Forthcoming Seminar

As Finance Directors, the question we most often get asked is 'How do I reduce my business costs?' There's a free guide to this topic available on our website at http://www.prosperofd.com/download-guide.asp

At the end of April, we'll be running a free seminar at which our experts will explain these concepts in a little more detail. There'll be lots of tips and guidance on cost reduction approaches which do and don't work. As it will be early evening there'll also be some drinks and snacks available along with some networking opportunities.

If you'd like to register your interest, please email info@prosperofd.com

Can you trust a spreadsheet?

Recent research suggests 90% of spreadsheets prepared for business contain serious errors. That sounds far too high a figure. If really true, it would rapidly bring about the collapse of capitalism. There's some welcome perspective in this article from Simon Hurst. Extract:

...the spreadsheet on its own is rarely the ‘result’. Instead, the ‘result’ is a Frankenstein like amalgam of human and spreadsheet. The spreadsheet creator is intimately and inextricably linked to their spreadsheet. They know its problems, its weaknesses, its strengths and its vulnerabilities and they almost subconsciously allow and correct for these when they unleash it to the wider world. This highlights a key spreadsheet concern – once the spreadsheet escapes the complete control of its creator, all of its previously disguised horrors are unleashed on an unsuspecting world. The situation is almost always made worse by another similarity with Shelley’s fictional creation – the lack of adequate user documentation.

Euro debt crisis explained

Steve Jobs pitches on Dragons' Den

Pension Compulsion

I went to a great presentation by Neil Mutton of Q&A People Matter on Pension Compulsion.

The Government is getting very serious about making people save for their retirement. Among the points that stood out:-

• Employers must enrol all their employees (with very few exceptions) into a pension scheme
• There are 43 different dates at which this can take effect for individual employers. Big companies start in October 2012 & all employers are in the boat by October 2016.
• Contributions are 8% of pay, of which 3% comes from the employer.
• Employees can opt out, but doing so is difficult and bureaucratic, and only lasts for 3 years. Then they are automatically re-enrolled.
• The administration and compliance burden falls on the employer.
• Penalties for non-compliance are draconian. Up to £10,000 per day!! Beyond that, even prison sentences are possible.
  
• Penalties also apply to advisers. For a recruitment agency or financial adviser to make a statement like:- 'You could employ two part timers rather than one full timer and save the need to enrol them in the pension scheme', would be illegal and subject them to penalties. So much for freedom of speech!
  

We can't ignore this. If you're not sure what to do, then you must get advice.

Thanks again to Neil Mutton at Q&A People Matter

The Euro debt crisis explained

In animation.

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