The Steps to Buying a Business: Think of It Like Buying a House

Introduction

Buying a business can feel daunting, especially if it’s your first time. But in many ways, it’s a lot like buying a house. You wouldn’t rush into a property purchase without viewing it, checking the survey, arranging finance, and making sure it’s the right fit for your lifestyle. The same applies to businesses: planning and preparation make all the difference.

In this guide, we’ll walk through the steps of buying a business, using the familiar process of buying a house as a comparison, so you can approach your purchase with clarity and confidence.

Why This Matters

Buying a business is a major life decision, often involving significant financial commitment and long-term responsibility. Just as buying a house secures your future home, buying a business secures your future income and growth potential. By understanding the process step by step, you can avoid costly mistakes, reduce stress, and set yourself up for success.

The Steps to Buying a Business

Step 1: Decide What You’re Looking For

• Like choosing a house style: Do you want a fixer-upper or something move-in ready? Similarly, decide if you want a struggling business you can turn around, or a profitable one that’s already running smoothly.

• Be clear about your goals, industry preferences, and the level of involvement you want.

Step 2: Arrange Your Finances

• Like getting a mortgage in principle: Before house-hunting, you speak to the bank. With businesses, arrange funding options: bank loans, investors, or vendor finance.

• Knowing your budget upfront makes negotiations smoother.

Step 3: Search and Shortlist

• Like browsing estate agents and Rightmove: Look at business-for-sale listings, talk to brokers, and tap into your network.

• Shortlist businesses that match your financial capacity and personal goals.

Step 4: Viewings and First Impressions

• Like house viewings: Meet the owners, tour the premises, and get a feel for the culture. Just as you wouldn’t buy a home without stepping inside, don’t buy a business without seeing how it operates day-to-day.

Step 5: Due Diligence

• Like a surveyor’s report: You wouldn’t buy a house without checking the roof or electrics. In business, this means reviewing accounts, contracts, debts, staff arrangements, and tax position.

• This stage reveals hidden issues and confirms the true value.

Step 6: Make an Offer

• Like putting in an offer on a property: Negotiate terms, agree price, and decide on any conditions (e.g. handover support, deferred payments).

• Offers are usually subject to final due diligence.

Step 7: Contracts and Legal Work

• Like conveyancing: Lawyers draft contracts, check ownership, and confirm everything is in order. At this stage, your accountant works closely with them to review financial and tax implications.

Step 8: Completion Day

• Like getting the keys: Once contracts are signed and funds transferred, the business is officially yours. Time to celebrate: but also to plan the smooth handover.

Step 9: Moving In and Settling Down

• Like decorating your new home: The real work begins once you take over. Update systems, meet staff, and put your own stamp on the business, ensuring continuity and growth.

Expert Tips & Common Pitfalls

• Don’t skip due diligence: Hidden debts or tax issues can be disastrous.

• Factor in working capital: Like moving costs when buying a house, you’ll need extra cash beyond the purchase price to cover early expenses.

• Get professional advice early: Accountants and solicitors can save you from costly mistakes.

Call to Action

Thinking about buying a business and not sure where to start? Love Accountancy can guide you through the financial side, from due diligence to funding options and planning for growth. Get in touch today to talk about your plans.

About Love Accountancy

At Love Accountancy, we help business owners in Exeter and across the UK make confident financial decisions. Whether you’re considering buying a business, planning an exit strategy, or need support with business succession planning, our tech-driven, Xero-based approach keeps everything clear and effortless. As your trusted Exeter Accountant, we’ll help you save time, avoid stress, and focus on growth: so you can love your business journey.

Why Your Business Savings Could Be Losing You Money: How to Get Better Interest on SME Cash

Introduction

Did you know that HMRC might actually pay you more interest for early tax payments than your bank pays you on your business savings? It sounds unbelievable, but for many SMEs, that’s the reality. Business savings accounts with the big banks often offer such low rates that even HMRC’s repayment interest looks generous in comparison.

This raises an important question: is your hard-earned money working as hard as it should?

Why This Matters

For business owners, cash is king. Having reserves in place for tax bills, payroll, or unexpected costs gives you security and flexibility. But if those balances are just sitting in low-interest accounts, you’re effectively losing value every day. With inflation still a concern, and better options available from challenger banks, ignoring savings rates can cost your business thousands over time.

The Solution: Shop Around and Be Strategic

1. Compare banks, not just the “big six” – Challenger banks are consistently offering higher savings rates for SMEs than high street names.

2. Segment your savings – Keep money for payroll or immediate costs in easy access, but place tax reserves or long-term funds into higher-yield accounts.

3. Use cash management systems – At Love Accountancy, we help clients set up systems that earmark funds for taxes, emergencies, and future growth. This creates discipline and ensures every pound has a purpose.

4. Don’t ignore the small margins – Even 2–3% extra on your savings can add up to thousands per year, which could be reinvested in staff, equipment, or marketing.

Expert Tips & Common Pitfalls

• Pitfall: Sticking with your “main bank” out of convenience. Most SMEs default to their current account provider, missing better rates elsewhere.

• Tip: Review savings rates at least twice a year. The market moves quickly, and challenger banks often adjust upwards long before high street banks do.

• Tip: Automate where possible. Many cloud-based tools integrate with Xero to help track reserves and manage cash more effectively.

Call to Action

If your business has built up reserves, don’t let poor interest rates erode their value. At Love Accountancy, we help SMEs create practical cash management systems, making sure their money is in the right place at the right time. Book a call today to see how we can help your business make the most of its hard-earned cash.

About Love Accountancy

Love Accountancy is a modern, Exeter-based accountancy firm helping service-based SMEs across the UK manage their finances with confidence. We combine expert advice with smart technology like Xero to save you time, reduce stress, and support your business growth. Whether it’s tax planning, cash flow management, or day-to-day accounting, we’re here to make your money work harder for you.

Why You Should Always Check Your Bank Feeds (Even If They’re Automated)

Cloud accounting has made managing finances easier than ever. With bank feeds pulling transactions directly into your software, the days of manual data entry are (mostly) behind us. But here’s the catch: even the smartest systems aren’t perfect.

Whether you use Xero, QuickBooks, or another platform, it’s essential to regularly check your bank feeds for missing or duplicated transactions. Inaccurate data can lead to poor decisions, messy accounts, or even unexpected tax bills.

Why This Matters

Your accounts are only as good as the data behind them. If your bank feed is missing transactions – or pulling in duplicates – you’re not seeing the full picture. That can affect everything from your cash flow reports to your tax return.

It also creates extra work (and cost) for your accountant if they have to fix avoidable issues later. Spotting and resolving problems early saves time, money, and stress.

What You Can Do: Stay in Control of Your Bank Data

1. Set Up Bank Feeds (If You Haven’t Already)

Bank feeds are a huge time-saver. Once connected, your transactions automatically flow into your accounting software – no downloads or imports needed.

But don’t assume “automated” means “done.”

2. Check Your Bank Feed Matches Your Actual Bank Balance

Every week (or at least monthly), take a moment to compare the balance in your accounting software with your actual bank account. If the numbers don’t match, something’s wrong.

Common issues include:

• A disconnected bank feed

• Missing transactions

• Duplicated entries

• Delayed bank syncs

• All of the above

3. Understand the 90-Day Open Banking Rule

One of the most common reasons bank feeds break is the Open Banking 90-day cycle. Most UK banks require you to reauthorise your bank feed every 90 days for security reasons. If you forget, your feed can silently stop working – meaning no new transactions will import.

Set a reminder to check reauthorisation dates, or look out for alerts from your software. If you spot a gap, reauthorise your feed and send over a bank statement so your accountant can fill in any missing data.

4. Look for Gaps or Overlaps in Your Transactions

Scroll through recent entries and check for any gaps in dates, missing payments, or strange duplicates. It doesn’t take long and it could prevent hours of cleanup later.

5. Can’t Check It Yourself? Share Your Bank Statements

If you don’t have time (or aren’t sure what to look for), send your bank statements to your accountant. At Love Accountancy, we’ll review them against your software to make sure everything’s aligned.

This isn’t about catching you out – it’s about making sure your finances are accurate and ready to support your business decisions.

Expert Tips & Common Pitfalls

• Don’t assume it’s working: Even long-running bank feeds can break without warning – especially when the 90-day authorisation expires.

• Check multiple accounts: If you have several bank or credit card accounts, review them all – not just the main one.

• Reconciling doesn’t always mean accurate: You can reconcile a transaction that’s actually a duplicate. Balance checks help spot these issues.

• Still unsure? Ask for help: We’d always rather you send over a statement than struggle in silence.

Need Help Checking Your Bank Feeds?

At Love Accountancy, we help businesses make cloud accounting work for them – not the other way around. If you’re not sure whether your data is accurate, or just want peace of mind, we’re here to help.

Let’s keep your accounts clean and stress-free.

Send us your latest statements or book a quick check-in today.

About Love Accountancy

At Love Accountancy, we believe accounting should be effortless and accurate. That’s why we combine smart technology like Xero with personalised, proactive support. Whether you’re looking to automate your bookkeeping or just need help keeping things tidy, we’ll help you stay on track, without the stress.

Looking for a trusted Exeter accountant or online UK accounting support? We’re here to help you get it right the first time.

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Here are some of the best ways to cut down admin and free up your time using automation, cloud accounting, and outsourcing.

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Scam calls pretending to be from HMRC or other government bodies are increasingly common, and they’re designed to make you act fast. So what should you do?

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We’ve put together a simple checklist to show what you need to do as a business owner, and what we’ll take care of if you’re working with us.

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