Thursday, June 24th, 2010
The Budget has been and gone. The focus was on debt reduction, a review of costs and questioning about how and where further savings maybe generated. Overall an exercise which organisations of all types and sizes will be...
Thursday, May 13th, 2010
Whichever government emerged recently, I have long been convinced that VAT will rise. Now the BBC has revealed that a survey of influential economists agrees. 24 out of the 28 independent economists used by HM Treasury to assist its forecasts expected...
Thursday, April 22nd, 2010
Inflation is back, so when will interest rates rise? Because they will rise! Reuters published a poll of opinions from a panel of 64 economists on 1st April and whilst it masks a range of views, the consensus is a start to the...
Wednesday, April 14th, 2010
Universities received a record £25.4 billion income last year, up by 8.3%, but also faced higher costs. The biggest increase was in paying interest and other financial costs, figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency show. Income from investments and endowments...
Thursday, April 8th, 2010
Q. When can you claim back tax your business didn't pay? A. If your business uses Royal Mail under a negotiated contract! According to leading Accountants Smith & Williamson organisations may potentially be able to reclaim thousands of pounds from...
Monday, March 1st, 2010
Initial moves were made in Europe last week to significantly increase the amount paid in maternity benefits to all new mothers. On 24 February the Women’s Rights Committee voted to increase the statutory maternity allowance for all mothers in the EU to include...
Friday, February 26th, 2010
Who read recent headlines and thought that the recovery from recession was greater than expected? Me too! When the ONS announced its growth revision upwards from 0.1% in Q4 '09 to 0.3% I thought, well its not much more, but what...
Friday, February 19th, 2010
For once we may not get a cold from an American sneeze; but they yesterday raised their "Base Rate" as the Discount Rate has just risen from 0.5% to 0.75%. It is not expected to feed through to consumers as - like...
Thursday, February 18th, 2010
Bank lending to UK businesses is 8.1% lower than a year ago! Latest official figures show the fastest drop in commercial borrowing since records began. And the credit crunch is not to blame as demand for borrowing remains “muted” in...
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010
A survey of 55 analysts from UK financiers suggests a rise in base rate to 1% in Q4 this year, followed by 0.5% increases each subsequent quarter; seeing 2.5% by Q3 2011. The survey was conducted by Reuters on 7th January...