The head of Barclays’ head of small business unit Steve Cooper has said that the bank will not be joining any government schemes that set targets for small business lending, in fact they will “refuse”. Mr Cooper told the Financial Times that he felt any targets implemented would result in a repeat of the [...]
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Police in South Korea have raided the headquarters of Google based in Seoul. Police believed that the corporation was collecting and storing data from internet users that have been using Wi-Fi networks. Google recently admitted that its ‘Street View’ cars had been collecting information from unencrypted Wi-Fi networks but later called this a “mistake". Despite [...]
The administrators of Portsmouth FC have today revealed that they will face no more challenges from HMRC in regards to the company voluntary agreement (CVA) that has been agreed upon. A spokesperson for HMRC confirmed this announcement adding that they were ‘disappointed’ with the courts decision but would not be appealing and had no intention [...]
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Civil Service Unions have said that all the measures being put forward against Civil Service pensions are useless as they believe that they are affordable. The government is currently renewing all public service pension schemes in a bid to try and find a way to make them more affordable to the taxpayer. But unions say [...]
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3 has beaten 02 in the bid to create the affinity partnership with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW). The deal will allow the 100,000 members of the ICAEW to get 3 business packages at a discounted rate. The institute have said that 3’s innovative proposition won them the contract and [...]
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As looked at in an earlier blog HSBC announced massive profits for the first quarter yesterday and today is the turn of Lloyds. The bank which is owned by the UK tax payer has logged profits of around £1.6bn which is up massively on the loss of £4bn for the same period last [...]
HSBC the UK’s biggest bank has today announced that it has made pre-tax profits of around £7bn. The bank also reported that they were profitable in every other other region in the World except North America where they saw a loss of around $80m. The rise in profits in the UK is up around 26% [...]
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BP have revealed that they are chasing a tax credit of around $9.7 billion (£6.3bn). The oil giants who have recently found themselves having to pay out billions as a result of the Gulf of Mexico spill and are now hoping to reclaim some of that amount from the US government. A income [...]
Accountancy firm Upton & Co have been told they must pay back over £4 million to investors after it was discovered they have been running unauthorised schemes. The firm were running a program know as a ‘collective currency scheme’, this allowed investors to pool monies and invest in foreign exchange markets. However the [...]
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Orange and T-Mobile completed their merger today as both companies started work in the same offices. The company now called ‘Everything Everywhere’ will run alongside both companies current brands but will make the company the biggest communication company in the UK with over 30 million customers and a 37% market share. The original [...]
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Bob Humphreys recently left practice accountancy and made the move into the charity sector and says that HMRC don’t think when applying criteria to charities. Upon leaving his practice firm PwC he described his time as “fantastic” but also felt that it was all “relatively one dimensional” as he was never the one on the [...]
Accountants Clients Should Benefit From Legal Clients Privilege The Institute Of Chartered Accountants (ICAEW) has demanded that Tax advice from accountants be kept confidential, as it for tax advice from solicitors. The ICAEW were appearing in court to argue the case for legal privileges, Charles Flint QC, representing ICAEW said: “You can’t distinguish between the [...]
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The UK financial watchdog has announced that it is planning to introduce a system that will require all mortgage applicants to provide detailed proof of their income before any lending can be authorised. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) is trying to prevent people from being able to borrow by just writing down how much they [...]
A recent interview with music legend and Rolling Stones frontman Sir Mick Jagger revealed that it was more than just his musical ability that made him his fortune. In an interview with the BBC Sir Mick admitted that it was more a case of timing and managing his finances saying: “"There was a small period [...]
Employment statistics from BRUSSELS in June 2010 showed that unemployment in the 16-nation euro zone held stable at 10 percent in May 2010, which indicates that the progressive increase in laying off of staff may have peaked. As we all know the economic outlook for the Eurozone and the UK looks bleak as across the [...]
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Do the new settings answer privacy concerns according to Mark Zuckerberg. Facebook was launched in 2004 on a simple concept – ‘to find and be found’ by allowing people to share information and connect with friends and business colleagues and associates connected with their work. Mark Zuckerberg stated: If we give people control over what [...]
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What are the greatest challenges facing business in the 21st century? New legal, accounting regulations or tax mitigation restrictions, pressure on operating margins, the volatility of leading currencies or the emergence meteoric rise of China, India or Brazil are new world economic super-powers? At the end of his ‘watch’ Peter F Drucker, perhaps [...]
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William Clement Stone was just 3 when his father died. Tragedy made worse because he also left gambling debts, consigning his son and widow to a life of poverty. They shared a Chicago apartment with relatives in the rough South Side district yet at just 6-year-old W.Clement Stone sold newspapers to help support the family. [...]
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As someone who has spent the majority of his career in DIY retail sheds, it is no surprise that the whole hub of the UK economy is based around housing and oil. As mortgages became harder to get with higher deposits and smaller multiplication of salary to monies borrowed needed to complete a mortgage application, [...]
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The latest google algorythmn change might affect internet marketeers and eBusiness strategy. Why? Unless consumers click disable, then the DEFAULT SETTINGS for (YOUR CLIENTS, AND YOUR) ……GOOGLE Web History will be Enable customisations based on search activity. What is the significance of this seemingly minor setting? It will distort what the consumers see on their screens. [...]
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Recently many ‘names’ in business (Robert Craven, Ken McCarthy and many many more) have declared in favour (UK Spelling) of Twitter as a business medium for ‘spreading the message’ (their business). I have been a raving fan of Twitter from the start. Heralded as a milestone in internet history and search engine optimisation, Twitter could best be [...]
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Thanks to Jasmine Birtles of MoneyMagpie in her article ‘The misery of Abbey Business‘I don’t feel so alone in my desperation and frustration of Abbey Business Banking. I ma grateful to her for sharing her personal experience. I too have had problems in accessing my money deposited with Abbey Business in the UK. Abbey is part of [...]
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Anthony Tjan in his Harvard Business Publishing article (28 Oct 09) entitled ‘Upstarts and Titans’ highlights 5 key facts that he has observed on the Net in the world wide web world: Explosion of websites – (2009 200m) 40,000 times increase since 1994 (spanning 15 years). 2009 1m blogs daily (the term blog first used by [...]
At the North East Business Road Show organised by Network North, Peter Roper of Positive Ground encourages all business owners to be natural presenters. We buy people. We buy relationships. So why do 80% of all presentations fails? Roper bases his claims on survey results of 350,000 businesses. WHY ARE YOU PRESENTING? I am here to [...]
At the Business Road Show North East (UK) Giles Johnson of SmartSpeed revealed how the wisdom of 10-year olds can help us manage our businesses better. Work ON your business, don’t fixate with the competition. Focus on YOUR priorities and make sure tasks happen. Be clear about the requirements of your clients and the value you [...]
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