Can I afford to hire someone?
What the true cost is once employer NI, pension and the unproductive first eight weeks are in, and what the business has to bill to carry it.
Business advice from your accountant
Ad-hoc advice from the people who already have your numbers, included in the monthly accounting fee. Most questions are about hiring, pricing, buying, borrowing, incorporating and selling.
What you get
- A same-day reply to anything sent before 3pm
- Included in the monthly fee
- From people who have your numbers
- Hiring, pricing, buying, borrowing, incorporating, selling
- Told when a question needs modelling
Business advice for Buzz clients
Most owners want a straight answer to one question from someone who already knows the business.
Buzz clients get this included in the monthly fee: ring, message or drop the question in the portal, and we answer it.
The questions we get asked most
Should I put my prices up?
What your actual margin is by job or product, what a 5% rise does to profit, and how much volume you could lose and still be better off.
Should I buy or lease it?
The cash, the tax and the balance-sheet effect of each, which usually point in different directions.
Should I incorporate?
The threshold where a limited company beats sole trader, the admin it adds, and the reasons it can be the wrong move even when the tax says otherwise.
Where is my cash going?
Profitable businesses run out of money because of stock, debtors and capital spend. The answer is usually one of those three.
What is my business worth?
A realistic range, and the things that would move it if you had two years.
How to ask a question
- 1Message it
Through the portal or the app, which keeps it with the rest of your record. A same-day reply to anything sent before 3pm.
- 2Ring or WhatsApp
For the ones that are quicker said than typed.
- 3Bring it to the review
If it needs the numbers on the table, it goes on the agenda for your next Business Pulse meeting and gets an hour.
Can I afford to hire someone?
A £32,000 hire, costed properly
A business that already employs people, so the employment allowance is used up against the existing payroll. What it costs, and what the business has to sell to carry it.
- Gross salary
- £32,000
- Employer’s National Insurance — 15% above the £5,000 threshold
- £4,050
- Employer pension contribution, minimum on qualifying earnings
- ~£750
- Laptop, phone, software, a desk
- ~£1,500
- First-year cash cost, before recruitment
- £38,300
- Sales needed to carry it at a 45% gross margin
- £85,111
- What the business has to sell
- £85,111
Check whether the pipeline holds £85,000 of sales before you advertise. If it does not, take the hire on once the work has arrived, or start part-time.
Worked through at 2026/27 rates from our own calculators, which follow gov.uk guidance checked in July 2026. This is an example and your figures will differ.
Common mistakes when asking for advice
- Asking after the decision
- Almost everything an accountant can do about a lease, a purchase, a hire or a company structure has to happen before it is done. Ask before you sign.
- Not asking because of the clock
- Where questions are billed by the six minutes, owners ask fewer of them. That is why advice is included in the monthly fee.
- Asking for a number when the problem is a decision
- “What is my margin” is usually a proxy for “should I put my prices up”. Ask about the decision you are making and we can answer it directly.
- Asking someone without your numbers
- A bookkeeper, a supplier, a friend in a different industry and a forum will all answer. None of them has your numbers in front of them.
Questions that need a project or another service
Some answers need modelling: a full budget, a three-way forecast, a funding application. That is a budget and cash flow forecast or business planning, and we will tell you when a question needs one.
Some are not accountancy at all. A contract, a dismissal or an unpaid invoice goes to Buzz Legal; whether the money works for you personally is Buzz Money; and if the issue is that you know what to do and are not doing it, that is coaching.
What people ask about business advice
Is this charged by the hour?
No. For clients on a monthly fee it is included, so you can ask as often as you need.
How quickly do I get an answer?
Within one working day for anything asked through the portal, and usually the same day. Where something needs half a day on the numbers, we say so and agree it first.
Can you help with something outside accounting?
Often, through the rest of the group — legal, financial planning, coaching, recruitment of a finance person. Where none of us is the right answer we will tell you.
Do I have to be a client?
For ad-hoc advice, yes. It is part of the monthly service and is not sold separately. If you are not a client yet, ask an accountant is free and answers one question.
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