Background

Langley Business Systems (Retail) Limited is an exceptionally ambitious high growth company supplying integrated EPoS (Electronic Point of Sale) solutions for businesses operating within the hospitality, retail, brewery and garden & leisure sectors.

The Managing Director, Richard Cox acquired the family business from his father in 2000. Richard and the management team are exceptionally driven and fully understand the importance of a good internal finance team, external accountants and tax advisers. In Richard’s own words: “your business is only as good as the financial results and in the advice provided by your trusted accounting partner”.

The brief

Langley needed to engage proactive, focused, forward thinking, commercial accountants and tax advisers. Their specific requirements were:

Access to the best online accounting software available
Exploration and HMRC advance clearance on Research and Development Tax Credits
Development of a financial dashboard or Sat Nav
Cash flow forecasting tools that integrated into their accounting software
Help with valuing potential companies to acquire
Advice with external funding and grants
Ensuring tax efficiency in every area of the business
Proactive advice in a very simple way that all members of the organisation could understand
An adviser to work in partnership with the business.

Our part

Accounting software – Xero.com
Having worked with all accountancy software products on the market, we chose to adopt Xero accounting software within our organisation. In our opinion, Xero.com is the most sophisticated, intuitive and forward-thinking piece of accounting software currently available and we actively promote this software to our clients. We became a Xero Gold certified partner several years ago.

We worked in partnership with the Langley finance team to ensure the transition from their old accounting system to Xero was managed seamlessly and accurately. Full training was provided on all areas of Xero so the internal accounts and management team had a solid overview of everything before and during the transition. The Langley management team now has the ability to monitor their performance daily, compare to their budgets and link into apps such as Fluidly, Spotlight and GoCardless.

HMRC advance clearance on Research and Development Tax Credits
We successfully completed a R&D tax application for Langley which resulted in a significant reduction in their Corporation Tax payment to HMRC. Advance clearance was obtained in relation to two new in-house software processes in development. The first process was to streamline call logging, CRM and accounting systems to improve efficiencies and enhance the customer experience. The second involved a door access software system and membership software.

Development of a financial dashboard or Sat Nav
The management team at Langley advised us they wanted a daily snapshot of all financial performance and KPIs historically and against pre-agreed forecasts and budgets that we had critically reviewed and stress tested. We suggested using the Spotlight app as it fully integrates with Xero. Langley now has a cloud-based financial dashboard which gives them clear financial visibility and direction so they know where they are heading and the future plans they need to make. They are able to look ahead at different future scenarios, break even analysis and easily look at any future potential changes to the business and the impact on results.

Cash flow forecasting tools that integrated into their accounting software
Following our recommendation to adopt Xero for their software accounting system, we linked Langley up to Fluidly, an app that links directly into Xero, to provide an automatic cash flow forecast in order to give visibility and guidance on the upcoming cash flows. Accurate predictions can be made on areas such as upcoming VAT bills, debtor receipts, loan repayments, Corporation Tax payments and supplier payments, giving an accurate future cash position.

Help with valuing potential companies to acquire
Langley’s desire to grow its business through suitable acquisitions was a key area where we were able to offer them support. We were able to advise on potential partnerships and scope out the synergies and factors for consideration. In January 2021, Langley successfully purchased the Compass Group, a group of companies providing IT hardware, software and support services to businesses, which subsequently became The Langley Compass Group Ltd. We were fundamental in the acquisition process and the transition.

External funding and grants
We were able to advise Langley Business Systems (Retail) Limited and The Langley Compass Group Ltd on local grants that were available both in external support and capital and revenue grants match funded by the local council. A successful application was made resulting in 50% help in terms of a new open space working pod and help with financial systems and processes.

Ensuring Langley is tax efficient in every area of the business
Langley like any proactive, forward thinking business wanted to ensure it was being managed and run in the most tax efficient manner possible. As tax experts we were able to guide and advise the management team on remuneration and consideration of share options, such as the HMRC approved Enterprise Management Incentive (EMI) Scheme.

Ongoing support

Through regular monthly and quarterly meetings, we provide proactive and timely advice on all areas of finance, provide a sounding board and working in partnership with the business. The management team at Langley knows we are always on hand at any stage to provide solid, no nonsense, accurate and well-researched advice. Langley now has an excellent financial view of the future in all business areas.