The company formation procedure can have an incredibly mixed variation of emotions involved ranging from enormous excitement to extreme stress. While the novelty of owning the company and being your own boss is certainly a thing to look forward to, the highly demanding aspects such as registration and looking for financial support can be very pressuring.

With such external aspects of company formation requiring undivided attention, the business owner can easily overlook the internal pieces to the puzzle, mainly features like business structure. The company structure is very important, as it will largely determine the efficiency of corporate operations. There are two company structures: Tall and flat management structures. This blog will talk about the differences between these two structures.

Tall Structure/ Narrow Span of Control

A narrow span of control refers to a management structure whereby less people report directly to the manager. In this case, the manager can simply delegate duties to supervisors or team leaders who will then set tasks among employees. Whenever the employees want to pass a message on to the director, they have to do so through their team leaders. If you are starting a company with different divisions then a tall management structure is more appropriate.

Flat Structure/ Wide Span of Control

A business that adopts a wide span of control will have less ‘team leaders’ and more people can directly report to the director. In this case, the director can take a more hands on approach to operations and be aware of exactly what each employee is doing. The smaller the business you are starting is, the more suited you are to adopting a flat management structure.

Entrepreneurs should put strong emphasis on evenly distributing their attention on all the aspects of company formation. As we discussed earlier, the entire procedure can be daunting and this is why you should seek for professional guidance. At Formations Direct, we offer help with features of company formation including limited registration. Our professionally trained employees are available to guide you throughout the process so feel free to contact us on 0800 085 45 05 for our help.

Towards the end of last year, the UK’s economic conditions took a turn for the better, with the government announcing that the country had finally entered a long-awaited economy recovery following the lengthy recession. Recent reports have indicated that these positive changes are currently in full swing, as economic experts have predicted further improvements.

According to an article released by the BBC, the UK’s GDP levels are set to exceed the healthy pre-recession levels of 2008 by the second quarter of the year. Statistics show that this remarkable improvement has led to previously set forecasts being upgraded, with the previous 2.7% annual economic growth estimation being raised to 2.8%. The optimistic predictions continue, and now the 2015 growth forecast has been upgraded from 2.4% to 2.5%.

Since spending confidence had critically dropped, interest rates had been reduced to an all time low of 0.5% to encourage personal and corporate spending. However, the BBC news article indicated that the Business Chamber of Commerce predicted that, by 2015, the UK would experience the first increase in interest since the recession. Yet again, the bar was set high with a 0.25% increase forecasted.

Further positive predictions are set to be made on the 19^th of March, when Chancellor George Osborne makes the annual Budget announcement. The UK’s economy is undoubtedly bright for the foreseeable future, and for aspiring entrepreneurs this is the perfect opportunity to make an entry into the markets, as the economic recovery has lowered the barrier to entry in many industries. Furthermore, funding companies are now more reluctant to provide capital, as new businesses have an increasingly strong chance of survival as they go against the already established forces.

Entrepreneurs have noticed this invaluable opportunity, and many of these aspiring business people are now utilising this chance to build their businesses. It is true that this process of forming a business can be very complicated, and this is why companies like us at Formations Direct are available to offer you the necessary support. We offer an extensive array of services, including limited company formation, which we provide through our highly skilled team of employees. Our services are provided to business people from many industries, so if you need more information regarding what we do please feel free to contact us.

Choosing a company’s name is an incredibly important aspect of the company formation process as this name is the label that will represent your business and the services that you offer. Despite the importance of the company naming procedure, many entrepreneurs are guilty of failing to take more time to focus on finding the appropriate name.

Indeed, there are distinct differences when comparing a very simplistic and regular name to a well-thought-out and relevant name. In most instances, the well-thought-out name could be pivotal to propelling your company towards being a powerful entity. This exclusive name is what differentiates you from your competition, making your brand and services unique and distinguishable.

Thousands of companies are formed in the UK each year; however some of the names are rejected by the Companies House upon registration requests. But why do these budding entrepreneurs get turned away? This blog will focus on delving into some of the reasons behind why some company names are disallowed.

Sensitive Words

It is common sense that the Companies House will disallow any use of rude or inappropriate language in a company name. There are other words that are considered sensitive including ‘Group, Authority and Association’ that could be disallowed. A proposal has been made to reduce the list of these sensitive words. Words that also imply that the company has association with her Majesty’s government are rejected unless the company has proof of the right to do so.

“Same As”

Once a company name has been registered with the Companies House, another business cannot register the same or a similar name as this would be regarded as the same name. It is important to invest time into thinking of a relevant and suitable name, then registering it with the Companies House to avoid any other company imitating your branding.

Other Reasons

Other reasons for company name rejection including reasons like the length of the company’s name. There have been instances when the Companies House has rejected names, as they were too short or too long. Furthermore, the name needs to be in the correct form. In the UK, companies are allowed to use LTD (limited) or PLC (public or private limited company).

As a company that deals with many aspects of company formation such as limited registration, we at Formations Direct urge business people to invest a significant amount of time into choosing the most appropriate name. To this end, we also offer a service to help you with choosing a company name, to see whether your name is available and appropriate. So, contact us on 0800 085 45 05 for more information on our services that will make the company formation process that much easier for you.

It’s not rocket science to realise that the face of advertising and driving new business has changed seismically . For some time now FD has been responding by moving from print to online. But this week I took a major step forward and have contracted an “in house” geek to look after our SEO and social media. Gamble? Definitely. Investment? Certainly.

This is the new landscape that will be the difference between the “haves” and “have nots” – those on top of their online game and those lagging sorely behind. SMEs need to be aware that social media and SEO isn’t as simple as it seems from the headline grabbers. It involves grunt work and investment, but proper research and planning will pay dividends.

The problem for many SMEs is that a lot of so-called SEO and social media experts, especially the one-man bands, are not up to scratch and the average punter is unable to sort the wheat from the chaff. My advice is to run with a larger established outfit that can prove their worth and get to grips with what they are doing for you  during a 6 to 12 month period. After that you will hopefully be in a position to look at cheaper alternatives who you can work more closely with on a more local basis. Nothing beats face to face and nobody understands your business and your market like you do. A meeting is worth a thousand emails and phone calls.

Most residents in a block of flats have no interest in the behind the scenes nuts and bolts of the legalities that govern the interaction between the flat owners. The first time they experience a residents’ committee is when there is a problem and at that point the articles of the flat management company come into play. It’s important to ensure that the people running the management company are sensible and level headed , especially as there is often a resident who turns up at meetings and likes to hear the sound of their own voice usually because they have too much time on their hands. Therefore choose candidates for positions such as director or secretary with care as a firm hand may be needed to call meetings to order and ensure that outstanding issues are dealt with in a timely and appropriate manner. Somebody with professional experience of procedures and legalities is usually the best candidate although they may not have enough time to devote to what amounts to a voluntary job. Often the best results are achieved by engaging the services of an external manager to run the flat management company in addition to actually dealing with repairs and maintenance, although a cost will be incurred.

I’ve actually gone and done it – we had a winter sale at Formations direct! Over a 7 day period we cut the price of electronic online identity checks by 1/3 and the response was extremely positive. Certainly a better result than Tesco and the likes. Now I am a proper retailer. I am now considering whether I should put on an apron and stand at the door of my emporium a la “Open All Hours” and contemplate life at the end of each day prior to locking up.