PAH Accountants

The taxman joined twitter just before xmas and I’d encourage fellow tweeters, whether taxpayers or accountants, to follow twitter.com/hmrcgovuk (and by all means follow @TheTaxBuzz too!)

HMRC’s twitter policy statement says that if you follow this account, you can expect 1-2 tweets

After telling clients and contacts to go and join the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), I have finally got around to joining this myself.

The Federation started in 1974 as a lobbying group that protects the interests of small business owners as well as the self-employed. It now has over 213,000 members

So, you have decided to offer credit. What next? It is stating the obvious but it is important to know your customer to do an adequate risk assessment, ensure your invoices are correctly issued and ultimately know who to take legal action against if it all goes horribly wrong!

Much of the information required can be obtained by using a fairly simple application form which should include your

Here is my video presentation of a 4sight that I did at 4Networking Taunton.

It highlights some of the issues that can arise in a small business and gives some tactics that companies can use to

With the debate raging about university and tuition fees it brought back to me some very personal issues – therefore I thought I’d blog about it! It’s a bit longer than usual so bear with me.

I am forever getting asked (I say that, probably not so much now I am a bit older!) ‘What University did you go to?’ I always feel amused at the look on people’s face when I say that I didn’t! The next question inevitably comes ‘How are you an accountant?’. So, let me explain

You don’t have to go to University to become an accountant!

I really wasn’t sure what I wanted to do when I left school; however, I knew it was within business somehow. I therefore studied a 2 year GNVQ in business studies at Cornwall College – note, instead of doing A-levels! To

Have you heard of the Wiltshire Business Club?

Back in 2009 when PAH Accounting was first set up I needed a way to reach out to new contacts. I was already a keen networker but found it limited to breakfast meetings. Therefore I tried to join a certain evening networking group; however, I couldn’t get in because they already had another accountant.

Bright idea flashes up ‘I’ll start my own’!

I set up a basic Ning website and started promoting it on Twitter. A good online friend of mine Roland Millward spotted

If you run a small business which operates from a single premises you could be eligible for substantial rate relief, thanks to a recent government announcement.

The amount of relief is dependent on rateable value. As of 1st October, traders operating from a single premises will receive 100% rate relief on properties up to a rateable value of £6,000, instead of the previous 50 per cent. Also there is

As many people will no doubt be aware, HM Revenue and Customs  have issued a notice that they are going to be making claims for under (and over) paid tax due to an error in the PAYE system. A further blog is to be issued regarding this; however, I felt it prudent to give a warning of the scams that could arise as a result of this.

In recent months there have been many reports of emails being issued stating that an individual is entitled to a  tax refund. The old adage of ‘if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is’ definitely applies here. Do not email back with

Are you ready for the pension reforms coming in 2012? As an employer are you in charge of your company’s destiny or will you be complying with the new regulations by default?

All employers in the UK, other than single-person companies, will need to take action to comply with their new responsibilities under pension reform.

Employers will have to automatically enrol all their eligible jobholders, aged between 22 and state pension age, earning between £5,035 & £33,500 and not already members of a ‘good’ quality scheme, into an existing ‘qualifying’ workplace scheme or the new personal accounts scheme, ‘Nests’. 

Jobholders can opt out of the pension scheme if they want to, BUT if they choose to stay in it, the employer will have to

What is Electronic Invoicing?

Electronic invoicing is the transmission and storage of invoices without the delivery of paper documents.

Why use this method?

This can offer many advantages over traditional paper invoices. The rapid electronic transmission of documents in a secure environment may provide for:

• An improvement to the traceability of orders
• Decrease in paper storage
• Reduction in paper and handling costs