Accountancy Highlights

Reducing Your Marginal Rate of Tax


Umbrella Vs Limited Company set-up


Treasury to clamp down on stamp duty avoidance


Growth in the market for contractors in the UK


Proposal to merge PAYE and National Insurance

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LATEST NEWS

Thursday
Sep122013

British Economy Shows Signs of Growth

The latest financial figures show that the British Economy is exhibiting signs of overall growth. The figures reported for the second quarter of 2013 show growth of 0.7% in the UK.  This is driven by rising property prices, increased spending in the retail sector, and a rise in car sales. UK house prices have risen to a seven year high. UK unemployment fell unexpectedly to 7.7% between May and July, down from 7.8% in the previous three months. This fall is edging closer to Mark Carney’s target of 7% before he can justify a rise in interest rates.

The positive growth has had a noticeable effect on the recruitment market. After a relatively quiet summer, demand for contractors in IT and Finance has risen considerably in September. If you are looking to set up as a Limited Company Contractor, now is a good time to test the market.

Friday
Sep062013

Economic Confidence is Back, Could We be Heading for a Stockmarket Crash?

Confidence appears to be returning to the marketplace with both the Eurozone and the US moving out of recession. Mortgage lending has risen to its highest levels since 2008. Interest rates are at record lows and the government is fuelling the housing market through its new Home Buy Scheme. This all sounds very positive. The stockmarket on the other hand is showing signs of a slowdown whilst the gold price has bounced back to $1,400. The market has been extremely volatile of late as noted during a significant overreaction to the Fed’s announcement over the proposed tapering of it’s Quantitative Easing (QE) programme. The mere mention of a reduction in QE saw a large drop on the stockmarket. Could it be that we are headed for a stock market crash? The stockmarket has reached all time highs and has been rising since the start of the year despite a weak economic background. A stockmarket correction is inevitable although whether this happens in a matter of months or years is anyone’s guess.

We would urge our readers not to panic as this could lead to bad decisions being made. A stock market crash is not necessarily reflective of the underlying economic conditions. The stock market has reached record highs and so a crash at some point is inevitable. However, this is not reflective of what is happening in the global economy which is slowly showing signs of recovery. Contractors and small businesses will be largely unaffected by a stock market crash as this is unlikely to impact their daily business.

Thursday
Sep052013

Banks Accused of Mis-selling of Identity Theft Insurance

In the latest scandal to affect Britain’s financial services industry, a number of major banks have been accused of mis-selling credit card and Identity Theft Insurance. The findings of the Financial Conduct Authority report that the policies were largely useless in that most policy holders were already covered against the risks of Identity fraud. It is estimated that the banks and credit card agencies will be required to provide £1.3 billion in compensation.

Consumer confidence in the major banks is already low after a seemingly endless trail of major scandals including the mis-selling of Payment Protection Insurance (PPI), the mis-selling of interest rate swaps to small businesses, excessive risk taking, bailouts and the LIBOR rigging scandal amongst others.