Reviewed October 2026. Rules, rates and regulatory statements on this page were checked at GOV.UK, legislation.gov.uk, AAT and the FCA on 10/10/2026. General information, not advice.
What is business advisory?
Business advisory is an accountant working through a decision the company has yet to make, using its actual figures, so the director sees what it does to cash, profit and tax before committing. It looks forward. Compliance work, such as the accounts, the CT600, VAT and payroll, records and files what has already happened.
Coaching and mentoring are different services: Finstem’s advisory starts from the company’s books and ends in a decision about money. Financial planning is regulated and is covered next. Finstem acts for limited companies and their directors only, not sole traders, partnerships or LLPs: accountants in Oswestry.
What Finstem does not do
Finstem is an AAT licensed accounting practice, not a financial planner. If you searched for a financial consultant or financial planner, this matters. AAT’s Code of Professional Ethics says licensed members may not carry out external audit, activities regulated by the financial services regulator (including investment business) or insolvency practice unless authorised by a recognised regulator, and its Client Care Policy says the licence does not authorise any aspect of investment work.
So Finstem does not advise on investments or on regulated mortgage contracts, does not carry out statutory audits and does not act as an insolvency practitioner. Both are regulated activities (articles 53 and 53A of the Regulated Activities Order 2001), and no one may carry on a regulated activity in the UK unless authorised or exempt (Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, section 19). The FCA’s Financial Services Register shows who is.
Pensions are the usual overlap. Finstem can say what an employer contribution does to the company’s corporation tax; whether a pension is the right home for the money, and which scheme, is a question for an FCA-authorised financial adviser. See pension contributions through your company.
The decisions directors bring
Four decisions are worked through below, each from the company’s own figures.
Buying a van
The company needs a van. The question is how to pay for it, outright, on hire purchase or leased, and in which accounting period.
The figures. Cash and the forecast, profit so far this period, the year-end date, whether the company is VAT-registered and whether anyone will use the van privately.
What the rules say (GOV.UK, checked 10/10/2026):
- A van is not a car for capital allowances. A company can claim the annual investment allowance, up to £1 million of qualifying plant and machinery, on a van, and full expensing (a 100% deduction) if it is new and unused. A used van qualifies for the first only. Cars qualify for neither.
- The claim is made in the accounting period the van was bought, which GOV.UK dates from the day the contract is signed if payment is due within four months. A purchase either side of the year end moves the claim.
- You cannot claim on something you lease, because you must own it, unless it is a hire purchase contract or a long funding lease. Under hire purchase you can claim for the payments under the contract from when you start using the van, but not the interest.
- VAT on a car cannot normally be reclaimed. Whether a vehicle is a car for VAT depends on how it is built: a vehicle with a payload of one tonne or more is not a car, and fitting rear seats to a van can make it one.
What Finstem prepares. What each route does to cash now and to the corporation tax computation later, the capital allowances claim, and the VAT on the vehicle and its running costs. Lorries and fleets: haulage accountants.
Taking on a first employee
The work has outgrown one person. Before the advert goes out, the director needs the full cost of the role and whether the company can carry it through a quiet month.
The figures. Profit, cash, the forecast, and what payroll costs as a share of income.
What the rules say (GOV.UK, checked 10/10/2026):
- Register as an employer with HMRC before the first payday. You cannot register more than two months before you start paying people. Pay is reported to HMRC in a Full Payment Submission on or before payday.
- Employer’s National Insurance is 15% of pay above £5,000 a year. Employment Allowance can reduce the year’s employer Class 1 bill by up to £10,500, but a company with one director cannot claim if the director is the only employee liable for it.
- Workplace pension duties start when the first member of staff starts. Staff aged between 22 and State Pension age earning at least £10,000 a year must be enrolled, and the employer pays at least 3% of qualifying earnings: under most schemes, pay between £6,240 and £50,270.
- Most workers on a five-day week get at least 28 days’ paid holiday a year, and bank holidays can count towards it.
- HMRC’s Check Employment Status for Tax tool gives HMRC’s view of whether a worker is employed or self-employed.
Illustrative example, not advice. A one-director company pays its first employee, aged 22 or over, £30,000 over a full 2026/27 year. Employer’s National Insurance is 15% of £25,000, which is £3,750. The minimum pension contribution is 3% of £23,760, which is £712.80. If the company can claim Employment Allowance, the cost beyond salary is £712.80 and the total £30,712.80. If it cannot, the cost beyond salary is £4,462.80 and the total £34,462.80. Insurance, recruitment and equipment are not included.
What Finstem prepares. The cost of the role beyond the salary, what it does to cash through a quiet month, whether the worker is an employee or a subcontractor before the contract is written, and PAYE and payroll in place for the first pay day, with pension auto-enrolment kept in step.
Bringing in a second director
Someone who shares the work wants a share of the company. The question is what they get, shares, a directorship or both, and on what terms. Finstem prepares the figures: shares or salary, what a second shareholder means for dividends and control, the Companies House filings, and both directors’ personal tax planned with the company’s. The shareholders’ agreement itself is for a solicitor.
A bad quarter
Sales have dropped, or a large customer has paid late, and a tax bill is still coming. The question is how long the cash lasts and what to change first.
What to check first, in this order:
- The bank balance, and how much is already committed.
- Who owes the company money, and when they will pay.
- Which costs are fixed, which follow sales, and what a price change or lost customer does to the margin.
- The tax dates ahead. Corporation tax on profits up to £1.5 million is due 9 months and 1 day after the accounting period ends.
Finstem builds a cash forecast for the next quarter from the ledger and updates it as invoices are paid.
If a tax bill cannot be paid on time. GOV.UK says HMRC may agree a payment plan to pay in instalments, after checking it is affordable. HMRC asks for the company’s income and spending, expects the debt to be reduced first by releasing assets such as stock, vehicles and shares, and may ask directors to put in personal funds, accept lending or extend credit. Finstem works the cash forecast and the income and spending figures from the books.
If the company cannot pay its debts. GOV.UK says a company is insolvent when it cannot pay its debts, and that the directors of an insolvent company must consult or consider appointing an insolvency practitioner. That is not accountancy work, and Finstem does not do it.
How advisory uses the monthly numbers
A decision is only as good as the figures behind it. Where management accounts are in place, including budgets and forecasts, a decision is tested against this month’s profit and loss, balance sheet and cash, and against the budget. If the books are behind, bringing them up to date comes first. Costs need recording correctly too: see allowable business expenses. Year-end decisions, such as which side of the year end a purchase falls, belong in tax planning in Oswestry.
How a conversation works
- The call. Twenty minutes with Huw, free, by phone or video: the company, the decision and what is due. Nothing to prepare or sign.
- The quotation. A fixed monthly fee in writing, with no hourly billing. Nothing is added without being agreed first.
- The work. The decision is worked through with the company’s figures. Meetings are at your premises, at 21 Hampton Road or by video; questions in between can go by WhatsApp, with a reply within one working day.
If you are moving from another accountant, switching takes one email from you.
What to bring. The company number and year end, the last accounts, a login for your bookkeeping software and your HMRC references, plus anything that puts a date and a number on the decision, such as a quote or a draft job description.
What business advisory costs
Finstem publishes no price list. The fee is a fixed monthly amount, quoted in writing after the free call. What moves it is what the advisory covers, how current the books are when work starts, how often you want to review the figures, and what else is in the engagement, such as payroll or VAT returns. Anything outside the quoted scope is quoted separately in writing before it starts.
Business advisors in Oswestry, Shropshire and the Welsh border
Finstem works from 21 Hampton Road, Oswestry SY11 1SJ. In person it meets directors across Shropshire, including Shrewsbury, Whitchurch, Ellesmere and Ludlow, and over the border in Chirk, at your premises or at the Oswestry office. Directors further from Oswestry meet by video. The full list is on accountants across Shropshire.
Sources checked on 10/10/2026: GOV.UK on claiming capital allowances, VAT Notice 700/64, the VAT guide, company vans, registering as an employer, payroll reporting, employer rates and thresholds, Employment Allowance, workplace pensions, holiday entitlement, employers’ liability insurance, employment status, paying Corporation Tax, tax you cannot pay on time, director duties upon insolvency; the AAT Code of Professional Ethics (paragraph 200.4) and Client Care Policy (paragraph 5.1); the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, section 19 and articles 53 and 53A of the Regulated Activities Order; and the FCA Financial Services Register.
