Pennington Williams Accountants

30/10/2026

💷 Getting finance for your business isn't always straightforward.

For many small and medium-sized businesses, accessing finance can be an important part of investing, growing and navigating periods of uncertainty.

A recent review by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) looked at whether regulation itself is making it harder for SMEs to access finance.

The review found that regulation isn't a major barrier overall, but it did identify some areas where businesses can face additional challenges.

These include:

💭 Knowing where to look for the right type of finance
📋 Being prepared when making an application
🔍 Understanding and assessing different finance options
🤝 Personal guarantee requirements
⏳ Duplication of customer checks and other regulatory processes

The wider picture is interesting too. SMEs account for around 60% of employment and 51% of turnover in the UK private sector, yet just 21% of the total value of UK business loans is provided to SMEs.

The British Business Bank has also highlighted a long-term decline in bank lending to SMEs, while higher interest rates and increased business costs may be making some businesses more cautious about borrowing.

For business owners considering finance, preparation can make a significant difference.

Understanding how much you need, what you're using it for, how repayments fit into your cashflow and what your business can realistically afford are all important parts of the conversation.

👉 Read the full FCA review to find out more about the challenges SMEs face when accessing finance and the changes being considered.

https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/feedback/fs26-2.pdf

If you're considering borrowing or raising finance for your business and want to understand the numbers first, we're always happy to have a conversation.

28/10/2026

Companies House warns directors to avoid prosecution.

Learn more on our latest blog...

https://penningtonwilliams.co.uk/companies-house-warns-directors-to-avoid-prosecution/

26/10/2026

VAT is one of those areas where small mistakes rarely stay small. A misapplied rate, a missed deadline, or an incorrectly reclaimed input tax can snowball into penalties and interest that far outweigh the cost of getting it checked properly in the first place.

We provide full compliance support for your VAT returns, making sure the figures are accurate, the right scheme is being used for your business, and everything is submitted on time, every quarter, without you having to double-check it yourself.

Whether you're VAT registered already or approaching the threshold for the first time, it's worth having a second pair of experienced eyes on it.

Call us on 0151 334 2444 to talk it through.

23/10/2026

The Questions Every Business Owner Should Ask Every Month

Instead of...

"How much money is in the bank?"

Try asking...

• What's my most profitable service?

• Which customers create the biggest value?

• Where am I losing money?

• What's changed since last month?

• What's coming over the next 90 days?

Good businesses ask better questions.

Great advisers help you answer them.

21/10/2026

New tool to check tax deadlines...

Small businesses can now use a new online tool to check their tax filing and payment deadlines across several areas. The deadline tool is designed to integrate into most calendar applications and covers:

• Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) contractors.
• PAYE employers.
• Self Assessment.
• VAT.

There is no need to sign in to use the tool and the information entered is not sent to HMRC.

HMRC plan to add more taxes to the tool in the future and any feedback provided will be used to improve it.

If you need help with more complex tax deadlines or don’t know which deadlines you need to pay attention to, please feel free to contact us.

We’d be happy to help you.

Use this tool to find out your tax deadlines and add them to your calendar.

19/10/2026

A lot of business owners still think of bookkeeping as a "nice to have", something you get around to when there's time. That's changing fast.

With Making Tax Digital rolling out further, accurate, up-to-date bookkeeping isn't optional anymore, it's increasingly a legal requirement, with real deadlines and real penalties for getting it wrong or leaving it too late.

The good news? Getting on top of it doesn't have to mean hours of admin for you. We handle the record-keeping so it's accurate, compliant, and ready whenever it's needed, for VAT, for your accounts, or for an MTD submission, without it becoming another thing on your to-do list.

If your bookkeeping has been slipping, now's a good time to sort it before it becomes a bigger problem.

16/10/2026

Do you need to pay tax on your side hustle?

Those who have turned their hobby into a side hustle are being reminded by HMRC that their income from these activities may be taxable.

With wedding season in full swing, some may be making some extra income from selling wedding stationery, filming a first dance or cake-making.

Tax rules mean that if you earn more than £1,000 from your side hustle in a tax year, you may need to complete a Self Assessment tax return and pay tax.

The £1,000 threshold is a combined total. A person that has multiple sources of side hustle income would need to add the earnings of each source of income together before determining whether their earnings exceeded the threshold.

Selling unwanted items is unlikely to need reporting to HMRC, however selling goods for a profit, or providing a service for payment is likely to be considered trading and may need to be declared.

If you’d like help to know whether you need to pay tax on your side hustle, please get in touch. We’d be happy to help you.

14/10/2026

Mileage allowances changed for tax year 2026-27

HMRC have reminded businesses that the Approved Mileage Allowance Payments (MAPs) have been updated for the 2026-27 tax year. Rates have:

• Increased to 55p per mile for the first 10,000 miles.
• Remained at 25p per mile after 10,000 miles.

These changes are backdated to 6 April 2026.

If you reimburse your employees at or below the approved MAP rate, you may want to increase the amount you reimburse your employees for business mileage, in line with the new approved MAP rates.

Reimbursement?

If you paid your employees mileage payments above the old rates, Income Tax and/or Class 1 National Insurance contributions may have been deducted that may no longer be due.

If so, you can correct the payroll for previous months so that overpaid tax and both employers' and employees’ Class 1 National Insurance contributions can be refunded.

If you need any help in doing this, please feel free to get in touch. We’d be happy to help you!

Mileage allowances changed for tax year 2026-27

12/10/2026

Your annual accounts are more than a box to tick for Companies House, done properly, they're one of the clearest pictures you'll ever get of how your business is actually performing.

That's why we don't just crunch the numbers once a year and disappear. Our partners, accounts staff and tax department are available throughout the year to answer your questions, whether that's understanding a figure that doesn't look right, planning ahead for the next set of accounts, or just talking through what the numbers mean for your next decision.

Accounts are what we do, we're accountants, after all. But it's how we do it, and how available we make ourselves to explain it, that tends to be what our clients value most.

Ready for accounts prepared properly, with a team who'll actually explain them?

Call us on 0151 334 2444.

09/10/2026

Profit doesn't come easy. You've worked hard for it, the last thing you want is to watch a chunk of it disappear unnecessarily in tax.

A lot of accountants stop at compliance: filling in the forms, hitting the deadline, moving on to the next client. That's not how we work. Our Tax Advisors take a much more active approach, looking across your business and personal affairs to find the allowances, reliefs and planning opportunities that are actually relevant to you, not just the standard checklist.

Tax planning isn't a once-a-year job either. The best results come from getting your structure right early and reviewing it regularly, so you're never scrambling to fix something after the fact.

If it's been a while since anyone properly looked at your tax position, now's a good time to start that conversation.

📞 0151 334 2444
📧 [email protected]