Steve Clark

Business Awards

16th November 2017 By Steve Clark

Earlier this year Clark Hearsey sponsored the Independent Retailer of the Year category at the inaugural East Lindsey Business Awards. #ELBA2018

As a result we were given the opportunity to help with judging the category and this came down to me.

If you do an internet search on “entering business awards” lots of information will come up. Some of it is advice on how to complete your entries but lots of it is essentially saying “do it” – it is, after all, free publicity. Certainly these awards got lots of on-line coverage and were featured in the local papers. Some of those shortlisted for prizes included it in their advertising – at least one was heard on local radio saying they’d been shortlisted.

All in all then it is a “good thing”. So if you are going to do it, why not do it well?

I wanted to make sure that I marked fairly so I started off by looking at the Entry Rules and Terms and Conditions. A few key phrases were:

Each category has unique criteria and businesses are urged to read the criteria for the award(s) they are completing a nomination form for.

Decisions on who should win the award will be based solely on evidence submitted with the nomination forms and a visit from the judging panel.

The nomination form for all categories clearly stated:

Please provide a description of the business and a brief statement (no more than 500 words) explaining why the business should win this award, with reference to the criteria for the award applied for.

You may provide supporting evidence where appropriate and can include any document which will help your application or nomination, such as financial performance, promotional literature, news features, testimonials, brochures or pictures.

It was a very interesting experience and I enjoyed reading about the different businesses and how they’d come into being – when they told me that is.

Given that for each award there was an information sheet giving an overview of the award, the details of what the judging would be based on and the evidence requirement I’d expect anyone entering to go through this information and start doing a list of the things that they could immediately think of to tell the judges about.

Let’s look at the evidence requirements suggested for the Independent Retailer award:

• Previous awards won.
Hopefully these will be on display so I should be fairly straightforward to make a list. If there are photographs of these being presented and copies of press coverage that’s great.

• Average weekly sales.
Depending on who is filling out the application form they may have this information at their fingertips or may need to ask the accountant.

• Profit margin.
Again, the accountant may need to provide this information and obviously some businesses may not wish to disclose this (although it is only revealed to the judges and in strictest confidence).

• Opening hours.
Nice and straight forward.

• Year-on-year sales variation and services provided.
Another one for the accountant, if you’re happy to give this information.

• Customer satisfaction reviews.
Some businesses have a feedback section on their website or Facebook page, others have a “visitors book”. If not perhaps there are regular customers who would be willing to write a testimonial.

• Demonstration that the business performance is sustainable in the long term.
How does the business review its success and its future development plans? As the judging criteria did state “Retailers will demonstrate their commitment to driving change by improving the sustainability of their operations, including how the business performed during the last 12 months” one imagines that the businesses entering this category will have been established long enough to have had at least one set of accounts produced. There was another category for new businesses, although some did enter both.

Other items which you may be able to include are:

staff training records may be available showing the business’s commitment to staff training and development;
a statement about the business, when and how it started, how it has grown, changes made, objectives for the future;
details of promotions run by the business;
photographs of the business/products;
copies of sales literature.

Entering for an award is free and is a fantastic opportunity to get free advertising and to meet with other local business people.

Entries are now open for the 2018 Awards. The business Expo will take place on Friday, 20 April at Stanhope Hall in Horncastle with the Awards Ceremony a week later at Southview Park Hotel, Skegness.

More information can be found at: http://www.e-lindsey.gov.uk/ELBA

Changes to the Furlough Scheme

By Victoria Hearsey | 8th June 2020

When it commenced the furlough scheme meant that furloughed workers must not carry out any work for their employer. This will change from 1 July. Employers will be able to bring back furloughed workers on a part-time basis. The employer must pay the employee in full for the hours worked but can continue to claim […]

Bounce back loan scheme – small/medium sized businesses

By Victoria Hearsey | 4th May 2020

For small to medium sized business there is a new loan scheme available. Eligibile businesses can apply to borrow between £2,000 and £50,000 for up to six years with no repayments in the first year. The scheme is government backed. You apply directly to the lender, the first choice for which would typically be your […]

Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS)

By Victoria Hearsey | 4th May 2020

From 4 May HMRC will be contacting self-employed people who are eligible for the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS). There is a checker so you can see if you are flagged as entitled to this – you will need your Unique Tax Reference (UTR) and National Insurance number. If you don’t already have a Government […]

Relaxing at a stressful time

By Victoria Hearsey | 3rd April 2020

Looking after yourself in this stressful time I wanted to share this really good article from the ACCA. We are all in a stressful situation and this has some really good practical advice. The link will open in a new tab. Anxiety, Emotional Quotient and taking care of your own wellbeing I hope you find […]

Coronavirus Resources

By Victoria Hearsey | 30th March 2020

The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) is publishing guides to certain aspects of the grants and aid available to businesses and the self-employed as a result of COVID-19. Where these are written in plain English they are being added to the Downloads page (opens in a new tab). Please note that some of these […]

Standing Out from the Crowd

1st November 2017 By Steve Clark

Today we have a guest blog from Craig at Totem Training.

"I really like the phrase “the difference that makes the difference”.

This can be applied to very many things – I use it when I talk about choosing to adopt a positive mental attitude and also in techniques for stress management.

It can, likewise, be applied to customer service and your business.

Totem Training Ltd provides management development programmes, short courses and coaching services. Well, so do a thousand other businesses! We can only stand out by the unique way that Pam and I deal with our customers. That’s our only real ‘unique selling point’. No-one can deal with customers in quite the same way we can! That’s ‘the difference that makes the difference” with the relationships, interactions and communication we have when it comes to the care we show our clients.

Our relationship with Clark Hearsey goes back a few years now and they were our customer before we were theirs! One of the main reasons that we changed our Accountants and signed up with Clark Hearsey was because we really liked the way Vicki, Steve and the team operated. They were ‘nice’ people providing a great service at a good price.

Since Clark Hearsey has looked after us we have been consistently delighted by the service they offer. They are friendly, approachable and helpful. In addition, they happen to be very good at being accountants.

In a world of countless accountancy practices, Clark Hearsey stand out from the crowd because they deliver consistently great customer service – “the difference that makes the difference!

standing out from the crowd

Unless you run a business that is totally unique in the world in terms of what you offer then like and us and Clark Hearsey your only real unique offer is the way you look after your customers.

Make that a top priority and always seek out ways to improve, because if you don’t look after your customers there are a dozen other businesses waiting in the wings right now ready to do it for you!"

Find out what Totem Training can do for you.

Happy New Year!

By Steve Clark | 9th February 2017

Yes I know it’s February but January disappears in the whirl of personal tax so February always feels more like the new year to me. I was particularly busy in late January. Those of you who read my January blog www.clarkhearsey.co.uk/montegobay/ will know that I was getting more than a little excited about the prospect […]

Montego Bay

By Steve Clark | 10th January 2017

So, I have been thinking about the Caribbean. White sandy beaches, gently swaying palm trees, green seas sparkling like emeralds beneath an azure sky. Thatched huts with pretty young things mixing sublime cocktails, delivered to your sunbed with a smile and a garnish of fruit. Delicious evening meals served on outdoor terraces. Wicker chairs and […]

Thinking about a Career in Accountancy?

18th August 2017 By Steve Clark

Firstly, maths is only a very small part of the job. So if you’re a great mathematician don’t think it is necessarily the ideal job for you. If you’re not so hot at maths it isn’t automatically not the job for you either!

A great deal of accountancy, particularly in practice, involves dealing with people. Not only colleagues but as you become more senior, clients and potential clients if working in practice or people like investors and bankers if in industry.

In any role you will find yourself having to put a lot of explanations into writing. I would, therefore, recommend that you have a good standard of written and spoken English. A foreign language may be useful, particularly if you want to work in industry. Humanities subjects like geography and history are also considered good for accountants.

Please don’t think that the subjects you choose are crucial though. You can study accountancy whatever subjects you have chosen, do not worry that your choices are going to rule out becoming an accountant in the future.

You do not have to have A levels or a degree to study accountancy. Whilst a relevant degree will give you exemptions from some exams if you consider that A levels and a degree will mean five years of (unpaid) study you may prefer to study whilst working.

A gentle start in accountancy (for a career in practice or industry) is the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) qualification. This is quite widely taught and you should be able to find a college nearby teaching it either on a day release basis or as evening classes. You can also home study.

www.aat.org.uk/find-a-course

If you choose to study accountancy within a practice then the most likely qualifications you will be working towards are Chartered Accountant (ACA) or Chartered Certified Accountant (ACCA).

Of these the ACCA qualification is probably the more popular within industry and is in fact the most studied for qualification.

ACCA

ICAEW (for the ACA qualification)

www.icaew.com/en/for-current-aca-students/getting-started/how-to-guides-for-aca-students

A qualification aimed specifically at accountants in industry is CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants).

CIMA
If you have gone on to do a degree, one of the fastest ways to qualify would be to go to work for a large accountancy firm. They will take on a number of graduates every year and put them through their own training programme. This is very rigorous, usually involving periods of working and periods studying. The training is to a very high standard but you are expected to pass every exam first time. It is not unusual for a training contract to state that you will lose your job if you fail an exam. Clearly this is not for people who get stressed during exams and sometimes do not perform as well as they would wish.

Smaller firms generally have a more relaxed approach. They will often pay for you to attend courses or to study at home. This requires more dedication but on the plus side they are unlikely to fire you if you do happen to fail an exam. Combining several methods is an option and this may work well, particularly if you find that some of what you study comes easy, perhaps being related to the work you do, whilst other areas are completely alien.

Accountants in a practice prepare accounts for other people and businesses. They will keep basic records throughout the year but we prepare the final accounts which are used, amongst other things, for calculating their tax liabilities.

Accountants within businesses handle the internal accounting, eg overseeing the purchase and sales ledgers but preparing management accounts, forecasting the likely profits of the business and the effect of any changes in factors such as demand for products, sales or price of components.

Working as an accountant in industry is likely to mean your salary grows faster than within practice. It is usually easier, however, to move from practice to industry than the other way round. If you want to keep your options open I would recommend training whilst working for a practice and then considering a move to industry once qualified. Some accountants will in fact do this and then return to practice with the additional experience of having worked outside. This may prove useful when talking to clients as they will have hands-on experience of the problems their clients face.

If you would like more information about a career in accountancy please do get in touch.

Are you a busy fool?

31st July 2017 By Steve Clark

A question we regularly hear is along the lines of “how can I improve my business” ? What this really means is how can I make more money (if possible by not working too much harder) and is something that we can all relate to.

busy fool

I guess that we all know of what one former colleague used to refer to as the “busy fool”, someone who is perpetually working but never really makes the money they ought to because they just aren’t charging enough. They are so busy because their prices are so much lower than the competition. The difficulty is in persuading these people to increase prices as they fear losing customers – but if these customers are not making you money or otherwise contributing to your business why would you want to keep them? In these circumstances an increase in prices may well result in less customers but you will earn more from the remaining customers and at the same time get a bit of your life back.

In a great many cases business improvements are held back by the “this is the way we’ve always done it” attitude. If we all followed that approach we would still be living in caves and wearing animal skins. Evolution is essential.

In many respects the techniques necessary to improve your business mirror those which the experts tell us should be used to improve our whole lives. Whilst this perhaps shouldn’t be a great surprise I have to admit I’d never previously considered the parallels.

It was only after acquiring a book called “Improve Your Life” by local speaker, author and trainer Craig Collinson that the similarities fully dawned on me.

Now I know what you’re thinking, mainly because it is likely to be along the lines of my first thoughts. Being somewhat cynical by nature this type of book is not usually my sort of thing – they can come across as too preachy and holier than thou.

However, I gave it a go and found it to be a really interesting and informative read although a bit embarrassing when you start to recognise yourself in some chapters (pessimism and procrastination for example !). I wouldn’t say everything in the book was relevant but with us all being different I guess this is to be expected, what is useful for one of us will be totally irrelevant to another.

What was the biggest surprise (other than actually enjoying the book !!!) was the similarities between business improvement strategies and life improvement strategies – much of what Craig proposes to change your life for the better applies equally to business improvement. In some cases I recognised elements in the book that had formed part of business advice that I had given to clients in the past and in other cases I found things in the book that could be used to help clients improve their business performance.

All in all not a bad investment for just a tenner (sorry, £9.99) and I do recommend you try a copy. Available via www.totemtrainingltd.co.uk

Bubble Gum Cards

30th May 2017 By Steve Clark

Life’s not all about bubble gum cards.

When I was a kid there was a craze for bubble gum cards.

Topps bubble gum – I can smell it now. It took a long time for the smell to leave the cards. In those days there weren’t rare gold cards, sparkly cards or limited editions. It was all about quantity.

When I first joined LinkedIn it seemed to be a good idea. I thought of it as Facebook for grown-ups. Handy for re-connecting with previous work colleagues and getting your profile out and about whilst job-hunting. I think that holds true now and if that’s what you want it for fine.

When we formed Clark Hearsey I started to do a lot of networking. So much so that I joined BNI which involves pretty intense networking. Meeting lots of new people and swapping bubble gum business cards.

It became something of a compulsion. I’d write the date I met the person and where on their card and the lucky ones made it into my rotadex.

I would also see if the person wanted to connect on LinkedIn. When a list of possible connections came up I would go through them, clicking away.

Over the years I have built up connections in the manner of a teenager on Facebook.

Now the LinkedIn “sell” is that people will see you’re connected to someone and ask for an introduction but does that really happen? No. Also I get fed up of strangers wanting to connect. Invariably when you do connect under the mistaken belief that they must be someone you know you just get an advertising hard sell. Linked In can be useful to give you a face to look at when you can’t remember the name of who you are looking for but that doesn’t work too well when you’ve hundreds of pictures to go through.

Three months ago I decided to have a cull. I started with recruiters and then all those people I’d met once and exchanged business cards with. I then moved onto the people I really know and have regular contact with.

Having reduced my connections I now generally say no to people wanting to connect. Or, if I think they are a legitimate contact I allow them to connect, then send them a postcard thanking for them connecting together with a set of literature.

So, if you are really looking for customers rather than a collection of virtual bubblegum cards take this challenge:

delete a connection;
invite a connection for coffee
send some information to a contact you’d like to do business with.

Let me know how it goes…

Now, the West Ham team of 1977/8…

Changes to the Furlough Scheme

By Victoria Hearsey | 8th June 2020

Bounce back loan scheme – small/medium sized businesses

By Victoria Hearsey | 4th May 2020

Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS)

By Victoria Hearsey | 4th May 2020

Relaxing at a stressful time

By Victoria Hearsey | 3rd April 2020

Coronavirus Resources

By Victoria Hearsey | 30th March 2020

Barter Transactions – HMRC’s Latest Interest

27th April 2017 By Steve Clark

Despite the fact that the “blogster in chief” has now returned from her jaunt round the Med (courtesy of some Cossacks?) I have been asked (told) to do another one, mainly because I didn’t do the one I was supposed to do last time!

Anyway one of the latest things to interest HMRC is apparently the question of barter transactions, you know the sort of thing “you do my website and I’ll do your plumbing repair”. Sounds like Old Dog Tom, one of the books my younger brother learnt to read with. Trouble is this sort of transaction rarely if ever appears in the business records. Whilst on the face of it you might say “so what?”, there are tax implications.

barter

For instance there are VAT issues where one party to the barter isn’t VAT registered or like the above example one part of the barter is of a non business nature.

Quite how much VAT and other taxes are unpaid because of barter transactions is hard to say and it does seem to smack, yet again, of HMRC attacking the small businessman or perhaps it was just a particularly quiet day at HMRC Towers (maybe the phones were off the hook!). Having said that HMRC are right and these transactions should be properly recorded. You have been warned.

Going back to my previous blog it was good to see that the Chancellor took note of my thoughts on his NI increase although I suspect the increases will re-appear once the election is over and he hasn’t got to worry about Dave’s previous manifesto promises.

Whilst a general election and the wall to wall news coverage that it entails is not always the most welcome of things it has had one beneficial result and that is a potential one year delay in the implementation of “Making Tax Digital” . Whilst I am aware of how much everyone was looking forward to having to keep digital bookkeeping records and submitting information to HMRC four times a year (as if once a year isn’t enough for us) this delay might, if we are lucky, give time for HMRC to make sure that when it is finally implemented it actually works.

Changes to the Furlough Scheme

By Victoria Hearsey | 8th June 2020

Bounce back loan scheme – small/medium sized businesses

By Victoria Hearsey | 4th May 2020

Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS)

By Victoria Hearsey | 4th May 2020

Relaxing at a stressful time

By Victoria Hearsey | 3rd April 2020

Coronavirus Resources

By Victoria Hearsey | 30th March 2020

Sponsoring the Independent Retailer of the Year Award

23rd March 2017 By Steve Clark

It's the first ever East Lindsey Business Awards and Clark Hearsey are proud to sponsor the Independent Retailer of the Year Award.

See the list of winners

See the media coverage by clicking here

Which Planet Do They Live On?…

13th March 2017 By Steve Clark

Apparently it’s my turn to write one of these things, what with the usual contributor being on a cruise ship somewhere in the Mediterranean. Having never attempted one before (or for that matter never even contemplated doing so) where do you start, especially for someone who’s luddite tendencies are widely known amongst my circle of friends ?

A quick search on the internet provided the information that a blog is “a record of your thoughts, opinions or experiences that you put on the internet for other people to read”. Oh dear, I’m an accountant and as such (as Monty Python once observed) my opinions are of interest to no-one. As for my experiences, well you really don’t want to know and I am definitely not telling. However, being somewhat cynical, I actually do have plenty of thoughts and opinions, whether or not they are of interest to anyone I really don’t know.

The advice is to cover matters that you know about and will be of interest to your readers – this sort of suggests it ought to be about what is going on in the world of accountancy and tax and the answer (unfortunately) is plenty.

Let’s start with our “beloved” Chancellor who has just announced increases in the rates of national insurance for the self employed in order to make things fairer. Ha ha, does he actually believe tax is fair – if so I’m not sure what planet he is on. What he is doing, of course, is simply trying to take more money from “Joe Public” and that is what tax is really all about. It has nothing to do with fairness, if it did he might consider the various benefits that the self employed do not receive starting with paid holidays and the national minimum wage. If you’re self employed please don’t ever sit down to work out how much you earn for the hours you put in. What he (and his advisors) have also not realised is that a lot of people are not necessarily self employed through choice – more and more companies are wanting to reduce their staffing levels and are looking to self employed contractors to fill the gap (frequently these self employed are the former employees). It’s a “great trick” if you can pull it off – no more maternity pay, no more holiday pay, no more work place pensions and goodbye to employee rights as you’re no longer an employee. The trouble with this rant is that The Sun apparently agrees with me and is campaigning to have the NI increase scrapped. To be fair I don’t think national insurance is necessarily the worst tax of the multitude we suffer – in my opinion that dubious honour belongs to Insurance Premium Tax. This really is a great scam, I mean to tax something that is a legal requirement (car insurance) is the height of unfairness (Mr Hammond please take note next time you are looking to make things fairer).

Also changing for the worse is the simplified Flat Rate Scheme for VAT. Seems that HMRC and the Treasury have realised that certain business sectors have been abusing this scheme to save themselves a bit (actually in some cases quite a lot) of VAT. Obviously one would expect that steps would be taken against these particular businesses to close this loophole but no they take out the HMRC sledgehammer and ruin the scheme for a whole tranche of businesses that were operating the scheme for perfectly legitimate reasons.

And don’t get me started on the farce surrounding business rates or we’ll be here all day (yet another way for government to remove money from business)…

Now, of course, we all know that politicians don’t really know what they are doing or what real life is all about but how many times have we been told what is good for us only to have the advice reversed at some point in the future. Currently it’s diesel cars which are, apparently, the work of the devil (only 2 or 3 years since they were the way forward). Based on a recent scientific article I read the next thing is going to be biomass (or burning wood to you and I) – seems this isn’t so clean and environmentally friendly as they had us believe.

Anyway back to accountancy – major changes are on-going with accounts disclosures and the basis of preparation of these. At the level of company that is our “bread & butter” it is a weighty tome known as Financial Reporting Standard 102 (FRS102 for short) which promised the biggest change in accounts preparation for a generation. Now we all know what this means – a lot more work for people like me resulting in a bigger bill for you. Just don’t blame me as I was more than happy with the previous way of doing things and for most small companies all the extra work produces a set of accounts not much different in appearance to what we had before.

And all this is before we think about the huge changes that will come about if HMRC succeed with MTD (Making Tax Digital) or whatever it is called this week – rather than spending their time with this project it might be better if they just did the obvious things like answering the telephone when it rings or replying to letters.

I suspect (hope) this will be my one and only attempt at one of these things as our regular blogger will be back from her cruise on the Altmark (look it up if you don’t get the reference). SC

Changes to the Furlough Scheme

By Victoria Hearsey | 8th June 2020

Bounce back loan scheme – small/medium sized businesses

By Victoria Hearsey | 4th May 2020

Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS)

By Victoria Hearsey | 4th May 2020

Relaxing at a stressful time

By Victoria Hearsey | 3rd April 2020

Coronavirus Resources

By Victoria Hearsey | 30th March 2020

Happy New Year!

9th February 2017 By Steve Clark

Yes I know it’s February but January disappears in the whirl of personal tax so February always feels more like the new year to me.

I was particularly busy in late January. Those of you who read my January blog www.clarkhearsey.co.uk/montegobay/ will know that I was getting more than a little excited about the prospect of going on holiday with all the surcharges for late information. A client just back from Tenerife says it is nice and warm there (especially attractive as I write this on a grey day with snow forecast before the weekend).

The surcharge will rise in respect of 2017 returns. £100 plus VAT if the information isn’t received by the end of November 2017 and a further £100 plus VAT if it isn’t received by Christmas 2017. For straightforward personal tax returns that could be more than doubling the cost.

I’m so confident that a good number of clients will still end up paying these surcharges that I will be seeing Helen from Lincolnshire Travel Club shortly to book my February 2018 holiday and that will, I think, be to the Caribbean. Thanks people, you know who you are!

holidays tenerife

February and March are a quiet time in the world of personal tax and enable me to catch up on admin and marketing. I’ve lots of client packs made up ready to go out. On a nice day I will have a walk round the industrial estate and draw up a list of potential clients to receive packs.

If you, or someone you know, is looking for an accountant then please do request some literature. Whilst we are happy to offer free introductory meetings sometimes it is nice to have a bit of information in advance so you know what questions you want to ask.

In the office I will be reviewing the files of all our clients and making sure they have paid their tax liabilities or received their repayments. The 2010 tax returns can now be destroyed so they will be going in the confidential waste. The thinning of the files is usually followed by a re-shuffle of the filing cabinets and relabelling of the drawers. I’m planning to sort the fridge magnet collection too. I’ve a desire (the accountant in me) to do a country shape and position the magnets in the right places. It isn’t going to be easy though as it means a rather short, squat Britain, or Scotland taken off and put to the side – that’s devolvement for you.

places around the world in magnets

The Continuing Professional Development lecture season kicks off in February and on Monday Steve and I attended a VAT lecture which was actually very well delivered and raised some interesting points. One of the highlights was on barter. I think Steve and I will put together a little piece on this subject but in the meantime you can read what HMRC have to say on the subject here: www.gov.uk/guidance/vat-part-exchanges-barters-and-set-offs

Now, go and get yourself a nice file and label it 2017 tax return and start collecting together the bits I will need…

Thank you (or no, not thank you, you won’t be paying for my holiday if you are organised!)

Vicki

Changes to the Furlough Scheme

By Victoria Hearsey | 8th June 2020

Bounce back loan scheme – small/medium sized businesses

By Victoria Hearsey | 4th May 2020

Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS)

By Victoria Hearsey | 4th May 2020

Relaxing at a stressful time

By Victoria Hearsey | 3rd April 2020

Coronavirus Resources

By Victoria Hearsey | 30th March 2020

Save money on weekly payroll costs

By Victoria Hearsey | 25th March 2020

As part of our planning for a possible complete lockdown due to Coronavirus we have been reviewing the jobs due in the next few months in order to minimise delays and disruption. We have been able to complete all March payrolls meaning that we have several weeks before four-weekly and monthly payrolls will again be […]

Latest Update re Corona Virus

By Victoria Hearsey | 24th March 2020

Well, we are certainly living in strange times. This is the third time we have written to explain what we are doing. I will endeavour to keep this blog up to date but am also posting on our Facebook site which is somewhat quicker to do. In due course both will be updated with details […]

Business Awards

By Steve Clark | 16th November 2017

Earlier this year Clark Hearsey sponsored the Independent Retailer of the Year category at the inaugural East Lindsey Business Awards. #ELBA2018 As a result we were given the opportunity to help with judging the category and this came down to me. If you do an internet search on “entering business awards” lots of information will […]

Standing Out from the Crowd

By Steve Clark | 1st November 2017

Today we have a guest blog from Craig at Totem Training. “I really like the phrase “the difference that makes the difference”. This can be applied to very many things – I use it when I talk about choosing to adopt a positive mental attitude and also in techniques for stress management. It can, likewise, […]

Thinking about a Career in Accountancy?

By Steve Clark | 18th August 2017

Montego Bay

10th January 2017 By Steve Clark

So, I have been thinking about the Caribbean.

White sandy beaches, gently swaying palm trees, green seas sparkling like emeralds beneath an azure sky.

Thatched huts with pretty young things mixing sublime cocktails, delivered to your sunbed with a smile and a garnish of fruit.

Delicious evening meals served on outdoor terraces. Wicker chairs and beautifully set tables with crisp linen tablecloths and napkins. A chilled bottle of something sparkling sat in a crystal ice bucket.

Mmm, Montego Bay is calling me

Ah, but cue the bit in a film where there is a screechy noise and a judder of the picture and the lead character halts abruptly. It’s January. I should be fighting my way through masses of paperwork completing tax returns.

Yes, I should. It seems, however, that rather than get their paperwork in nice and early and save money to boot, my lovely clients are happy to pay the surcharge for not having got their paperwork in by Christmas. At least that means that when I am working later/at the weekend at the end of January I can be thinking how that extra money will pay for me to have a lovely holiday in the sun in February.

For the last few years the surcharge has been £75 plus VAT when information isn’t received by Christmas. For 2017 tax returns this will increased to £100 plus VAT for when information isn’t received by the end of November. So, two weeks in Saint Lucia for February 2018. They have some nice beachfront level walkout rooms there …

carribean