliged to work for it personally, the definition is likely to be satisfied and he or she will be entitled to the national minimum wage. However, if the intern is only observing or shadowing employees of the organisation, without undertaking any work him- or herself, he or she is unlikely to be a worker and will, therefore, not be entitled to the national minimum wage. If the latter applies we would recommend that you consider paying travel expenses and subsistence as a gesture of goodwill and a way of promoting your company for the future.

There are quite a range of employment law changes coming up this year. If any of these may affect you, then give us a call for a confidential discussion to talk these changes through. I can be contacted via stephen.cowburn@hcbusinessadvisors.co.uk or by phone on 07974 425361.

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How does it work?

What does it cost?

Gender Pay Gap

Apprenticeship Levy

Changes To Rules Employing Foreign Workers

Interns