Having a defined locality from which a business operates can however be used to gain a competitive advantage. By appealing to customer’s loyalty based on their locality a small business can attract orders by focusing its marketing efforts within the designated area.

With the growth of larger businesses the ability of smaller local enterprises to compete effectively has diminished as bigger entities are able to undercut the prices, provide nationwide support and offer a more extensive range of good and services.

A potentially potent and free method of advertising within a specific locality is through word of mouth. Neighbours and communities frequently discuss and exchange comments on purchases made and commissions undertaken by businesses and will hold views on whether to recommend a supplier or to steer others away from that establishment.

As part of the business planning process, a sole trader, partnership or limited company can construe a specific local geographical area in which it wishes to concentrate.

Their resources, whether marketing, customer services or networking can then be applied so as to gain advantage and full benefit from the release of these resources.

There is a philosophy in business when viewing a particular industry which states that only a proportion of any particular market can ever be won; that no single business can cater for the needs of all customers.

In this vein, the local business need not attempt to compete with regional or national enterprises as if it was successful, it would simply be replacing income earned in one area with revenue gained in another.

The principles of competitive advantage therefore mandate that the local business should use its strongest advantage, i.e. its locality to achieve its share of the market.

Expenditure incurred in the pre year end period is allowable for taxation purposes in that year. Therefore it is generally advisable that where expenditure is scheduled to be undertaken and it can be made either before or after the business’ financial year, it should be made before the end of the year.

This would ensure that the tax benefits of that expenditure are gained sooner in the current year rather than in the next period. In situations where the business is VAT registered it is often to case that the VAT reporting periods and the financial year end of the business are coterminous.

Therefore as well as achieving tax advantages in terms of corporation tax (for companies) or income tax (for sole traders and partnerships), the business can also benefit from the cash flow improvement gained from the extra element of input VAT.

At one extreme, there are businesses who might purchase substantial quantities of goods and services in their pre year trading period in order to inflate their expenses and thereby reduce their profit chargeable to taxation.

Whilst this might appear to benefit them, the resultant creditor balances and the negative effect on cash negates any short term advantages gained via a lower tax charge and reduced VAT liabilities.

Whilst the principles of lowering tax charges through incurring pre year end expenditure generally holds true, the manner in which it is implemented must be in accordance what the business can afford and whet is deeded to be sensible.

For example, purchasing a years worth of stationery might create additional storage problems which removes any taxation gains. There might also be the issue of year end stock which of course is added to profit.

Significant amounts of unused materials or prepayments for services would normally be removed from the profit and loss account as expenses to be allotted to the period in which they are actually utilised.

Although not a common as it was in previous years, nominees are still used in some company formation services as the original appointees during a new business incorporation.

Where nominees are used, they are then removed once the company formation process has been completed and the new director appointments and shareholder transfers are initiated.

This method of registering a company is largely extinct and should usually be avoided as it can present problems verifying the actual directors and ownership of the company.

It should be pointed out that the use of nominees to set-up the company is different from situations where it is envisaged that nominees will be a medium to long term feature of the new incorporated business; where the facility is used to protect the identity of the directors and shareholders.

It is far more common and practical to provide a company formation system where the actually directors and shareholders (and company secretary if required) are the initial appointees at the time of the business set-up.

Thus for example, when a bank account is required, the statutory filing history viewed by an account manager would not include any nominees and thus would avoid any confusion as to who currently owns and runs the company.

These types of problems were in fact widespread in the period where all company formations used the registration agents’ nominees for the incorporation and then made the necessary transfers.

Particularly where the company started business soon after it was set-up, it was sometimes the case that the transfers had not had sufficient time to be processed by Companies House and the company filing records displayed the nominee’s information and not that of the new appointees.

It is always preferred that a company keep its filing history clean and avoid any unnecessary entries which do not really service a purpose. To that end, it would be recommended that when viewing different company formation options that enquires should include questions concerning whether nominees are used for the initially company officers or whether the actual incumbents can be elected from the outset.

This rule not only applies to trading entities but also dormant companies where the use of nominees can be used sometimes to prevent the purchaser from gaining actual ownership. The company, under such circumstances, is usually only transferred upon payment of an additional fee.