Financial Planning:
Corporate Financial Planning & Employee Benefit Services

Being an established firm of Chartered Accountants, our clients range from large multi national companies to small family run businesses and we particularly specialise in assisting companies who are setting up in the UK for the first time. As part of our Corporate Department's services, we provide objective and expert advice on corporate financial planning and employee benefits in this increasingly complex field of activity. In today's competitive business world with budgets under constant pressure, it is vital to deliver cost-effective solutions. Employee benefits should be regularly reviewed to take advantage of new developments and improved terms offered by providers keen to compete for business.

You may be looking to implement a new range of employee benefits or to review your existing arrangements. This could include pension schemes and their associated benefits, such as death in service cover or income protection. Or you may be thinking about introducing a flexible benefits scheme where employees are allowed to choose their own benefits from a menu using an agreed allowance. You may also require expert assistance in developing a suitably tax effective remuneration strategy for directors or senior executives, or advice on how to protect the business against the unexpected death or serious illness of a key employee, shareholder or partner.

If you are setting up a subsidiary in the UK for the first time, then we can offer valuable advice on the range employee benefit options normally offered to UK employees, the level of benefits that will help you attract the best staff and your legal obligations in respect of making pension schemes available.

Whatever it is, we can help at every stage of the process, from initial exploration and analysis, through to specific recommendations, effective implementation, project management and ongoing review.

Our corporate advice and employee benefit services are designed to complement the other services offered by the Firm, so that our clients can obtain the majority of business advice that they may require under one roof.

Principal areas of advice for corporate financial planning clients are:

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Pensions Advice and Retirement Planning

Our specialist pensions advisers advise on and arrange all types of individual, group and specialist pension schemes. Our service covers:

• Stakeholder pension schemes - we can provide valuable assistance in ensuring that you meet your basic pension obligations under UK law.
  
  
• Group personal pension schemes where you are looking to offer employees access to more sophisticated investment options.
  
  
• Specialist planning for directors and senior employees, including self-invest personal pensions (SIPPs), funded unapproved retirement benefit schemes (FURBS) and small self-administered schemes (SSAS).
  
  
• Advising directors and employees on claiming retirement benefits including annuities, income drawdown and phased retirement.
  
  
• Reviewing existing pension schemes including exploring the options available to those companies with increasingly expensive "final salary" schemes.

Our pensions team often works in tandem with our tax advisers to ensure that the most appropriate strategy and scheme is selected. Consequently, you and your employees are better placed to obtain the maximum tax allowances, optimum capital appreciation and minimal exposure to tax on the eventual benefits.

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Group Life Cover and Income Protection

We advise on, arrange and review death in service and income protection schemes, ensuring that the premiums you pay are competitive and set up in a tax-efficient manner.

If you think that our services may be of value to you, please request an initial meeting or further information. Alternatively, please contact us for further information.

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Further information and copies of financial planning newsletters are available for download in our Publications section.