Winning Clients

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A tool listing questions for use at a meeting with a prospective new client. Complete it on screen or print a blank copy to complete at the meeting. You can also complete it offline when not connected to the internet and upload when next connected. On screen use is recommended as it will tailor the questionnaire based on your responses.

Version Number	2.00
Last Update	June 2017

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Prospect Details

Q1
Completion data

Name
Business Name
Completed By (staff name)
Date completed

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What's important?

Q2
What prompted the meeting?

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Tax planning?
Issues with last year's accounts? Accounting records,
Taking the business forward? Paying too much tax?

Q3
If you had three wishes, what would you like to change/do?

1
2
3

Comments:

Q4
What are the "PAIN POINTS" in your business? What takes a vast amount of time? How much information is rekeyed?

How you answer these determines the sections reported

By answering each of the questions below the questionnaire will be tailored accordingly

	Yes	No
Is this a business?
Is the business VAT registered?
Are there employees in the business (inc Directors)?
Is IT used in the business?

Comments:

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Business type

Q6
What is the (proposed) structure of the business?

Sole Trader
Partnership (with spouse)
Partnership (other)
LLP
Limited Company

Comments:

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Unincorporated Business

Q7
Who are the business bankers?

Bank
Branch
Manager (if known)

Q8
Sole trader - have you considered taking spouse (or others) into partnership?


Yes
No

Comments:

Q9
If Partnership, is there a written partnership agreement in place?


Yes
No

Comments:

Q10
Unincorporated Business - What is the turnover/net profitability (pre-tax) of the business?

	Current year	Last year	Prior year
Turnover
Net Profit

Comments:

Q11
Has a use of home as office charge been considered and how is this calculated?

Comments:

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Limited Company Information

Q12
How are shares owned?

	Name	Number
Shareholder 1
Shareholder 2
Shareholder 3
Shareholder 4
Shareholder 5

Comments:

Q13
Who are the business bankers?

	Enter details
Bank
Branch
Manager (if known)

Q14
Limited Company - Turnover/Profitability/Extraction of Funds

	Monthly	Annual
Turnover
Profit before tax but after directors remuneration
Directors remuneration
Dividend
Rent
Interest on directors loan paid?

Comments:

Q15
Are company cars provided and is fuel provided by the company?

	Company Car	All fuel provided by company	Business fuel reimbursed	Other
Yes
No

Comments:

Manual - no cashbook	Sage50
Manual cashbook	Xero
QuickBooks	Kashflow
QuickBooks Online	Other (please specify):
Sage Instant

Single user
Multi user
Not sure

Bank details on invoices
Direct Debit
Standing Order
Credit Cards
Other (please specify):

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VAT

Q22
Which of the followng VAT accounting methods are used?

Annual accounting
Cash Accounting
Flat Rate Scheme

Comments:

Q23
Is VAT claimed on fuel and are VAT Scale Charges declared on private use of petrol? Is VAT reclaimed on business mileage paid to staff?

	Yes	No	Not sure
VAT claimed on Fuel
VAT Scale Charges declared
VAT reclaimed on staff mileage allowances

Comments:

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Employees

Q24
24. How are employees paid?

	Weekly	2 Weekly	4 Weekly	Monthly	Annual
Frequency

Comments:

Q25
How is the payroll processed?

Manual
Use a payroll bureau service
Use in-house software (which one?)
No payroll scheme in place
Other (please specify):

Comments:

Q26
How are payslips distributed?

Preprinted payslips
Plain paper payslips
Printed security payslips
Emailed payslips
Upload to employee portal
Other (please specify):

Comments:

Q27
Wage rates - are you aware of, and meeting, the minimum wage rates and living wage rates (the latter effective from April 2016)?

Comments:

Q28
Are you aware of your Auto-enrolment Staging date/Have you already registered?

Yes
No
Already registered

Comments:

Q29
Do staff have Contracts of Employment in place?

Yes
No
Directors only - not neede

Comments:

Q30
Are mileage allowances paid for business mileage?

Select response from dropdown

Comments:

Q31
Are Forms P11d completed annually to declare Benefits to HMRC?

Select response from dropdown

Comments:

Q32
Have any salary sacrifice schemes been considered/implemented? - tax and NI savings for employee and possilbe NI savings for employer

Select response from dropdown

Comments:

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Business processes

Q33
How are selling prices/markups calculated and are you aware of interaction of pricing/volume changes?

Q34
What are the 'key drivers' in the business and do you measure and record them?

Q35
Where do new customers come from?

Q36
Marketing -what methods do you use (inc social media) and do you monitor the effectiveness of marketing methods?

Q37
What are your 'Unique Selling Points' and the greatest strengths of your business?

Q38
How satisified are your customers/clients and when did you last ask them?

Q39
What business risks are covered by insurance and when was this last reviewed?

Comments:

Q40
Is this a new business? If so, what assets have been introduced/sold to the business and at what value?

Comments:

Q41
If a new business - has the choice of accounting date been considered, taking into account Overlap profits, seasonal trading etc?

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Use of IT in the business

Q42
How many PCs/servers/tablet devices are used in the business?


Servers
Windows PCs
Apple computers
Thin client Devices
Tablets
Smartphones
Other

Comment:

Q43
Are there any areas where you think IT may make the processes more efficient? Is there any specific software that you think would be useful?

Yes
No
Not sure
Other (please specify):

Comments:

Q44
How do you deal with purchase invoices and entry into accounting records? Approx how many invoices/month do you process?

Q45
Do you have any CRM (customer relationship management software) in use? Which product? What do you monitor in relation to your customer/client base?

Q46
How much paper does your business generate? Would it improve efficiency if you could retrieve electronic documents very quickly? How many filing cabinets full of paper/other storage do you have?

Q47
How do you do backups and how often, and where are backups stored? When was a restore last tested?

Q48
Do you have antivirus software in place - and is it updated regularly? How do you deal with "cyber security?

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Personal affairs

Q49
Approx Income from all sources

Enter approx amounts below

	Self	Wife
Salary
Profits (unincorporated businesses)
Pensions
Interest
Dividends
Rental income (net of expenses)
Other 1
Other 2

Comments:

Q50
Do you pay any of the following:-

Enter approx amounts below

	Enter amount/% as applicable	N/A
Pensions - retirement annuity
Pensions - personal pension
Pensions - company scheme
Pensions - other
Gift Aid

Comments:

Q51
Do you pay any of the following:-

Enter approx amounts below


Working Tax Credits
Child Tax Credits

If yes, amounts received 4 weekly

Q52
Have you made wills?

	Self	Partner
Yes
No

When were they last reviewed?

Q53
Are you aware of the size of your estate (including future possible inheritances) and whether any IHT may be payable in due course?

Yes - aware
No
Not concerned about IHT
Send Estate Summary form for completion
Other (please specify):

Comment:

Q54
What happens to your family and business if you are ill or die?


What life assurance do you have in place?
Do you have permanent health insurance cover?
Do you have any critical illness cover?
When was your cover last reviewed?

Comment:

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Thank You

You have completed this questionnaire!

Thank you for taking the time to answer this.

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Winning Clients

Prospect Details

What's important?

Business type

Unincorporated Business

Limited Company Information

Accounting Records and Systems

VAT

Employees

Business processes

Use of IT in the business

Personal affairs

Thank You

You have completed this questionnaire!