Ian Piper (Accountants Ely)

Ian jointly heads up the business client division at our Ely office, where he is a resident partner. He helps clients start, run and exit their SME businesses, advising them how to create and protect value. Being based near to Cambridge, over the years he has developed a particular interest in acting for TechCo's and Contractor clients. Administratively, he looks after the practice's website and is Chairman of its IT subsidiary.

Since 2013 he has helped recognise and celebrate successful local businesses by acting as a judge for the annual SME Ely Business Awards.

Ian is born and bred Ely & Whitings. Outside of work, now that his rugby playing days are well and truly behind him, he likes to spend his spare time on sunny days exploring the Fen waterways in a kayak.

My Latest Blogs
13th March 2024 £30k grants available for East Cambs SME’s

The Cambridge and Peterborough Combined Authority have announced a new grant initiative, which they have initially funded with £310k. Grants of between £5k and £30k are available to businesses that meet the following key criteria: Project criteria: Safeguard jobs Bring new products to market Invest in new technologies, processes or measures to improve productivity Eligible…

19th February 2024 SME Ely Business Awards 2024: 1 Week Left To Enter!

There is just one week remaining to enter the SME Ely Business Awards for 2024!   Celebrate your business’ achievements and be in with a chance of winning by entering today. Entries close on Thursday 26th February 2024 at 3pm. Find Out More Click here to find out more about the SME Ely Business Awards…

10th January 2024 2024 SME Ely Business Awards: Enter Now

Entries are open for the 2024 SME Ely Business Awards. We all know the importance of celebrating what we have achieved in business, and the SME Ely Business Awards are just the way to do it.   If you run a SME business based within the Ely area and you have a success story to…

9th January 2024 Spring Budget: SME wish-list?

With the 6th March Budget just around the corner, many SME business owners are beginning to wonder what’s in Mr Hunt’s red ministerial box, which got us thinking, ‘what might the SME wish-list look like in the ideal world?’   There are 2 reasons to be a little more optimistic than usual this time around:…

23rd November 2023 HMRC ‘Nudge Letter’ Targets

The HMRC “Nudge Unit”, previously called the Behavioural Insights Team, was a team within the Cabinet Office that was tasked with improving government services and saving money by employing a blend of behavioural economics and psychology.  An example of this in practice is the so-called “nudge” letters (referred to by HMRC as ‘one-to-many’ letters) HMRC…

3rd November 2023 SME Filleted Accounts: RIP?

It has been a long established principal that SME companies can avoid publishing all of their financials at Companies House, by filing abbreviated, filleted or abridged accounts instead of full accounts. This enables them to keep details about business turnover, gross margin, profitability and dividends confidential.   However, the Government have just announced plans to…

1st September 2023 SME Growth: Crisis, what crisis?

[Data Source] Now that we are well into preparing 2023 year end accounts for our business client, we are getting are a proper feel of what is happening out there growth wise.  As can be seen from the above, SME’s had a strong 2022, growing by 11%, as they caught up lost sales from the…

4th July 2023 Government launch “Find-a-Grant”

The government has launched a web database for organisations to search and apply for government grants:   https://www.find-government-grants.service.gov.uk/   There are currently 69 government grants on the database, but it is expected that this will grow over time. Business grants, for this region of the country, that immediately catch my eye, include:   Woodland Creation…

24th June 2023 Parents: Act now to preserve your child benefit entitlement?

As today is GCSE results day, parents whose child is staying in education or training have only until 31 August to re-register with HMRC if they wish to continue receiving child benefit. Such re-registration will continue entitlement to receive this benefit until the child reaches 18.   If relevant to you, you should have already…

1st June 2023 IR35 “Show” Cases: Where are we now?

Although it has been with us since 1999, IR35 tax rules will probably be unfamiliar to most readers. These anti avoidance rules were introduced to stop workers reducing their taxes by structuring their affairs to get paid via their own personal service company. Where ‘caught’ by IR35, such arrangements would then collect the same amount…