Business assets
Self-employed clients also need to look at any available assets to the business and consider how this affects the business’s viability. The types of assets that a business has vary from business to business. You can help the client to prepare a list of assets by examining their circumstances.
Consider the approximate resale value of equipment or machinery. This amount will be different from amounts shown in professionally produced accounts, where the ‘book value’ may be based on the original cost of an item and its theoretical life.
Check whether the business has work in hand and consider the contractual status of any agreement. For instance, a painter and decorator may have agreed in the autumn to paint the exterior of an existing customer’s house the following spring. If the customer loses their job during the winter, without any binding agreement, the work may not go ahead.