August 2007 newsletter

DUCKETT

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Spurious ideas special. As everybody is on holiday, I've got the opportunity to present a collection of wild ideas.

Forthcoming events

BBQ on 15th August at Castle House Hotel: the social event of the year? If it rains, it was somebody else's idea. Turnout is not looking good ­ any takers?

Arctic result

The taxpayer won, but the Revenue went away promising to change the rules. Huge sense of anticlimax. Still a cause for celebration. Just think how they would have crowed if they had won.

From a planning point of view, anybody needing a (large) dividend should grab it now. Before the tax goes up?

Book of the month

“Go put your strengths to work” by Marcus Buckingham (of Gallup fame).

Try www.simplystrengths.com/

This is very much a “how to do it” book, with extensive resources including downloadable short films, self-assessment questionnaires etc

The concept is clear enough; getting it to work is the hard part.

Every cloud

The recent flooding has brought home the importance of contingency planning (and having an office on high ground). We've got multiple backups of data spread around the county, but the problem then becomes how to use the data if your office (and therefore your server) is under water. I was impressed by Richard “Open-Source” Zybert's entrepreneurial response when he rang me to offer a home for my disks on his server (for a small fee) if I needed it. The data can be accessed remotely using his “spoks” (basically, ID devices that you can plug into any PC on the web). He has since turned the thought into a product. More info on www.zybert.co.uk/

Open source version of excel is really good. Downloadable from www.openoffice.org/

Another manifesto

If you're fed up with enjoying yourself, why not try some hard thinking about the direction of your business? Take the Maverick Challenge:

1. Is there a distinctive and disruptive sense of purpose that sets you apart from the competition?
2. Can you be provocative without provoking a backlash?
3. If you went bust, who would notice (care?) and why?
4. Do (other) smart people want to work with you?
5. Can you make work (innovation) fun?
6. Do you treat different customers differently?
7. Why should (great) people join your business?
8. Do you know a person that would fit on the bus when you see them?
9. Does your business work as distinctively as it competes?
10. Are you learning as fast as the world is changing?

This is from www.changethis.com/27.01.ManifestoMavericks

DTI mark 2

Buried somewhere in July was “Enterprise Week”. This must have prompted the DTI to rename itself the “Dept for business enterprise & regulatory reform”. Sadly, there is no intended irony in this.

Fraud in SA

Various parts of the tax system have been subject to organised fraud (think tax credits), but the Revenue has been surprised to find a big hole in the self-assessment system. Criminals have gone to the trouble of setting up bogus agents to file tax returns for imaginary taxpayers, all claiming large refunds. Remember, this is the same organisation that wants to look after your bank details.

Give me the money

HMRC has been busy collecting bank details from taxpayers on the basis that this makes it easier to repay refunds (cheque can't get lost at their processing centre). However, a recent consultation document proposes that HMRC, using these very same bank details, should be able to suck tax owed straight out of the account (if the taxpayer hasn't paid instantly). This is justified on the grounds that the formal debt recovery process, involving court orders & distraint, is an “unpleasant experience”. Not as unpleasant as forced tax payment, I suggest? Particularly if they're wrong, as happened recently with PAYE year-end returns.

Best blogs

The Tinbasher - www.butlersheetmetal.com/tinbasherblog - proof that manufacturing still exists outside the BRIC

Andy Hanselman - www.andyhanselman.com - all about competitiveness

50 best business blogs - per The Times tinyurl.com/2w7bs2

Like me, the Sage of Bishopswood has reservations about the whole blogging deal.

His contribution is therefore a bit different http://thestrengthsway.blogspot.com/

My generation

I was nosing through HBR looking for an easy article when I chanced upon a piece on generation theory. This boils down to the observation that the attitudes of a given generation are formed as a backlash against the preceding generations. This results in 4 generations at any one time following one another in a predictable cycle. Hence:

• l born 1925 -1942 => Silent Generation (artist)
• l born 1943 - 1960 => Baby Boomers (prophet)
• l born 1961 - 1981 => Generation X (nomad)
• l born 1982 - 2005? =>Millennial (hero)

All very interesting, but where does it get us? Well, I know how I see the world (Gen X), and I'm pretty clear about how the preceding generations behave, but the under 25s are something of a closed book. Theory says that Millennials are far more risk averse than Gen Xers, pay attention to community norms and respect order and structure. So far, they seem to work well when given clear instructions and allowed to work in groups, but don't display out-of-the-box initiative. Given a workplace problem, Millennials expect to stay put until someone in charge solves the problem. This may look like loyalty. We'll see what happens over the next 10 years.

Top job

Competition for accountants (in the big firms) has reached such a level that Grant Thornton in Holland has recently launched a web site promising:

• an in house divorce service
• free meals at your desk
• a 9 day working week

Unlike the DTI, they might be joking?

Difficult people made easy

www.vinehouse.co.uk

For example; very annoying people who fuss about the detail. Never, ever ask them “How's it going?”. Make sure you ask very detailed questions, such as “What do you have on your task list for today?”.

Which all sounds pretty obvious.

Apparently, the Boyscout is buying the book. He muttered something about a bullying boss?

Construction Industry Scheme

Anybody having anything to do with construction comes within the remit of the scheme. If you want to be paid without the customer (usually the main contractor) deducting tax at 20%, then you need a gross certificate. The point is that HMRC will cancel your certificate if you are late with any tax return or any tax payment. It's a penal system. Watch out.

Are you a techno addict?

Apparently, some people get up a couple of times a night to check for text messages (“connectivity disorder”); they are definitely addicted. And, of course, knock on sleep deprivation doesn't help. Suing your employer for causing the addiction is the next step, prompting policy statements and a whole new set of consultants. I have to confess to e-mailing the office whilst on holiday. Do I need therapy?

Fuel rates

The fuel cost only rate moved on 1st August. Now 13ppm petrol/10ppm diesel for cars with 1.4l ­ 2l engines. Time to cycle to work using the Revenue's extraordinarily complicated Cycle2work scheme (TX 07.20.05 ) http://tax.indicator.co.uk

Holiday quiz

Dennis Healey famously went to the IMF in the mid-70s and borrowed a wad of money that wasn't actually needed. He at least had the reasonable excuse that the relevant economic data was unreliable (ie wrong). By all accounts (The Tiger That Isn't ­ Blastland & Dilnot?) these days officials at the Treasury simply don't understand what the numbers mean. They couldn't answer the following questions:

• What is the share of income tax paid by the top 1% of earners?
• What joint income, after tax, would a childless couple need to be in the top 10% of earners?
• How much bigger is the UK economy (inflation adjusted) than it was in 1948?

Can you?

Hopefully, David Smith of The Sunday Times will give us the answers in a couple of weeks. Or I'll have to buy the book. Would anybody like a prize?

Disclaimer

We always hold hands. If I let go, she shops.

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