Has anyone else noticed how inept and incompetent is HM Revenue and Customs when it comes to dealing with simple and routine correspondence? Most of the time, when we send letters to HMRC, we do so in the high expectation of not receiving a reply and then, when we telephone to chase up, we are [...]
Posts by clive:
May 12 2011
Outside the box…
We had an excellent and productive meeting with a relatively new client yesterday and the “business end” of the meeting went very well in terms of reviewing the annual accounts and tax liabilities. As we usually do, we then steered the meeting towards more general planning and discussion of the future strategy for the business in terms [...]
May 10 2011
Cheap isn’t always good…
My firm lost a client yesterday, most unusually for us on grounds of cost! After more than ten years of good service, and with a nice personal relationship built up due to our mutual interests of music and sport, the client dumped us unceremoniously without warning and went to a cheaper alternative. To be beaten on [...]
Apr 07 2011
HMRC penalties
HM Revenue and Customs is continuing on its path of penalising taxpayers ( or “customers” as HMRC euphemistically calls us, as if we as “customers” have the choice to take our “custom” to another HMRC if we are not happy with our “service”). As has been the custom in recent years, the construction industry is [...]
Apr 01 2011
2011 Budget
It would have been nice to have been able to report that the 2011 Budget was the most innovative and imaginitive in decades but sadly that is not possible.
Mar 29 2011
Definitions of an accountant
First up:- “Someone who solves a problem which you didn’t know you had in a way you don’t understand” Or:- “Someone who states the bleedin’ obvious which is no use to anyone” Or, for an auditor:- “Someone who arrives after the battle is over and bayonets the wounded”
Mar 29 2011
An accountant’s empathy…
An accountant was walking along a city street when he encountered a beggar sitting on the pavement. “Spare us a few pounds guv’nor” said the beggar “I ‘aven’t eaten a thing in more than a week!” “Mmm” replied the accountant “That’s very interesting…how does that compare with the corresponding period last year?”