Services

Business Advisory

At Mekad Limited we understand how time is important factor and we can assist you in various matters of your business thus allowing you to concentrate and use you time on your business. We help organisations, of all shapes and sizes, to continuously evolve and adapt in the face of a constantly changing and increasingly complex business environment. We help our clients react with agility to opportunities and threats by delivering ongoing performance improvements to allow them to gain and protect competitive advantage.

Our pragmatic and focused approach means that we agree scope up-front and stick to it to deliver the benefits our clients want, on time. Our clients demand real, quantifiable benefits, based on a full understanding of the wider business and commercial implications of their choices.

Below is a list of services we can provide your local business

Accounting

To succeed you may need more than annual financial statements; we are able to offer services which include bookkeeping, preparation of management accounts or assistance with future business plans. While offering these services we make sure that our clients understand the work we do by using terminology we all can understand.

Tax

Mekad Limited has been looking after tax matters for local and international clients for many years.

We work with all types of businesses – multinationals, local companies, entrepreneurs, family businesses, trusts, partnerships and private individuals. We meet their diverse needs by putting our clients at the heart of everything we do and providing effective solutions that combine industry insight with technical expertise.

Below is a summary of the services we can offer your business

Outsourcing

At Mekad Limited we understand that your time is a valuable commodity. We, therefore, we offer an alternative reliable solution for back office services, in an already tight employment market with high costs of employment.

This enables management to concentrate on core high value activities such as concentrating on trustee administration, client relationship management and business development. This also provides the opportunity of redeploying staff to a more high value area of business and accounting operations are dealt with by our experienced and qualified professionals in a timely manner.

The added benefits for you are that you will be dealing with a locally based team that will provide timely and professional services allowing you to concentrate on what you are good at and growing your enterprise.

Relocation to Channel Islands

Guernsey and Jersey are  independent jurisdictions with their own parliaments, legal and tax systems. The Islands are part of the British Isles but not part of the UK, although it is responsible for the Island’s international representation. The Channel Isles are not members of the EU and are not directly subject to Community rules. However, under protocol 3 of the Treaty of Accession, both jurisdictions enjoy access to the EU Common Customs Area without customs duty barriers.

Both Guernsey and Jersey are internationally recognised as highly reputable jurisdictions and well regulated and respected business centres, which are ideally positioned for you to invest, grow and prosper.

Our strategy is to provide a “one-stop shop” for people wishing to move to either Guernsey or Jersey. We can advise on all aspects relevant to your relocation projects, for example:

We have significant experience of assisting individuals and their businesses relocate to the Islands. We also have a significant network of intermediaries that we work with on both islands such as law firms, fiduciary services companies, banks, estate agents etc. to ensure that your move to the islands is handled in an expeditious manner.

On moving to the Islands it is important that pre-immigration tax advice is taken to ensure that any necessary structuring is undertaken and that all opportunities are optimised. It is important that tax advice is sought regarding the individuals departure from their home jurisdiction. We have experience in assisting individuals in breaking UK tax residence and in maintaining their non UK tax residence status. We also have good experience and working relationships with the local regulatory and government offices.

Financial Manager / Controller services

Growing a business can be tricky. Maybe yours has reached a point where it needs a financial manager or controller, but you can’t justify a full time time employee.

We can help turn your growth vision into a reality; just a few hours a month of our time can be cost effective and invaluable to your business.

Business Planning and Strategy

Starting your own business can be very daunting – where do you start? What do you do first?

We can help by putting together a detailed business plan to check the viability of your project and cash requirements. This is a useful starting point to present to potential investors and banks or financial providers.

We can assist with the following important steps:

1. Budgeting
   Ensure you have included all relevant expenses and have made sure that your income will cover these expenses.
2. Forecasting
   Look forward and see how you think your business will perform. We can provide for best and worst case scenarios to prevent any unwanted suprises.
3. Cashflows
   Cash is essential and we can use the forecasts to see if and when you might need some extra investment. Potential loan providers will require your forward looking figures to assess your request and, the better you have this planned the higher you chances of securing a loan.

Once you have funding in place we can help with the logistics of taking your idea from paper to reality. We can advise on the potential options which may be suitable for your business and point you in the right direction in terms of various registrations and basic needs that you need to take into account. For example:

• Sole trader verses registration of a company
• Various insurances to consider
• Acquiring property verses renting property
• Registration for income tax, social security, GST etc.
• Setting up bank accounts
• Considering possibility of utilising e-Commerce to benefit your business
• Selecting an online accounting package

In short we can assist you every step of the way.

If your business is ready for the next stage of growth we can assist with the business plan and put together a robust budget if investment is required.

We can also advise on a suitable finance structure as your business grows and provide part time support at the right level of qualification for when your business needs it most

Payroll

Our payroll services are tailored to meet individual client needs, and can be dovetailed with advice and guidance on related matters such as registrations and liaison with the local tax and social security authorities, reciprocal agreement considerations, benefit in kind considerations, pay reviews, assistance with Manpower returns and liaison with the Population Office.

We provide all of the necessary processing facilities, including the production and distribution of payslips, and the preparation and submission of employers tax and Social Security returns.

Secure Email Service

Our partners Galaxkey provides an identity based email content security solution. When a user registers with Galaxkey, a security identity is created which is associated with the users email address. This identity is managed and stored by Galaxkey, in the cloud, and is accessible to any Galaxkey enabled client on proper authorisation and authentication. The identities on the platform are completely secured with user provided unique credentials; ensuring secure user access. The administrators of corporate users have full control of their corporate user’s identities and data, while users maintain complete knowledge of their identity usage through the Galaxkey platform.

With advances of networking and communication technologies, e-mail has established itself as a formal communication medium. E-mail as a medium has gone past the mere communication tool and is being used for communicating confidential information including official documents ranging from notices, invoices and confirmations to name a few. These developments also raise issues surrounding email security and privacy of data. E-mail is highly susceptible to various forms of attack, starting at the e-mail source point, onto the corporate server, including the stages in between, to the recipient’s server and finally the destination point. The risk of attack increases multi-fold at each point. There are various solutions offered to counteract these vulnerabilities at various points. These solutions offer a partial solution. However, a robust solution that is able to address all the vulnerabilities and still maintain ultimate control with the end user, the sender and receiver, is desirable. This is the solution Galaxkey provides.

• Galaxkey offers security solutions imbedded with state of the art technology to secure e-mail end-to-end and not only in transit; at the source and at the destination while maintaining control with the end user through proper authentication.
• Send encrypted emails from point to point; secured in transit and on storage servers; both offline and online.
• Use FIPS 140-2 Compliant technologies.
• Identity based model for quick and easy deployment.
• Enable platform independent secure email access.

Contact us for more information.

E-Commerce

With the advent of the digital age we can assist you to get the best out of e-commerce and help your business grow and not be left behind.

From getting access to your financial information anywhere in the world where you have an Internet connection, to getting the most out of storage space in the cloud we can help your business grow.

For business looking to expand internationally it is important to be aware of the tax changes affecting the distribution of goods and services online. There are some significant implications arising from the global trends towards taxing these services at the point of consumption. These will in effect remove certain barriers that currently impact non-EU based e-commerce businesses through the establishment of a more level playing field in respect of digital services supplied to the EU markets that Channel Isles are well placed to exploit with their renowned regulatory and communications frameworks.

EU VAT on Telecommunications, broadcasting and E-Services

Do you supply some form of e-service? If so you will almost certainly be affected by new VAT rules being applied across Europe… In the past (Jan 2010) non-EU businesses supplying to customers (private) electronic services had an obligation to register for VAT where the customer “belonged”, if their supplies exceeded the VAT registration threshold of a respective EU country.

Currently, where e-services are supplied to private customers (end users) such as music downloads, e-books, online streaming of videos, and internet telephone services are liable to VAT in the country where the supplier is situated. On 1 January 2015, these rules will change and the services will be liable to VAT where the customer is based (and in some instances where the service is used and enjoyed!).

From 1 January 2015, telecommunications, broadcasting and electronic services will
always be taxed in the country where the customer belongs*

– whether customer is a business or consumer
– whether supplier based in the EU or outside

*For a business (taxable person) = either the country where it is registered or the country where it has fixed premises receiving the service.

*For a consumer (non-taxable person) = the country where they are registered, have their permanent address or usually live.

This means companies providing e-services may need consider to register and account for VAT in other European countries. This inevitably will result in additional cost and accounting responsibilities. As you will be aware VAT rate applicable in other European countries differ from one jurisdiction to another. The rules that may apply to the actual ‘use and enjoyment’ of the services and where in the individual belongs need to be understood. The aim of the changes is to ensure that VAT is accounted for where the consumer resides and uses the services, very broadly.

The impact this will have on business activities may be significant… and those affected should plan ahead to ensure their systems and procedures can deal with the new VAT accounting requirements.

So they may need to identify:

• If the supplies they make are caught by the amendment?
• Who are their customers (corporates or individuals?) Where are they based, within the EU?
• Who enjoys and benefits their services?
• Where are you in the supply chain?
• Are the services supplied caught by the “use and enjoyment” rules?
• What documentation do they need of the proof of their customers?
• Where should they register?
• Can the current structure, process, system cope with the changing environment?
• Can you qualify for mini-one-stop-shop (MOSS) registration? If so which is the jurisdiction of choice?
• Will sales contracts and prices need to be amended? and
• Will staff need to understand how the changes affect budgets and prices?

Non-EU businesses (like those in the Channel Islands) need to consider their own position on whether to consider adopting it now and if so, should they consider registering in each of the EU Jurisdictions or should the opt for the MOSS facility.

We have done a fair amount of research in this area and have been in dialogue with some of the EU countries and European Commission to address the concerns and affects on typical non-EU residents and service providers.

If you need help then contact us for further assistance.

Online Accounting / AccountsIQ

AccountsIQ is a new breed of accounting software that is designed to move your entire
accounting online. It is a hosted online accounting package that has been designed by
accountants and IT specialists with your needs in mind. AccountsIQ will help you to improve service, boost productivity and cut costs.

Secure, Anytime, Anywhere access to your accounts
We understand that security is a paramount concern for any business, and we take our
clients’ data security extremely seriously. That’s why accountsIQ employs a sophisticated, multi-layered security model and a set of important safeguards, to protect your data online. We work in tandem with Opsource, the experts in delivering web applications and software as a service for on-demand companies. Our security model is externally validated by independent security experts.

To access the system all you need is an internet connection. This opens up the possibility for you to allow staff to work from home (reducing their carbon footprint and encouraging a work/life balance) or even to be able to access the accounts from another office.

Access to a ‘Virtual Accountant’
Because we can see what you see, we are now able to provide real-time support to your business. We can discuss any aspect of your businesses finances or simply provide assistance with common bookkeeping questions. We can also regularly review critical business information together without the need for us to ever leave our desks.

Collaborate in real-time with us
We now have the ability to be able to review the work you have done on your accounts in real-time and insert any corrections where necessary. This reduces the time spent on analysing months of data at a time, which now allows us to submit back to you meaningful and up-to-date business results quicker then ever before.

Accounts are now up-to-date providing you with key decision making information
As information is entered in real-time we can provide key business results to you on your mobile device. There is no longer a time-lag of weeks or months before we are able to provide you with business critical information e.g. cashflow thus allowing you to make accurate business decisions which will allow your company to grow.

A Feature rich accounting system which can scale up as you grow
With three variations of accountsIQ to choose from you have the ability to scale up or scale down from month to month to reflect any changes being experienced in your company.

Low start-up costs with a pay-monthly subscription service
Unlike traditional desktop software products, you can pay for this service either as a standalone offering or as part of your overall fee. As each client has different requirements – please contact us for a detailed quotation.

No expensive IT equipment needed

• Because the product is hosted online, you:
• Don’t have software licences to buy
• Don’t have to take system backups – these are automatically done for you by our
  secure data centre
• Don’t need to take out a technical support contract each year
• Don’t need to buy version upgrades
• Don’t need to invest in expensive IT hardware and IT personnel to maintain it
• Can rest assured knowing that your data is guarded by a highly secure and reliable
  service
• Can grow as your business does

For more information see our AccountsIQ FAQs.