A few start-up/building the business questions.

xha1r

Hey,

Boards has always been a useful resource when I have a question about starting my business.

First one. I wish to send out 2000 letters to companies I believe are interested in my service. Without been rude, I've already recieved feedback on that method of marketing and it isn't really what my question is about. Rather, is there any software where you can enter the 2000 addresses and print off each letter with a different address one after the other? If that doesn't make sense, I mean instead of copying & pasting the address into the letter, the software does it for you automatically?

If not, are there any printers who could do this for me? Mailing lists it was called when I asked walshcolourprint.com.

Second one. With regards accountants and solicitors; are you legally obliged to appoint an accountant to represent you? And the same with a solicitor? Reading a BoI business brochure, it said somewhere along the lines "you must have an accountant do this"; when perhaps I could have done it myself.

Regards,
JB.

102091101

you can use excel or access to store your list of address and then do a mail merge into word....
its under tools-->letter&mailings-->Mail Merge and follow the wizard

Black_Couch

xha1r wrote:

Hey,

Boards has always been a useful resource when I have a question about starting my business.

First one. I wish to send out 2000 letters to companies I believe are interested in my service. Without been rude, I've already recieved feedback on that method of marketing and it isn't really what my question is about. Rather, is there any software where you can enter the 2000 addresses and print off each letter with a different address one after the other? If that doesn't make sense, I mean instead of copying & pasting the address into the letter, the software does it for you automatically?

If not, are there any printers who could do this for me? Mailing lists it was called when I asked walshcolourprint.com.

Second one. With regards accountants and solicitors; are you legally obliged to appoint an accountant to represent you? And the same with a solicitor? Reading a BoI business brochure, it said somewhere along the lines "you must have an accountant do this"; when perhaps I could have done it myself.

Regards,
JB.

Just wondering are you making a call before you send out the information to the companies. Finding a name in a company instead of a title is always better. It is so hard trying to do business over the phone and post. Getting that initial meeting is the hardest thing ever. One bit of advice I will give you is not to send the same information to 2,000 companies. Experiment with what you send.

See what approach works and what approach doesn't work. Same with phone calls. It will take a while to feel comfortable and also to find the most effective approach in getting the most relevant person's attention.

kluivert

Accountants are required for producing your annual financial statements.
In addition but not necessary, you may require them to complete tax returns, company returns, act on your behalf for arrangement of debt equity etc, all which bar the first can be done by yourself.

Solicitors are required should you have any legal requirements as part of your principal activity.

Banks like accountants and solicitors to be involved as there is a porfessional certification over your business activities.

Is this a business or a company?

homeOwner

kluivert wrote:

Accountants are required for producing your annual financial statements.

You dont need an accountant for this. I do all my own annual financial statements and abridged accounts myself. I also have an audit exemption so I dont have to be audited.

There is no law to say you have to have an accountant do it. I had an accountant for 3 years, then I just copied the format of what he did and figured the rest out myself.

xha1r

We are registering as a Limited Company.

How much would accountants and solicitors generally charge for a first meeting to discuss the company etc?

Should I wait for the above two to get involved before I register the company or does it really matter?

democrates

xha1r wrote:

We are registering as a Limited Company.

How much would accountants and solicitors generally charge for a first meeting to discuss the company etc?

Should I wait for the above two to get involved before I register the company or does it really matter?

No idea what they would charge, but tip-if it is a single-member company you don't need to hold an AGM.
If you have lots of cash by all means use the professionals, their time is valuable though and no doubt priced accordingly, the other route is to seek a business mentor through the county enterprise board who can help out in these things and other questions that arise, they also tend to have a good network of contacts.

Peter McC

Hi xha1r

Just from personal experience, accountants and solicitiors don't charge for first meetings. They'll outline to you how they can be of assistance to your business and hope you'll hire them.

DilbertPartII

I'm not sure how it works for limited companies, but sole traders don't need accoutnatns or any of that. An excel spreadsheet is literally all you need. That and external contractors.

Carb

On the accountancy thing, it is possible to get your company set up, do annual accounts, annual returns, tax returns etc yourself. The only problem is that you will need an accountants report with you accounts if you ever need to borrow money for the business etc. You probably also need something from an accountant if your applying for a mortgage etc. If your late with an annual return, you'll also have to get your accounts audited. The ideal solution for most companies is maintaining all the books and records yourself, do your own VAT, Payroll, PAYE returns, keep records of all bank transactions/bank recs etc. (if you can use something like Tas books, even better again) and give all the information to an accountant at the end of the year to pull a set of annual accounts together, along with you CT calculation and return, and your annual return. Some accountants will charge an arm and a leg for this, others will be more reasonable. I'd be surprised if it couldn't all be done for less than 1000/1500 euro per year. It really is a question of what value you put on your own time, and whether you think you'd be better to pay somebody else to do certain work. Another option would be a good bookkeeper, but it won't get around the acountants report issue if you need one.

xha1r

The reason I ask is I'm just making sure that I have everything before I register my company; I've got a .ie waiting for me and don't want to take too long to get things done.

Are there any mistakes you can make when registering your company that could have long-term effects? Do I have all the right forms etc. These are the kind of questions I'm asking myself at the moment, and although it'd be easier to get an accountant to do it, I'm not sure if I have enough cash at the moment.

How much would an accountant cost? For once off things like registering the company and such? Do you pay them by year or per job?

Regards,
JB.