Hardware news: Dell launches new Vostro laptops
Dell launches new Vostro laptops
Business IT Guide top technology trends
From previous articles on AccountingWEB.co.uk, readers will be familiar with the free information the Business IT Guide provides on small business technology issues. Based on traffic and downloads from its website, the Business IT Guide team has put together a summary of the technology trends that every small business should keep an eye on in the next 12 months.
eReaders and tablet computers
Budget date set for 24 March
Gordon Brown has confirmed that the Budget will be delivered in "two weeks' time", fuelling speculation that there will be a general election on 6 May.
The prime minister took centre stage by divulging the Budget date in a speech at Thomson Reuters in Canary Wharf. The Treasury is expected to confirm in a written statement to parliament later today, that chancellor Alistair Darling will present his annual Budget to the House of Commons on Wednesday 24 March.
Managing reputational risk
CFOs are frequently called upon to manage the media’s demands in a crisis – but many of them are woefully ill-equipped to do it effectively.
In a lively workshop at The Economists’ CFO Summit last week, Stephen Carver an MBA lecturer at Cranfield School of Management, shared his advice for finance professionals charged with defending their company’s reputation in a crisis.
Lord Ashcroft reignites domicile debate
Lord Ashcroft’s case has reopened the debate about domicile – and it’s not as simple as people might think, argues Simon Sweetman.
The matter of Lord Ashcroft, which has been extensively if not always clearly discussed in the national press of late, gives a reason for a few thoughts on the subject of domicile.
Live web TV show: Better bookkeeping with Five's Business Inspector
HMRC's Mike Allcock will be talking bookkeeping and tax with entrepreneur Hilary Devey, star of Five's new television show, The Business Inspector in a live web TV show on 17 March, which you can watch here on AccountingWEB.co.uk.
Are you running one of the 1.5m small businesses whose poor record keeping is preventing you from making the money you should be? Well, we can help!
The dos and don’ts of good customer care
Some firms ‘get’ customer care and others don’t. Paul Shrimpling offers real life examples of both and explains how it can make or break your firm.
Your customer care processes will make or break your firm. If clients aren’t happy with the service you’re providing, they will go elsewhere, so it pays to ensure they are satisfied. I’m going to illustrate my point using some real life examples – I call it the ‘Four Funerals and a Wedding’ lesson.
Client service: Time get your hands dirty
Too many accountants pay lip service to client care without knowing what it entails in practice. Finola McManus explains why accountants need to stop talking and start doing.
Laptop reviews: Lenovo Edge and U100e
Spring is almost here and so is the time for new PCs to arrive on these shores. Fresh from their debuts at January’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Lenovo’s new 13in ThinkPad Edge and its 10in sibling, the ThinkPad U100, are now available in Europe.
Low-cost netbooks, typically with 7-10in screens, have been a big hit with the kids in recent years, but these mini-notebooks haven’t made much of a dent in the business market yet. But as a business specialist, Lenovo is definitely rising to the challenge with its new machines.
Radio 4 traces history of bookkeeping
Starting from Monday afternoon BBC Radio 4’s Jolyon Jenkins will present a 10-part history of double entry bookkeeping each weekday afternoon at 3.45pm.
The first episode traces the origins of accounting back 5,000 to the religious practices of ancient Mesopotamia (now Iraq), where written methods were developed to make sure that people their taxes to the temples.
“In trying to keep track of who owed what, they had to issue receipts and IOUs, and accidentally invented writing,” Jenkins claims.
AccountingWEB's Business Finance Survey: Results in
Access to finance was one of the key problem areas highlighted by businesses in AccountingWEB.co.uk's recent Business Finance Survey.
News from the Cloud: Ballmer invokes the spirit of '69
Ballmer on the moon, Woodstock and the Cloud
5 Mar - Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer recently reminisced about the late sixties at a talk to students and staff at the University of Washington’s Paul G. Allen Center for Computer Science & Engineering.
Business Support Scheme tops £5 billion
HMRC’s Business Support Scheme, which offers businesses time to pay arrangements for tax liabilities in the recession has been running for 15 months now, and the total tax for which time to pay arrangements have been granted has reached £5.13 billion.
Budget 2010 – still waiting!
There must be a Budget before the General Election – and indeed in view of the General Election there must be a Finance Act before Parliament is dissolved, as any Budget announcements would not survive the dissolution, and would need to be reintroduced after the General Election.
The date of the Budget has yet to be announced – although it is to be hoped that by the time members read this article we may (at last) know the date – which is widely tipped to be 24 March.
New arrangements for employee sickness
From April 2010 the old format of the medical certificate issued by a doctor when an employee is sick will change so that a doctor will sign to state whether the employee is either not fit for work, or may be fit for work. If the employee may be fit for work the doctor will make such recommendations to the employer as he considers appropriate so that the employee can return to work – for example, suggesting amendments that the employer might make to working arrangements to enable to employee to return to work.
Budget tax predictions
The Budget could be a time for decisive tax action to restore business confidence – unless the government bottles it, says Baker Tilly’s George Bull.
Alistair Darling will have to deliver a strong and clear tax agenda in the forthcoming budget if he wants to repair public confidence in the parliamentary system, according to George Bull, tax partner at Baker Tilly.
AccountingWEB Budget 2010 sweepstake terms and conditions
Terms and conditions: “AccountingWEB Budget 2010 sweepstake”
Competition rules
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'Tribal' politics hindering economic recovery
A hung parliament could actually be good for the UK economy said Liberal Democrat chancellor Vince Cable today.
Speaking at The Economist's CFO Summit this morning, Cable said it might "force politicians to work together in a non-tribal way" – but it will only work if politicians "grow up" and learn to collaborate, he added.
Five myths of good time management
The need for good time management never goes away. This 2005 AccountingWEB.co.uk contribution from training professional Viv Cole challenges some commonly held assumptions about time management.
Always have a tidy desk
The accountants' guide to social bookmarking tools
Derek Kelly explains how business can make their mark and manage their brand online by using social bookmarking tools.