Since the financial crash in 2008 high street banks in the UK have become more risk averse and unfriendly towards entrepreneurial small businesses.

Anyone who has tried to open an account with one of the main high street banks over the past few years will be used to a time-consuming lengthy process that often leads to rejection.

Not surprisingly this has led to the creation of a number of online banks that are now offering multi- featured accounts to businesses and companies that you can manage from your smartphone.

At Guilford Accounting we are partnering with these banks to provide our clients with an enhanced account opening and business experience. So if you still run your business through a personal account or need a second account to save for your tax payments, we strongly recommend that you open a business account with one of these new online banks.

The latest addition to our partner programme is Tide which offers no monthly fees, free purchases on the Tide Mastercard at home and abroad, and transfers costs of just 20p. You can sign up for an account here – it only takes 5 minutes - and get 12 months of free transfers as well.

Tide has direct feeds with all the major online accounting platforms including FreeAgent, Sage, Reckon One, Xero and Quickbooks Online.

It makes sense to have an online bank account if only to insure against your high street bank closing your account (which happens more frequently than you may think).

Here is that link again.

To your success

Noel Guilford

PS Existing clients of Guilford Accounting who have a Tide account will automatically receive free transfers on your account.