5 things not to do when working with your accountant
One of our very favourite things about accounting is the clients. We love making it as easy as possible for you to keep on top of your business’s finances, and our accounting and bookkeeping partners often tell us that working with...
How to channel your best personality traits
There’s a lot of talk about channeling your best personality traits, both in work and in life in general. And while that’s great, in practice this tends to slip down the priority list in the face of daily life, so...
6 ways to market your small business (that aren’t ads)
Just a few years ago, your options for advertising your small business were pretty much limited to telemarketing, mailers, and expensive ad buys on billboards, TV, or radio. But with the advent of internet marketing, it’s possible to market your...
What are the best personality traits for being an accountant?
People who haven’t worked closely with an accountant before sometimes tend to think that they’re kind of like really good computers when it comes to their work: they plug in the numbers, follow the rules, and spit out a report...
The four pillars of great customer service
You probably couldn’t find one business owner who would tell you that good customer services doesn’t matter. And yet, there are whole industries that are known for being terrible at it! The truth is, the experience people have with your...
Five reasons to let your employees work from home
Do employees at your company work remotely from time to time? At Clear Books, we have a relaxed attitude to colleagues working from home if they need to — not only because it’s a nice perk for employees and contractors,...
The strange history of accounting
It’s no secret that accounting has a reputation for being a bit boring, and we can see how you might be tempted to think that the only thing more boring than modern accounting is the history of accounting. But actually,...
How to get your first customer
How to get your first customer It’s the classic catch-22. You know that you can do the work, but you don’t have anything to prove it because you haven’t had a customer yet. It can be so frustrating to be stuck...
What is important to your employees?
Employee stress and burnout are at record levels in the UK, and while there are a lot of factors that play into this, one factor is that some employees aren’t getting what they want at work. So what do they want? You...
How to increase your concentration
As you’ve probably guessed, we’re huge fans of all things technology — we can do things now with software and apps that we couldn’t have even dreamed about ten years ago! But there is a downside to all this, which...
5 ways to make your online persona secure
Online safety is one of those things that everyone knows they should take seriously, but tends to get lost in the day to day activity. But with one in five people in the UK having had at least one online...
How to fund your new business
How to Fund Your Business When you’re starting a business, it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of brainstorming, branding, and product development, and tempting to think that as long as you’ve got a great product or service,...
10 strange facts about VAT
VAT was introduced as a “simple tax” but since then it’s become so complicated that it’s been described as “a fiscal theme park in which factual and legal realities are suspended and inverted.” Sound like an exaggeration? Consider these ten...
How to eat better at work
Loads of us start the New Year with a resolution to eat better and generally be more healthy. But it’s 3PM again, and the vending machine is calling your name — that packet of crisps has never looked better. Even...
How to keep up with changes in your industry
There’s no question that keeping up with the latest changes in your industry is a good thing (in fact, we’d go so far as to say it’s crucial). But when you’re in the middle of running a business, it can...
End of year review – how to make 2016 even better
It’s getting so close to the end of 2015, and as always, it feels like the year’s flown by! A lot of people tend to pack it in when it gets this late in the year. You’ve done a lot...
Digital opportunities that can transform your business
It’s a great time to be an internet-based business in the UK. The digital economy is worth about £1 billion worldwide (and growing quickly), and the EU is one of the most digitally forward regions in the world, with 72%...
4 ways to get more exposure for your business
Of all the changes that have taken place since the internet entrepreneurship thing took off, the effectiveness of traditional advertising has got to be one of the biggest. Audiences have much more control over what they see now, so traditional...
Improving productivity at work
How to be more efficient Everyone wants to run an efficient business — there’s a whole industry of books and seminars that’s grown up around the subject. But a lot of the tips out there are designed for bigger...
How to maintain great customer relationships
Everyone knows that customers are the lifeblood of a company, which is why so many companies spend a lot of time and energy trying to maintain relationships with them. But the thing is, a relationship with a customer is just...
Where’s the best place to study accounting?
Choosing where to study accounting can be a bit tricky, especially because there are so many different universities that offer great accounting programmes. The important things to think about are what you actually want to do with your degree after...
10 challenges of being an accountant
We really love what we do here at Clear Books and at the many events we run for accountants, we can always see the passion our accountant partners have for their jobs. That's why we went over the 10 best...
The 10 best things about being an accountant
We often hear of cliches and misconceptions about accounting that make it seem like a pretty boring job. But there are lots of great things about being an accountant, including: 1. You get to help make other people’s businesses take off....
5 common misconceptions about accounting
For lots of small business owners, the idea of what actually happens in the field of accounting is kind of murky — they have a vague idea that accountants are good at numbers, and that they can balance your books....
8 people you’d never guess were accountants!
Getting your accounting done by an archaeologist, comedian, or mystery author might sound ridiculous … but theoretically, you could make it happen. People with all kinds of different careers have trained or worked as accountants, including: 1. John Grisham John...