Accountants for Start-ups
You need to focus on innovation and rapid growth
A start-up needs its accountant to remove the compliance load – HMRC registrations, payroll setup, bookkeeping – and to produce the two things investors ask for: tax-advantaged share schemes and credible forecasts. If you are building an early-stage company with growth plans and shareholders watching, your time belongs on the product and the customers, not on working out whether you should be registered for PAYE.
We take on the setup and the recurring admin so you can focus. At a minimum that means getting your registrations right, your books in order, and your investor reporting ready before anyone asks for it.
What start-ups usually need from an accountant
Early-stage companies tend to arrive with the same handful of pressures: investors to satisfy, registrations to complete, and no time to research any of it. The three areas below cover most of what we set up first.
SEIS and EIS: tax-advantaged investment
The Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) and Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) are UK government schemes that give your investors income tax and capital gains reliefs for backing an early-stage company. Those reliefs make investing in you materially more attractive.
To offer them, your company has to meet the schemes' qualifying conditions, and it is strongly advisable to apply to HMRC for advance assurance before you raise – so investors know the reliefs are likely to apply before they commit funds. We work with you to check eligibility, prepare the advance assurance application, and handle the compliance statements (SEIS1/EIS1) after the shares are issued so your investors can claim their relief.
Investor-ready forecasts
Before they invest, shareholders want to see where the money goes and when the business turns. That means a forecast profit and loss, a forecast balance sheet, and a cash flow forecast – built on assumptions that hold up to questioning.
We build these with you and get them into an investor-ready format, using Syft Analytics to keep the numbers connected to your actual data and easy to update as the plan changes. Syft also allows us to model scenarios such as new hires, price changes, or funding rounds, demonstrating the impact of each decision on cash flow and profit before commitment.
Share registry and company secretarial work
Once you have a spread of shareholders, the share register has to be kept accurate. Every change – a new allotment, a transfer – comes with documentation that must be filed with Companies House correctly and on time. Using our digital company secretarial tools, we maintain the register, prepare the board minutes and resolutions, and complete the filings, so your cap table and your public record always match.
What to expect from SADLER Advisory
We handle the parts that slow founders down: the initial HMRC registrations, the PAYE and bookkeeping decisions, and the recurring filings. You receive investor reporting prepared proactively, avoiding last-minute panics before a raise.
We provide a single point of contact who understands your company's trajectory and offers clear answers regarding tax or funding implications. The aim is simple – keep you compliant and investable while you concentrate on growth.