Corporate Financial Planning
We provide specialist independent advice to employers, their directors and staff. In our corporate work we aim to contribute to the highest levels of decision making and to bring significant benefit at all levels.
Corporate Financial Planning - the joined-up approach
Running a business can sometimes seem like a lot more than a full-time job! You need to know your product, your market, your client base and your budgets. At the same time, you need to keep your staff and customers happy and provide the best possible service while keeping costs under control.
With all this going on, it can be difficult to focus on giving financial planning the attention your business deserves. At IFG, we understand the problems, and are committed to helping you overcome them. After all, your organisation is a living entity that needs in-depth financial planning just as much as an individual does - and this entails a lot more than book-keeping and the annual accounts and audit provided by your accountant, important though those services are.
Indeed, one of the keys to our approach is to work closely with your other professional advisers to ensure all your planning is done in a joined-up way. We are experienced in co-operating with accountants and solicitors - and, in fact, many of our corporate introductions come via these sources. Our overall objective will be to deliver the very best outcome for you and your business.
IFG services for Corporate Financial Planning
Shareholder/Partner Protection
Imagine that one of your co-directors or partners were to die suddenly, or be diagnosed with a serious illness. Quite apart from the emotional impact on you personally, you would have some serious issues to consider...
- The impact on your business.
- The legal position with regard to the dead person's shares.
- How much his or her share of the business is worth (and how much their family would want for it).
- Can you afford to buy it?
Structured correctly Shareholder/Partnership protection can help deal with these issues before they arise. We would be happy to audit your current position as a first step.
Insuring Key People
There may be individuals who are vital to the success of your business. Just consider which employees you would least like to have head-hunted by a competitor - and then imagine the position if they were to be permanently removed from your business due to death or serious illness.
Keyperson insurance can help to cushion your business from the full financial implications of such an event.
Directors'/Partners' pension planning
The pensions of your business's owners are not just about their own retirement plans. They can be an integral part of your business, too - almost a subsidiary company - enabling you to manage your corporation tax liabilities, extract your profits and protect them from future creditors of the business. They can even be used to purchase your own business premises! We have a wide experience of all types of pension planning, and can help you make optimum use of the plans you have.
Employee Benefits
The benefits package that you offer your employees is a key part of your ability to recruit and retain staff. We can help with all aspects, from pensions to death benefits and flexible remuneration options.
The core benefit is normally a pension scheme, and it can be difficult to differentiate yours from everyone else's. This could become even harder to achieve with the introduction of the proposed system of automatic enrolment, which could make it seem as though you are just delivering the obligatory minimum. (See the 'Employers - Pension Auto-enrolment' fact sheet for more details on auto-enrolment and NEST, the national employee savings trust.)
We can not only help you to meet your legal requirements, but also to present the benefits in a professional, convincing way to your employees.
Exit strategies
The best time to begin planning how to exit your business is when it starts. Time may have moved on, but the sooner you know how you are likely to want to get out the easier it is to plan. Do you want, for example...
- A trade sale?
- A flotation?
- A family succession?
- Or do you simply want to wind the business down and draw on your pension?
Whatever your exit objective, we will work with you to build a strategy to maximise the fruits of your labours.