Economic Challenge Survey
The Credit Crunch is well and truly at our door.

We passionately believe that it is our duty of care as your accountants to consistently review our service standards to make certain that we are always offering the best possible tools to help you survive and thrive in the current economic climate.

To help us gain a better understanding of your business condition we have commissioned a pioneering survey in conjunction with the RAN ONE Network. The survey should only take a few minutes to complete, so please spare a moment to aid us with our research.

This survey is vitally important to the practice as it allows us to conclusively document YOUR opinions and then tailor new and even better services to overcome your obstacles and fulfill your ambitions as a businessperson.

Once the survey has been completed, we will share the results by sending you a Credit Crunch report.

We trust you understand how this survey is essential to maintaining and improving our current service standards during the Credit Crunch and beyond.

Please take part in the survey by following this link http://survey.ranone.com/akira/TakeSurvey?id=1055178

We thank you in advance for your time and look forward to sharing the results.

Remember, it will take you about 5 minutes to complete, and will provide you with relevant and informative information in the resulting report!

We thank you in advance for your time and look forward to sharing the results.

To speak with us about how to manage your business in these economic conditions, please contact us.

Bookkeeping Services
In July 2008 a new sister-company was set up to deal with bookkeeping services. Although we tend to deal with the top end of business advice, including profit growth and tax planning, it is becoming increasing common for good bookkeeping services to be hard to find. Data Vision LLP has been set up to provide bookkeeping services to clients and non-clients with the emphasis on quality service delivered quickly, and also providing detailed analysis of data in order to help you make accurate and informed business decisions. In this respect the bookkeeping business links in to the profit growth side of Marc Lawson & Co Ltd, and we anticipate that the two will work seamlessly side by side.

Having Data Vision LLP as your bookkeeping company means that: -

• You will receive the top level of quality rating for our accountancy services with maximum discounts
• You no longer have to worry about the bookkeeper not turning up during summer holidays or when their children are ill
• Information is provided promptly and efficiently, usually in a matter of days
• You no longer have to worry about whether the bookkeeping is good enough for the accountant
• You will receive detailed information with regard to your best customers, your best services and products, as well as detailed and accurate profit reports, and if you want, actual v budget costs so that you never spend a penny more than you have to

New faces at Marc Lawson & Co Ltd
If you’ve been chased for your accounting books and records recently then you may well have spoken to Chloe, who has recently joined us as a part-time Accounts Team Support member whilst carrying on with her higher education. Chloe will be in the office Monday and Tuesday from 8:30 til 11:30, all day Thursday and Friday from 8:30 til 12:30.

Tell us how we’re doing so far...
Our job is to give you everything you want from an accountant, so please... Tell us how we’re doing so far.

Tell us what you don’t like – complete the Customer Service Questionnaire to tell us what you do and don’t like about the way we have helped you. And, in return, we promise that we’ll use your feedback to serve you even better.

Financial Services
“Did you know that we at Marc Lawson & Co Ltd offer independent financial advice through our sister company, Money Vision Ltd – including retirement planning, tax-efficient investments and income protection – so that you can plan for wealth, preserve your wealth and protect your wealth?

If you are interested in talking to our independent financial adviser about any of these issues, then please contact us and we’ll arrange for David Moore to give you a call tomorrow to arrange a time to come out and see you.

Business Builder Forum
Do you want to kick-start your business into becoming more successful and profitable?

If so, imagine how much easier and quicker it would be to solve problems and capitalise on opportunities if you could tap into the experience and expertise of over 3000 other business leaders and professionals across the UK. And imagine how much more profitable your business would be if you were supported in all of this by some of the world’s leading business thinkers and writers. Well, now at last you can do all of this and much, much more.

Let us explain….. As members of the Added Value Network we have successfully been running a completely new type of executive forum for over 6 years for business leaders like you. Called the Business Builder Forum (‘BBF’) it makes it possible for you to:

1. Meet and network with many of the region’s most successful entrepreneurs
2. Learn their success secrets – and use them to make your business more successful
3. Discover practical solutions to business problems
4. Build up an encyclopedia of practical business growth tools and resources, and
5. Create an action plan for building your business profitably

It takes place one morning a month – over a cooked breakfast – at The Novotel, Plymouth – starting at 8:00 am and finishing by 10.00 am so that you can still do a full day in the office. Tickets for individual Business Builder Forums are usually £40 plus VAT for members, and £50 plus VAT on a ‘Pay as you go’ basis. We are so convinced that you will find the meeting a hugely valuable and enjoyable use of your time that we welcome you and a senior colleague to attend for FREE for up to two meetings. If you would like an invite to the next Business Builder Forum meeting, please contact us on 01752 752210.

Pay Less Tax Newsletter
Last year we re-vamped and re-launched our tax newsletter and have recently added this to our web site. ‘Pay Less Tax’ is a seasonal newsletter with bonus editions for tax opportunities and Budget changes.

Many people are paying far too much tax; often through lack of knowledge of the tax rules. This problem is compounded by the constant changes in the tax rules. We aim to rectify this by ensuring that we highlight some of the tax traps that can be costly if you are not aware they are there and to give you an idea of possible tax saving opportunities in certain situations.

Unfortunately the UK tax system is getting increasingly complex… resulting in an increasing number of tax pitfalls for the unwary. The good news though is that there are also many opportunities to pay much, much less tax… and in some cases none at all.

We want to help you pay your fair share of tax… and not a single penny more so why not take a look now at Pay Less Tax.

Profit Builder Newsletter
We’ve also recently added our monthly business growth newsletter called Profit Builder to our website, which contains many practical points on improving profit within your business.

Sign Posting
As part of our aim to provide more sales and customers to each of our clients, our free Sign Posting service sets out full details of businesses that we have contacts with that provide services and products outsides those of Marc Lawson & Co Limited.

This web based service simply lists all customers (and a few other select contacts) and details what they do and their unique selling points. The web also has an inter-active area for feedback from people who’ve used that company to rate the experience, and if applicable, provide testimonials. These ratings and testimonials will not be visible on-line but will be collated by us and sent to you to assist with your customer feedback research.

Given the nature of the service we do ask that you provide 2 testimonials dated in the last 12 months, and also that you must have been in business for over 2 years.

By acting as an unpaid member of your sales force, we hope to boost your business profits even further.

What do you think really think of your bank?
As you know, as one of the areas leading firm of accountants, we are committed to helping local businesses succeed. A key part of that success, of course, is the support and service you get from your bank. So, to help make sure that local businesses - including yours - get everything they need and want from their bankers we are carrying out what we believe is the region's first regular business banking survey.

Award Winners!
On 15th March at the East Midlands Conference Centre in Nottingham, in front of 374 fellow accountants from across the UK, we were named as the 2006/07 South West Accounting Firm of the Year, and also National Accounting Firm of the Year Runners-Up.

The award, sponsored by AVN The Accountants and the National Campaign, is the only award of its kind where the winners are actually chosen by a panel of over 200 fellow accountants.

Presenting the award, the National Campaign’s chairman, Steve Pipe, said…

“Marc Lawson & Co are an inspiration to every single firm of accountants in the country. They are helping their clients to grow, to create jobs and to become more successful. As a result they are re-defining what businesses should expect from their accountants, and blazing a trail for other accountants to follow. They are truly are an extraordinary firm, and fully deserve the recognition given to them by their peers”.

All at the team at Marc Lawson & Co are obviously delighted with this success, and are already taking steps to try and win the National Accounting Firm of the Year in 2007/08.

Performance Measurement and Improvement System
In June 2006 we launched the AVN PMIS system. The PMIS system contains the 8 key stages that we believe successful businesses must go through. Laid out in easy layman’s terms the PMIS folder will contain all the key information your business needs. The system is so vital to growing businesses that Nat West Bank have decided that all new customers that they meet will now be offered a free PMIS folder. If you would like to learn more about the PMIS system simply e-mail marc on marc@marclawson.co.uk.

Welcome to our Website
There are many exciting features including a huge resource of business information on free resources and links to useful websites. Please keep coming back to our website as this information will be continually updated and added to. We want to provide you with a reliable source of up-to-date business information so that you don't have to waste time searching the Internet for what you want.

More importantly there is a lot of information about Marc Lawson & Co and how we can help your business grow and become more profitable. For a free initial consultation please complete our registration form or contact us on 01752 752210.