Acareo Ltd

So, with effect from 1st April the flat rate VAT Scheme is changing.It seems our business is now caught by what HMRC term as a “limited costs business”.  Essentially, because our costs of goods is less than 2% of turnover we will have to pay an additional 2% VAT. This coupled up with a reduction […]

With change inevitably comes uncertainty. Organisations are concerned about their finances, especially costs; staff about their jobs, customers about the quality and availability of services or products. Technological change is happening all around us; businesses see savings, opportunities for new markets and but are they geared up for the pace of change and the challenges […]

We made this slideshow back in 2012 – it is still relevant today; just that the numbers will be even more dramatic as the pace of change speeds up.

This week Iain Duncan-Smith will launch the Coalition  Government’s White Paper on Welfare Reform. It has been widely leaked that the paper will include an element of making the “long-term” unemployed undertake some form of work tasks or “mandatory work activity” for their benefits – perhaps as much as 30 hours a week.  The unions […]

Today I landed my first contract as an independent. A small contract but a contract nonetheless; one that will see us through until the next financial year, even if nothing else materialises. With all the doom and gloom surrounding the public sector at the moment I have found a ray of sunshine, albeit a small […]

People who know me know I am Chair of Governors at a local primary school. I guess that makes me a non-paid up member of the Big Society already! Being a volunteer comes naturally to me – I am not one for sitting in the background moaning so I get off my backside and do […]

Efficient, Effective, Economic and Electronic? I used to wonder if any finance managers ever cared about Effective and in my experience they were seriously worried about Electronic; it meant spending money to build websites and online access to services that no one would ever use. Lets face it, the e-Government Programme was hardly a universal […]

So, George Osbourne has had his day; the public sector, the media, social commentators and perhaps even “the general public” now know where the axe will be yielded – or do they? The Chancellor’s speech was big on headlines, but in line (dare I say) with his two immediate predecessors, very short on detail. As […]

It is fast becoming apparent that the “cuts” are likely to be much more widespread than many people could have anticipated. Talk of 40% cuts is, simply unprecedented in the UK public sector; nothing on this scale of savings has ever been demanded before. Most (but by no means all) public bodies have offered up […]