Dyson sets out Tory innovation plan
A fortnight ahead of the 2010 Budget, inventor and vacuum cleaner magnate Sir James Dyson raised the political profile of R&D tax credits by including them in a package of reform proposals to stimulate manufacturing and innovation.
Lehman’s chief denies involvement in accounting fraud
Lawyers for Lehman’s chief executive Dick Fuld say he had nothing to do with the ‘repo 105’ transactions used to hide the bank’s losses.
RIP Chester City: bad news for football debtors
Forget the suspense surrounding the Premier League title and relegation battles, several football clubs this month are fighting for their very survival. And having lost its big play-off in the High Court against HMRC, Chester City has been put out of business.
Pension funds attack allowance changes
The National Association for Pension Funds (NAPF) has called on the government to review its plans to reduce the amount of tax relief available for those with income of more than £150,000 a year, arguing that the changes would be expensive to implement and undermine pension provision for less well off employees.
FSA dishes out £49k fine to Gloucestershire IFA network
The FSA has fined a director of Gloucestershire-based IFA network, Financial Ltd, £49,000 for management failings resulting in poor compliance monitoring on pension switching advice.
The regulator took action against Charles Palmer, director of IFA network Financial Ltd, for the failings which resulted in poor compliance monitoring on pension-switching advice during a period of rapid expansion. The FSA said there were shortcomings in the way the firm organised its business and how responsibility for monitoring advisers was allocated to senior management.
Rebecca Benneyworth’s Budget lecture live on AccountingWEB in association with Lexis Nexis
Watch the UK’s first Budget lecture by Rebecca Benneyworth live on AccountingWEB on 24 March and be the first to advise your clients on the changes that will affect them.
Want to know what the Chancellor’s Budget means for your clients? Tune in to AccountingWEB’s live stream from 2 – 4pm on Wednesday 24 March – right after Darling’s speech – for Rebecca Benneyworth’s Budget Summary lecture in association with Lexis Nexis.
E&Y at risk over Lehman's 'accounting gimmicks'
Deceptive accounting practices and lax auditing lay at the heart of the 2008 collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers that helped to trigger the global economic crisis, says a US court examiner’s report.
Six steps to better client service
Peter Gill explains how practices can up their game and ensure they stand out from the competition.
There are several elements to running a successful practice. Clearly having a strong client base is one of them and having worked hard to attract a client, it’s difficult to see one disappear of into the sunset to be serviced by another firm. If your brand is to be enhanced, how do you ensure that client care is top of your priority list?
How to celebrate your own business Oscars
The business world needs to take a tip from the entertainment industry and give its rising stars a pat on the back, says Jamie-Natalie Cross.
Friday fun: Murder and intrigue go online
Accountants are great at piecing together clues in peoples' books, but could you solve a real mystery? Rebecca Benneyworth is starring in a new online murder mystery series. We've got an exclusive sneaky peek for you below - look out for Rebecca dishing out a lethal right hook to an unsuspecting victim!
How to ask the right questions
Communicating effectively with prospects, clients and colleagues relies on asking the right things in the right way, advises Alison Hartley.
If I had a pound for every time my children asked me ‘why?’, I’d be a millionaire. The question belies a curiosity and genuine desire for understanding but when it forces me to explain my sometimes beleaguered adult logic, I have to think differently.
Red tape costs businesses £80bn
Government regulations impose a collective cost of £80bn on British businesses, well above ministers' £13bn estimate, the Institute of Directors (IoD) has claimed.
The employers' organisation said because of the burden - which equates to 5.7% of UK GDP - business owners are spending more than a month every year filling in forms, reading advice and complying with legislation.
It called for a new approach to measuring the cost of regulation based on the experiences of real people running real companies.
Businesses protest over planned NI increase
Business groups have joined forces to protest against the government's planned 1% increase in National Insurance contributions, which they claim will force employers to recruit fewer staff and even lead to job cuts.
An add-in for those who miss “classic” Excel
Simon Murphy, aka Smurf on Spreadsheets, has been waging an epic campaign against the Ribbon interface introduced in Excel 2007.
In a recent blog post, Smurf deconstructed a somewhat dodgy chart of Microsoft’s divisional profits to conclude the Office 2007 release had a negligible effect on net revenues – final proof that the UI experiment was a pointless mistake.
Excel holes patched in March security update
March seems to be Excel month in Microsoft’s “patch Tuesday” calendar, with seven vulnerabilities patched this week in the spreadsheet program, and another six addressing the Office Excel Viewer, Office Compatibility Pack and SharePoint Server.
Lessons from Toyota's meltdown
Once a by-word for manufacturing quality, Toyota has taken a beating over its repeated vehicle recalls. Neil Davey looks at how the company has reacted to see what we can learn from it.
The manufacturing mishaps that struck Toyota in recent months created a nightmare scenario. Several of its products had a potentially fatal flaws. Customers' lives were at risk and the firm was facing severe damage to its corporate reputation and brand.
Budget predictions: A game of two halves
Will the government give anything away in the forthcoming Budget? Not likely says John Whiting, tax policy director at the CIOT.
iXBRL - please don't try this at home...
Practice automation and Excel expert Simon Hurst is one of those who has been encouraging accountants to embrace the potential of electronic filing and XBRL. Not that everyone's talking about it, he takes an introductory stab at trying to add XBRL to a set of accounts in Excel...
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