How to use Help To Grow: Digital to purchase accounting software at discount

Ercan Demiralay FCCA, on the latest government scheme to help SME businesses purchase accounting software.

The latest government Help to Grow Scheme provides your organisation with an opportunity to help fund the acquisition of accounting software. The initiative offers retail discounts of up to 50% for specific, approved online accounting, and CRM software.

It has been created to help businesses in their transition to utilising more digital technologies in conducting their day-to-day work. This is viewed by the government as pivotal to improving UK productivity in order to boost economic growth.

The initiative comes at an opportune time given many SME businesses have cited greater digital adoption as a priority. Their problem, until the scheme launched, was the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has left many with out the funds necessary to achieve this. In this post we explain everything you need to know. 

When is the scheme available from?

Applications for the Help To Grow Scheme opened on 20 January 2022.

What can the discount can be used for?

The discount is to be used in conjunction with approved software providers to help businesses manage their finances digitally, through accounting software, and in building relationships to grow sales, through customer relationship management (CRM) software.

Who qualifies?

The criteria for eligibility is as follows:

• Your business is based in the UK
• Has been trading for more than 12 months and incorporated at least 365 days prior to the application
• Your business employs between 5 - 249 employees
• You're registered with Companies House, or a society on the Financial Conduct Authorities Mutuals Register
• It's a first time purchase of the software

The accounting software providers that are part of the scheme

Currently, 3 software providers have signed up, including:

• Intuit Quickbooks
• Crunch
• Sage

It is expected that more software products will become available in the future.

How to apply for the scheme

If you've checked your eligibility, then visit the Help to Grow: Digital page on the gov.uk website.

Select whether your looking to purchase accounting or CRM software in the "tag to refine your product view" section.

Then, select the relevant software product and follow the instructions on subsequent pages.

For your application you'll need supporting:

• Your Companies House registration number
• The number of staff you employ
• Your name and role in the business
• Your email address

The benefits of online accounting software

If you're new to cloud accounting, or you're looking to make the move from a legacy, desktop system, then you may want to know more before parting with your money. The benefits of online accounting software are:

• Helps you to chase invoices and manage cash flow
• Calculates your tax liabilities including PAYE, VAT, and Corporation Tax
• Enter and manage business expenses efficiently
• Understand financial performance in real time, quickly and easily
• Access your accounts from almost any location and device through the cloud

The content of this post was created on 03/02/2022.
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