The Positive Accountant - Vol 1 Ed 27
I criticised my own profession last night. This morning I had no option but to hang my head.
My own Institute, who proclaim themselves 'Thought Leaders' and never stop telling us to be pro-active in our dealings with clients, this morning issued an urgent help sheet.
It was all about furloughing, and how to make the claim. But most important of all it contained a recommended Letter of Engagement which should, applying best practice, be issued, discussed and agreed with each client individually, signed and returned before work on making a furlough claim starts.
Um, forgive me, but isn't this in relation to the furlough portal that opened yesterday. Where, if the money is needed for this month's salary run, the claim needed to be in yesterday or today. The work that we started preparing last week (if not earlier) in anticipation...
I referenced the Titanic last night, tonight I'm thinking more of removing the barnacles from it than rearranging the deckchairs.
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What are my positives today:-:
1. No cold calling
It struck me today, when was the last time I was offered a PPI review ? Or reminded that I may (or may not) have been in an accident that may (or may not) have not been my fault ?
My record is stringing out a PPI call from Felixstowe to Newmarket - which beat listening to Jeremy Vine. Can anyone beat that ?
2. We have stocks of curry powder,
I love cooking, and I also love hot curries. And I enjoy experimenting. Tonight's was a chicken Opor Ajam, amildIndonesian recipe, boiled rice with roasted cardomom seeds.
This love of curry isn't, however, shared amongst theentirehousehold. Lizzie, our sixteen year old, last seen leaving the room with a jug of water, has decided that she won't trust Dad to cook again unless she is supervising what goes in to the pan.
Charly, our fourteen year old, can't see what the fuss is about.
3. A client made a profit
'What ?' I hear you say.
To explain - I've looked after this particular business for about five years. They work phenomenally hard but until this year I've never seen a positive number at the bottom.
I put the accounts together and thought 'No, I've missed something'. But having been through the accounts with them I haven't.
I won't mention their names, nor what sector they are in. But I know they read these - and I hope they smile reading today's edition !
And what am I talking to clients about today ?
Future Taxes,all this extra debt the government is taking on to help out has to be repaid somehow.
In my opinion, there are going to be two areas to focus on - extra resource being thrown at tax enquiries in the future (extracting more using existing rules), and higher taxes generally. Expect the latter to be targeted, my predictions (for what they are worth) are capital taxes (some of the inheritance tax reliefs) and income tax on higher earners. I wouldn't be surprised to see the latter definition falling, maybe to £50,000 .
Self Employed Income Grant - having moved on from furloughing, the self employed are the next target for support.
What we know so far is that if you qualify, HMRC will contact you in June. To qualify you need to have been self employed in 2018/19, have income below £50,000 and more than 50% of your income arising from self employment.
Until tomorrow
Adrian
07917 338342
I am in so much trouble having shown favouritism to one dog last night.
So to redress the balance, here is Nibbles exploring a ditch on today's walk.