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It seems as though the country, or at least parts of it, is grinding to a halt due to the white stuff. Obviously it's a big problem for employers and could cost thousands of pounds in lost income. However, with the use of relatively inexpensive (Often free) modern technology, for some workers there should be little or no disruption.

In the first week of February some of us went ROWE. Mark, Nathan, Bev, Lian, David, Tracy and Michael all started trialling working in a Results Only Work Environment (ROWE). Basically, this means they can work where they want to and when they want to as long as the job gets done.

I was amazed to learn of some regulations that were introduced in 2008 and how they can put small businesses at risk, if they don't know about them. These regulations provide your customers with a minimum cooling off period of 7 days for most contracts entered into at their home or place of work.

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HMRC have been issuing questionnaires to companies asking how they monitor the private use of their company vans.

Find out what you need to do....

We starting working in a Results Only Work Environment (ROWE) on the 1 February 2011, and to start with life didn’t change. I only worked part time hours prior to moving to ROWE so I was still coming to work on my usual days for my usual hours through habit mostly but also through necessity as that was when I have childcare.

And why you do not need to correct my spelling!

HMRC have announced that they are planning a programme of checks that will review the adequacy and accuracy of records kept by small and medium-sized enterprises. It is planned that this campaign will begin over the summer of 2011 with around 200,000 small businesses being selected for checks.

With cash flow being of such importance to all businesses a timely reminder of the best practice in ensuring that business owners avoid bad debt and have the best chance of recovering the debts that are incurred was given courtesy of local accountants GreenStones. They hosted a seminar recently in conjunction with Robert Partridge Managing Director of Effective Credit Collections Limited who spoke about these issues and gave practical tips as well as a detailed explanation of the operation of the court procedures available for collecting overdue invoices.

Most business owners pay an accountant each year to construct a balance sheet of assets less liabilities at a certain date. This can be a very useful tool to analyse the business net worth, cash flow requirements and liquidity. Clever business owners also construct a summary personal balance sheet to measure their personal net worth.

If you run a business or social enterprise based in the East of England, the East or West Midlands that employs less than 250 people and has the potential for fast or high growth (Increase turnover by 20% from three years), you can now get help to develop your leadership and management skills.

The only eggs most people see in their office are covered in mayonnaise and cress and mashed into a sandwich. However, GreenStones accountants, in Peterborough, have hatched a clever idea for inspiring their team.

If you have recently started a new business you may be in line for a call from HMRC under their new pilot scheme. HMRC have announced a telephone education strategy in which they will call new business owners “to offer to talk them through some of the main things they need to know as a new business and to signpost them to the available help online”.

When you start a business, few imagine it ever coming to an end, well all good things do eventually come to an end. To ensure you maximise the potential and minimise the pain, it would be a good idea for you to plan your exit from your business.

The Coventry Rioch Arena, home of the Sky Blues, hosted the annual 2011 conference for the Institute of Sales Marketing and Management and this month I was privileged enough to attend on behalf of GreenStones. This is the second time we have attended the event and would recommend it to anyone wanting to improve their sales and marketing.

In most circumstances the provision of one mobile phone to a director or employee for private use is exempt from a benefit in kind charge. The exemption covers the phone itself, any line rental and the cost of private calls paid for by the employer on that phone. However there are many types of devices that have telephone functionality which do not qualify as mobile telephones. Until recently HMRC took the view that smartphones were in this latter category

Share boiler room scams use high pressure sales techniques to sell investments to unsuspecting clients with the promise of high returns. The stock they are selling is often worthless, in unquoted companies or simply doesn’t exist at all.