Practical business insight for UK companies
Recurring internal meetings are rarely approved like a purchase order, yet they commit payroll, preparation time and senior attention every week. This practical audit sets out a simple cost-per-meeting formula and three tests for deciding whether a standing invite should become a memo, a monthly review or nothing at all.
Many UK SMEs discover they are exporting only when an overseas order arrives, bringing VAT, customs, delivery-term and payment questions at once. This guide sets out the first practical checks, from spotting export sales in the records to knowing when specialist advice should be taken before the next shipment.
Bundling goods and services into a single price looks like tidy commercial practice, but it can hand HMRC the argument that the highest rate of VAT applies to the whole. This piece sets out how the single and multiple supply test works in practice, where margins erode, and how to document apportionment before anyone asks.
End clients and agencies are increasingly being asked to account for what happens further down the payroll chain. This checklist sets out the records to hold, the questions to put to providers and the warning signs that turn a routine compliance visit into a liability discussion.
The 2026 rating list has been in force since April and the bills are now a line in the management accounts. Here is how rateable values translate into what you actually pay, where transitional relief helps and where it misleads, and the evidence an SME needs in hand before lodging a challenge with the VOA.
The salary is the only visible part of a recruitment decision, and it is rarely the largest. This analysis builds a fully loaded year-one cost for a typical UK SME appointment and sets it against the cheaper, reversible option of buying capacity through process improvement instead.
AI and automation buying should be a measured experiment, not an annual bet on a vendor’s slide deck. This Galico guide sets out a 90-day pilot, UK GDPR questions, red flags and the metrics that show whether a tool is genuinely worth keeping.
Late payment is usually treated as a collections problem, but the wiser approach is to price and select for it before the quote is issued. This Galico guide sets out a practical stress test, contract terms and a credit-risk checklist for UK SMEs in 2026.
Mandatory identity verification is now part of the operating framework for UK companies. This practical guide sets out who needs to act, what evidence works, and how directors can avoid rejected filings and last-minute delays.
Hybrid working has made the office lease decision less obvious and more consequential. The Galico Test uses five practical questions to help UK business owners separate a flexible opportunity from a long-term liability.