Latest Business News

25th October 2019.

James Salmon, Operations Director.

TAX

Mel Stride promises to act “without fear or favour”
The new chairman of the Treasury Committee has pledged to behave independently after MPs raised fears that he would be “marking his own homework”. Former Treasury minister Mel Stride said: “I want to reassure all MPs and members of the public that the Treasury Committee will hold the Government fully to account without fear or favour.” MPs fear Mr Stride will stymie efforts to investigate the disguised remuneration loan charge, a policy in which he had a role. Conservative MP Steve Baker said: “I know Mel will want to demonstrate his independence immediately. Investigating the loan charge debacle would be a great start.”
The Daily Telegraph Yorkshire Post, Page: 18

Blockchain tax drawbacks highlighted at conference
Much of the financial services industry could be rendered irrelevant by blockchain technologies such as Ethereum, according to Business 5.0’s John Straw, who told Computing’s recent Cloud and Infrastructure Live event, also in his capacity as an advisor to McKinsey and IBM, that if banks were done away with, there would be no central clearing houses, and therefore no tax. He went on to note that tax generated by financial services would not shift to blockchain-based alternatives, because: “Blockchain makes transactions invisible to the taxman. That’s why France and Germany have basically banned [Facebook’s proposed cryptocurrency] Libra, and quite rightly so.”
Computing

Contractor sector disappointed with HMRC off-payroll guidance
Reform of the off-payroll working rules from April next year has been greeted with disappointment by the contractor industry, with law firm Lawspeed observing that the note was “not as yet the substantive and detailed guidance that the recruitment industry and its clients want and need.” CWC Solutions, meanwhile, stated: “Bar one or two interesting statements, there’s simply nothing new here.” Bauer & Cottrell, an IR35 advisory, questioned the timing of HMRC’s issuing of the briefing, asking if it is because large and medium-sized firms are “complaining that key talent that they need are likely to walk… due to the risk of retrospective investigation”.
Contractor UK

INDUSTRY

Anti-corruption group traces illicit cash in UK
A new report by Transparency International UK reveals how “dirty money” works its way into Britain’s economy via banks, law and accounting firms, schools and universities and luxury goods. The anti-corruption group analysed 400 cases with a British link over the last 30 years and found illicit funds had moved through 86 banks and financial institutions, 81 law firms, 62 accountants, and more than 2,200 companies in Britain and its overseas territories. While Transparency International said it was not making allegations of wrongdoing, it claimed that it had now shed light on those companies which had attracted clients with “money and pasts to hide” and called for an overhaul of the UK’s anti-money laundering supervisory regime.
BBC News The Independent, Page: 54

CORPORATE

Supercuts calls in administrators
The owner of the Supercuts hairdressing chain has appointed administrators, putting 1,200 jobs at risk. The collapse of Regis UK, which trades under the Supercuts and Regis brands in shopping centres and on the high street, follows its attempt to cut rents through a Company Voluntary Arrangement. Shops are expected to continue trading while Deloitte explores options for the business.
The Times, Page: 40 The Guardian, Page: 37 The Sun, Page: 28 Daily Mirror, Page: 7

QuickQuid on brink of collapse
Payday lender CashEuroNet UK, which trades under the QuickQuid brand, is on the verge of collapse, with Grant Thornton lined up to handle the administration. CashEuroNet UK is owned by New York Stock Exchange-listed Enova International, whose other UK brand, On Stride Financial, provides unsecured personal loans of up to £5,000 as an alternative to payday loans.
The Daily Telegraph, Business, Page: 3 The Independent Daily Express, Page: 55 City AM, Page: 5 The Times, Page: 40

FIRMS

BM Advisory facilitates sale of Jena Tec, saving all jobs
BM Advisory and Finn Associates, joint administrators for of Jena Tec Precision Limited, have successfully concluded a sale of the business and assets of the Nottingham-based manufacturer to Motion Control Engineering Limited.
Press Release

SMEs

VC into Scottish start-ups rises
Venture capital funding is on the rise in Scotland with over £32m pumped into Scottish start-ups in the third quarter of 2019, according to a new report from KPMG. The figure compares with the £23.8m invested in the Q2. But the figures, compiled by Pitchbook, reveal that deal volume dipped slightly, from 16 deals in the second quarter to 13 in the third. Amy Burnett, manager in KPMG’s enterprise team, said: “Venture capital investment in Scotland’s fast-growth businesses is as robust as ever and it appears Brexit and other uncertainties have failed to slow the appetite for supporting tech-focused industry disrupters.”
The Scotsman, Page: 37

Small companies know how to treat employees
Discussing corporate purpose, Bachu Biswas says in a letter to the FT that large firms should treat their employees like small businesses do – as their most valued asset.
Financial Times, Page: 14

PERSONAL FINANCE

FCA deserved criticism over consumer scandals, admits Bailey
Andrew Bailey has conceded criticism of the FCA over recent personal finance scandals was justified but argued the regulator is not required to prevent risk taking. The watchdog has faced criticism for its response to RBS’ Global Restructuring Group scandal, the collapse of London Capital & Finance and more recently the collapse of former star fund manager Neil Woodford’s investment empire. Mr Bailey pledged to invest more in the FCA’s data analytics team to help spot problems sooner.
Financial Times City AM The Daily Telegraph, Business, Page: 3

PENSIONS

HMRC rule change on redundancy pay
Savers could deposit redundancy payments into their pensions via salary sacrifice, under new regulations from HMRC. David Everett, partner at LCP, commented: “Individuals sometimes want to use taxable termination payments to make contributions to their pension scheme. Once the changes are in place it might be attractive to arrange this by way of sacrifice for an employer pension contribution because of the consequent employer NI saving.”
FT Adviser

ECONOMY

UK rises up World Bank business rankings
The UK has climbed to eighth place in the World Bank’s annual rankings, up from ninth a year ago. The report tracks regulations, administration and barriers to establishing and running businesses. The UK has made it easier to start a business, with it now quicker and cheaper for a business to get connected to electricity supply, for example. However, business costs have increased due to a more onerous pensions regime and the extra time required to administer taxes. International trade secretary Liz Truss said the report showed the UK is one of the best places to do business in the world and was why Britain continued to be the number one destination for attracting foreign direct investment in Europe, and third globally after the USA and China.
The Daily Telegraph The Times, Page: 46

EMPLOYMENT

A record 75% of British mothers are in work
Figures from the Office for National Statistics show the proportion of working mothers has hit a record high with 75% having jobs – up from 66% in 2000 and 70% in 2014. Research also shows over a quarter of new mothers return to full-time work or self-employed jobs within three years of having a baby.
Daily Mail

OTHER

Six years for BA club fraudster
Fraudster Carole Farr has started a six-year jail sentence after being found guilty of stealing more than £1m from the British Airways staff club. Farr faked her CV in order to win promotion from secretary in 2012 to finance director in 2014 and then chief executive financial director, even entering false details of her accountancy qualifications at Companies House. She spent £500,000 living the high life and sent over half a million to her Nigerian internet boyfriend. Had BA checked Farr’s background they would have discovered she was a convicted fraudster who had served a community order.
The Times, Page: 17 The Daily Telegraph, Page: 2 Daily Express, Page: 33 Daily Mail, Page: 20

Budget scrapped because of election call
Sajid Javid has announced that he is pulling his planned November 6 Budget because of the decision to push for an election on December 12.
The Times, Page: 8

Do you sell on credit?

With pressures on the cash flow it is essential that you stay on top of the credit limits you grant customers and watch carefully for any late payments.

Those customers will look for the easiest option to boost their cash-flow. Don’t let it be you.

You can’t just assume your customers can and will pay you eventually, no matter how big their name is.

It is essential to have credit management systems in place to monitor and check your customers credit worthiness.

It is also best practice to use a trusted third party like CPA to make sure you are paid on time by customers, no matter how good a name they have.

About CPA

The Credit Protection Association can help!

Formed in 1914, CPA has been providing credit management services to SMEs for over 100 years.

At the Credit Protection Association, we provide first class credit information that can help you avoid being over extended to customers who are at risk. Our monitoring service can flag up warning signs long before the end, giving you the chance to adjust and reduce your exposure. We provide recommended credit limits and credit scores on a traffic light system and can help you set appropriate credit policies for your customers.

We regularly publish lists of the latest insolvencies but by then it is too late. Our credit reports however predict approximately 96% of company insolvencies long before they arrive.

Companies in trouble usually have very bad cash flow and they try to deal with it by delaying payment to their suppliers, increasing your exposure to them.

If you supply on credit, help us help you identify the risks.

Why use a third party collector?

As a third party collector, we can also get your payments prioritised over those who are not as hot on collections. When you customer receives a letter from the Credit Protection Association regarding their outstanding account, they are going to want to get that resolved as a priority. Our overdue account recovery service can get your unpaid invoices to the top of their “to do” list and get your invoice paid.

Over the years we have collected billions in overdue invoices for our customers.

Our debt recovery and credit management services give our members the financial freedom needed to grow and prosper, while our new Late Payment Compensation department could unlock hidden potential and offer the compensation needed to springboard your business to success.

The Credit Protection Association – Prompting Punctual Payments – Ethical, Effective, Efficient, Economical collections

Ready to speak to an advisor?

For help or advice on credit management, entirely without obligation.

Call us today

0330 053 9263

CPA is passionate about late payment

The Credit Protection Association has been protecting smaller firms against poor payment practices for over 100 years.

We are extremely passionate about breaking the late payment culture that holds back the UK economy and threatens many SMEs with cash flow difficulties being the single biggest killer of Britain’s small businesses.

If you were regularly paid late we can help. Those former customers used you to boost their own cashflow, regularly paying you late.

As a result you had extra costs, you had the distraction of having to chase payment, you had opportunity costs because your capital was tied up in their late invoices.

Under little used legislation, you are entitled to compensation for those late payments.

Now you can boost your own cash-flow.

CPA can help unearth the those hidden treasures.

We have the technology to reveal the compensation you are due and we have the extensive experience and expertise to then turn those claims into cash.

Yes, CPA can help you boost your business cash-flow.

Don’t let your bankers control you, contact CPA today.

The Credit Protection Association – Prompting Punctual Payments – Ethical, Effective, Efficient, Economical collections

Read our blog here on how to crack down on the late payment culture.

Read our blog here on how to give late payers the slap they need.

The “Why” of the late payment culture.

New PM should walk the walk and back small firms over late payments

Paying late is “crack cocaine” to big business.

Late payment culture risks “spiraling out of control”

visit our late payment compensation page

See our full blog and FAQ on late payment compensation

Do you realise you could be sitting on a fortune?

Late payments often result in a cash flow crunch and leave SMEs in need of a cash injection.

If you sold B2B on credit then there may be a hidden source of capital you can call on.

If you fancy an bit of extra cash in your business, rather than jumping through hoops with your bank, you could look to uncover the resources from an unexpected source within your own business.

Not many are aware but there could be a hidden fortune within your business, sitting there, just waiting to be uncovered and released.

We can help you uncover the pile of gold, you didn’t even know you were sitting on.

If you trade with other businesses and were often paid late then you could be entitled to significant compensation.

Under little known and under-utilised legislation your business could be due huge amounts in compensation that you didn’t even know about.

Let’s be clear – this is not a way to weaken any customer relationships you value. It is one that identifies who’s been paying late and then recover the potentially significant sums in compensation using Late Payment Legislation from businesses where the relationship has already ended.

You can pick and choose who you want us to follow up – but once we’ve agreed which companies you’d like to pursue compensation from it’s a fast process and there’s no financial outlay to you whatsoever. My team at CPA put its expertise to work to recover the compensation due and fight late payment culture.

That compensation could provide the cash boost your business needed.

But don’t delay, that compensation evaporates if not claimed within six years of the late payment.

How can CPA help?

CPA has developed a unique technology to dig into your accounting records and discover the cash injection you are due by means of compensation. The software does all the hard work. Our software interacts over the cloud with over 300 different software packages, working directly with your accounts package, just so long as it’s stored on a computer.

We recognise that most companies do not have the resources to spend time on the identification and calculation of Late Payment Compensation. Our service can produce an Analyses within just a few days with (usually) less than 30 mins of co-operation from our clients. We work directly with over 300 accounting packages but can also work with bespoke accounts packages. Indeed, speed is essential as the oldest invoices may fall foul of the 6-year time limit.

Once the Sales Ledger Analyses is made available to clients, all that is required is that management decide which commercially sensitive ex-customers to remove from the list and return it to us.

CPA then uses its years of collection experience to explain and recover the Late Payment Compensation Claims. Clients do not handle any part of the recovery process as our team will take all communications from the companies against who the claims has been made. Often, it’s simply a case of explaining the legislation, sometimes we have to go all the way and enforce the legislation through the courts.

The result is that we are realising clients’ claims worth tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands of pounds which, of course, is pure net profit. You may also be among the recipients of “hundreds of thousands of pounds” should you elect to take advantage of our services.

We do the work, you receive the cash.

If you have supplied goods and services to businesses on credit and were regularly paid late then you could be due significant sums in late payment compensation.

We are talking to companies and unearthing claims in the hundreds of thousands from former business customers who paid them late. Large business customers who abused their power to inflict unfair and sometimes illegal payment practices.

We are helping business owners who are looking to boost the returns from their business before they retire. We are helping businesses who have lost major clients after years of loyal service to get properly compensated for systematic late payment. We are helping companies that were looking to close down, who looked insolvent and finding that cash injection they need to avoid insolvency.

Those former clients who regularly paid you late can finally be made to pay.

Ready to speak to an advisor?

For help or advice on credit management, entirely without obligation.

Call us today

0330 053 9263

The Credit Protection Association is a credit management company established in 1914. If you supply goods or services on credit then we can help you!

The Credit Protection Association – Prompting Punctual Payments – Ethical, Effective, Efficient, Economical collections

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See all our latest news here!

Housekeeping: Opening a New Account

Late payments are never good for business. What can you do?

Get paid earlier by understanding why late payments happen.

Protecting Your Business isn’t Half As Painful As You Think

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – recognising the types of payers you do business with!

See our blog on how to communicate with your debtor early and clearly to set the framework for prompt payments

Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Debt Recovery (But Were Afraid To Ask)

Understand the “why” behind late payments

Read our blog on what to do when not paid on time

10 Bad Habits Every Credit Controller Should Give Up

The Credit Controller’s Best Friend

Debt Recovery: It’s Easier Than You Think!

How Managing Your Cash Flow Can Make You (and Your Business) A Success

Avoid insolvency – Don’t let your money go up in smoke

Read our blog here on how to crack down on the late payment culture.

Read our blog here on how to give late payers the slap they need.

How to overcome 25 of the most common excuses for non-payment

Read our Cash Flow Advice

Read about our overdue account recovery service

Read our blog – What is credit management?

Read our blog – How to select a debt collection agency

20 ways to avoid identity theft

see our blog – 15 steps to avoid invoice fraud

Overcoming 5 common reasons for disputed invoices

Avoid insolvency – Don’t let your money go up in smoke

As insolvencies rise, could you spot these warning signs in your customers?

The Credit Protection Association – Prompting Punctual Payments – Ethical, Effective, Efficient, Economical collections