September 2007 newsletter

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Pre-Budget Report Special.

He said very little, but what did he really mean? It’s taken me half a bottle of whiskey to reach this conclusion, so what follows is a bit of a blur.

Forthcoming events

The Boyscout is threatening a talk on positive energy(??), sometime towards the end of November. He just hasn’t told the speaker yet.

I went to a farming seminar, expecting lots of technical tax stuff. I wasn't disappointed, but buried within the detail was a presentation by one of the senior buyers from Asda. Clearly, Asda have swallowed the Toyota book on supply chain management, although they don't quite seem to have got the hang of working with their suppliers. I thought he could come to talk to us, but the Boyscout is worried about blood on the carpet. Maybe next year?

Incidentally, the barbecue at the Castle House Hotel was oversubscribed in the end ­ we actually had to encourage some of the late bookers not to come. It worked extremely well as a social event, so I'm not quite sure if you should really be claiming tax relief on it?

Marketing

In a burst of enthusiasm, I wrote an article about marketing marketingforwimp.html

OOR

Have you noticed how employees of big companies love the automatic Out of Office Reply system for e.mails? In a fit of IT envy, I asked our techies (well, Richard Zybert) how to make this work for us. He duly provided the answer, but the big question is what you should say in your OOR. The Boyscout likes time off in the summer, so we posted the following in his absence:

“Hi, it's August, so I've gone sailing. I'll be back sometime.”

Has anybody got any better examples than this? Prize is the usual free lifetime subscription to The Newsletter.

Creative reign

What happens when the Creatives take over?

www.theinndalwhinnie.com/

This is (allegedly) a pub/inn in Scotland. How do you book a room?

Book of the month

“Out of our minds” by Sir Ken Robinson.

Have you wondered why, despite rising grades at O &A level, nobody knows how to use a comma? According to Sir Ken, its because we've confused a very narrow definition of academic ability with the much wider concept of intelligence (in all its forms). The book is quite hard work; his presentation is very funny indeed. The route to it is rather devious. Log on to

www.katieledger.blogspot.com and follow the link to “What should we teach our children?”

Worth the effort.

Lloyds Bank does tax

If you think we're too expensive, you can now get your Returns done by the Black Horse. You can probably buy life assurance at the same time, but getting them to actually lend you money may be a service too far.

Social contagion- I'll have what she's having

Just for a change, the latest daft idea originates in Australia (rather than the US). Marketing guru Max Sutherland has come up with the observation that social trends are contagious:

“Buying, laughing, yawning and graffiti are all socially contagious. Now research says obesity is too. This has nothing to do with the power of suggestion or keeping up with the Joneses. To be influenced by others is genetically programmed in us and is an evolutionary hangover.”

This may be a plausible explanation for brands. But, maybe not.

Read it for yourself on www.sutherlandsurvey.com

Arctic again

This is the husband and wife company tax case that I keep referring to. The taxpayers won at the House of Lords and the Revenue went away vowing to change the rules. The Pre-Budget Report repeated the threat, but it’s obviously too hard for them to actually come up with any new rules (particularly as the Law of Unintended Consequences is well beyond them).A couple of amusing issues have come to light in the technical press:

l the Revenue picked a husband and wife case. The rules are only applied in such cases and are therefore definitely anti-marriage.

l The Revenue insisted throughout that this was not a test case. When asked why, if this was so, the Revenue spent +/-£1m chasing £6k in tax, there was a deafening silence.

Please refer all suggestions for changing the rules direct to Mr Darling.

Problems in business

I was complaining to the Sage of Bishopswood about the number of tax investigations on my desk at the moment. Rather than just say “Stop wingeing and get on with it”, he referred me to an article by Paul Hawken who ran a very successful TV series in the States in the 80s entitled “Growing a business”. He was always looking for the method/technique that would solve all his business problems (“the killer application”). Then one day he had his epiphany ­ business is all about solving problems. No problems: no business. [Profit = risk if you're an economist.] Being an accountant, I hesitate to say “bring it on”. Please could I have easily solvable problems, at well spaced intervals. I have a solid piece on Paul Hawken if anybody wants it.

Selling things

With total lack of irony, the Americans refer to the ability to bring in new clients as “rainmaking”. Hence the name of the electronic magazine “Rain Today”. Despite the tortuous introduction, they have some very good articles and the Boyscout is particularly excited about their new e.book on lead generation. The first article is very good

www.raintoday.com/pages/2749_advice_you_can_t_generate_leads_without.cfm

I can send you the pdf if it's easier.

Another firm favourite who has recently repackaged his basic message is Andy Bounds. Andy's (sales) message is that you need to concentrate on what the customer/client is left with after you've sold to him: the “Afters”. [The client really, really doesn't care what date your company was formed, so why tell them?] www.andybounds.com/winthatpitch/

Let my people go surfing

I recommended this book several months ago and I saw the author, Yvon Chouinard, deliver a talk on ice climbing earlier in the year. To cut a long story short, Chouinard, starting in the early 60s in California, built the Patagonia clothing company whilst spending most of his time going climbing. There's one outstanding story:

It may have been largely accidental, but by the early 90s, Patagonia was an extremely successful private company and Chouinard could easily have sold out for a multi-million dollar sum. By this time, he had developed a strong environmental ethic, but couldn't see how he could tie this in with business. So, as you do, he flew to New York to see a consultant. He explained the position and the consultant said to him that if he just wanted to help the environmental movement, all he had to do was sell the business and gift all but $1m to the charity of his choice. Chouinard mulled this over and realised that what he really wanted to do was create an environmentally focussed business as an example to others. Leading by example would be far more effective than simply gifting the cash to charity. I don't think the consultant charged for his advice. Chouinard has been pretty successful in his aims

www.patagonia.com/web/eu/contribution/patagonia.go?assetid=2047

Incidentally, if you want to buy a fleece jacket made from car tyres (Christmas present?), try

www.needlesports.com/acatalog/Mail_Order_Fleece_72.html

and look for the R2.

VAT registration

The official delay is now 38 days ­ and that was before the postal strike.

Don't forget that the system of fining contractors £100 for every late (monthly) CIS return is now in play. These were routinely getting lost in the post in the summer. You can make returns electronically, but does the system capture everything? Certainly didn't for PAYE returns.

On line at Companies House

There's been a big advertising campaign to file small company accounts at Companies House. We gave it a go, but it's too much like hard work at the moment. I think we'll wait for the commercial software developers to catch up. Apparently, the Institute gave the formats to the programmers 3 years ago. There’s been a zillion changes to accounting standards in the meantime. So, it’s useless.

Supply and demand

Poor taste jokes seem to fly round the internet, despite my best (if hypocritical) efforts to ban them in my office. A recent piece on the attractiveness of young women to older men incensed Whiplash. Female beauty is a wasting assets? Pump and dump? Full text on application. Oh dear.

Microsoft Vista

Still extraordinarily bug-ridden. My experts say “Stick with XP”.

Office gossip

We've taken on a new team member ­ Nick Jones. He seems very young to me, which is worrying. I suspect he is likely to be dominated by women. So far, a stage name has not leapt out. Any ideas?

And Kath is back from maternity leave.

Disclaimer

If you’re reading a copy sent in the post, Happy Christmas

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