Earlier this month the Government’s Department for Business named another 197 employers who have not paid their workers the National Minimum Wage making a total of 687 since the scheme to publicly name and shame employers was introduced in October 2013.  These employers between them owed their employees £3.5 million. The Government doesn’t distinguish between large or smaller […]

If you are a VAT registered business you should always be prepared for a VAT inspection.  Do you keep your accounts records up to date so you can instantly lay your hands on the paperwork the VAT Inspector is asking for? I have dealt with visits from HMRC VAT Inspectors for a half a dozen […]

It takes hard work and a lot of dedication to go to work and study at the same time especially when you have young children too.  Two of our bookkeepers, Sarah and Ruth, have just achieved the best possible results in their Level 4 Bookkeeping and Accounting exams.  They both have young families and have […]

When an employee hands in their notice the first thing you will think about is how you are going to manage without them and how you are going to find a replacement soon enough for your leaving employee to train them.  Most small businesses will not have sufficient resources to have trained a “spare” and […]

If you are a business owner do you have the skills you need to process the payroll for your employees? It is not always as straightforward as you think and you will only find that out when you have an angry employee or two demanding explanations or HMRC contacting you.  Is it worth the risk? […]

Anybody who attended the Swindon Expo at the Steam Museum in June may have come across our stand with our new banner asking “Are you burying your head in the sand about Auto Enrolment?”. Visitors were keen to play our “bury your head in the sand” game with the winner being offered a choice of prizes […]

We are very proud of our Investors in People plaque.  It has pride of place in our office reception so that it can be seen by our visitors and by us every time we walk through the hallway.  It reminds us what a great team we are and how hard we all worked towards achieving […]

If you are a VAT registered business and you or your staff reclaim mileage for business travel in your own vehicle did you know that you can claim VAT on the fuel element of that mileage? Every quarter HMRC update the advisory fuel rates – see here for the current rates.  The mileage you claim […]

This week I thought I would tell you about my experience of good customer service – not once, but twice in one week. A couple of weeks ago unfortunately I had reason to make 3 complaints about services in just two days.  Its not something I would normally do but on these occasions I felt I […]

Its that time of year again when bookkeepers, payroll administrators and accountants are preparing P11ds for businesses who reimburse employee expenses or provide their employees with benefits.  P11ds for the period 6th April 2015 to 5th April 2016 have to be submitted to HMRC by 6th July with any payment due being made by 22nd […]