So, what is Real Time Information?

Real Time Information (RTI) is a HMRC initiative to improve the accuracy of PAYE, reducing the need to send out corrections for overpayment or underpaying and the possibility of fraud.

Under RTI employers will be required to submit information electronically to HMRC on or before they pay their employees instead of just once a year.

What has been clear to me is that there is a clear divide between people who think RTI is a good thing and those that don’t but one thing for sure is that almost all see it as just another compliance aspect they need to deal with on top of  Self-Assessment, iXBRL, Financial and Payroll Year End for their clients.

Use RTI to strengthen your business

Some Accountants I’ve talked to are looking at RTI increasing the time and administration of running a payroll and considering whether they need to increase costs but could this be counterproductive in that you may trigger some clients to look elsewhere.

Other forward thinking Accountants are looking at RTI positively in turning around their viewpoint that payroll is a loss leader but a great client acquisition tool in their business today into an opportunity to drive more clients into their business.

Whatever you think and feel about RTI, there is one thing that I would recommend that you do; communicate with your clients, let them know RTI is coming, let them know what it means to them and tell them not to worry about it. With the support of both yourselves and Sage inspire confidence that we have RTI covered.

Get ready for RTI ahead of the crowd

I’m a typical male who always leaves things to the last minute, but if I had the chance to get RTI Ready before most other practices I would jump at the chance. Well, if you want to get your practice and your clients Payroll RTI Ready before April 2013 you can.

You and your clients have the fantastic opportunity to not only be RTI ready but also help shape how HMRC and Sage provide on-going help and support.

Register now

If you are interested simply click RTI Pilot Registration and we will be in contact soon.

In my next blog I will be talking more about Sage’s plans to make the transition into RTI as simple and seamless as possible, but in the meantime you can find more information about RTI and we are doing on our website at www.sage.co.uk/rti

Neilson Watts – Sage Payroll Expert

If you run a Twitter feed, you have to work hard to build a loyal follower base and ideally you don’t want to start losing followers purely because of the volume of tweets you post. From a strictly mathematical stance your ideal volume of tweets could be worked out something like this:

According to recent research, on average every twitter account has 126 followers*. The majority of Twitter users either have a 1:1 following to follower ratio, or worse. If you assume that each of the accounts they follow tweets once per day then you can assume that their stream will receive a minimum of 126 tweets per day.

* http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2009/jun/29/twitter-users-average-api-traffic

Using this method to prevent your tweet volumes appearing spammy, I would advocate aiming to avoid having two of your tweets appear in the most recent display on Twitter when a user logs on. i.e.:

I’ve created a diagram here to show how that mathematical principle would work:

Personally speaking, I think that this kind of approach is a bit too formulaic. We’re talking about human social interaction, not engineering! After all, the reason we all use twitter is to follow people who say or discuss interesting things. I’m not going to stop following them just because they throw out a couple of extra messages a day.

It’s when a Twitter user is no longer producing interesting content that I would start to consider my options. Overall I would suggest that good content planning is more conducive to retaining followers than concerning yourself too much about a ‘golden’ number of tweets to deliver.

Try to think about your end user’s experience, review your twitter profile and read your stream. Are you adding value to your users by providing them with important content, or are you just retweeting other news sources? More often than not, you will find followers will decide to take their content from the horse’s mouth if you aren’t adding value to it.

My advice would be add your insight and comment to stories you share, that way you aren’t just aggregating other people’s content, you are creating your own.

Which after all is kind of the point!

Alex Walker, Sage Accountants’ Team @alexatsage

My answer to this is simple, think about the last time you needed to know something, not specifically a business query, but anything.

What did you do? Where did you go to find information?

I’d be amazed if more than five percent of you didn’t think ‘I Googled it’. Research is showing that our behaviour is changing; we are now much more inclined to trust internet search engine results ahead of paid-for directory listings, and we trust higher ranking websites ahead of those below them. This change is going to be reflected in the behaviours of your target audience, so you must consider search engines as integral to developing your business.

So the next question has to be, how do I rank higher on search engines?

Websites are regularly indexed by mathematical algorithms which calculate their ranking position, the precise indexing algorithm is kept top-secret but it considers factors such as Keyword Density, Meta Content, Age of Content, Inbound Links and Richness of Content.

High ranking websites will be rich in relevant keywords for the given search string, well built, updated regularly, referenced regularly and contains a healthy mixture of images, text and videos. These attributes are also typical of blogs, and so they can be invaluable to improving your website’s performance on search engines.

So, now you understand that having a blog can add value, we come to the crucial part, content. A lot of people are concerned about creating content; they assume that because they are not journalists or writers, that no-one will be interested in what they have to say. I argue to the contrary, regardless of whether you are a secretary, accountant or bookkeeper, what you are is an expert in your professional field and someone whose experience and insight has value to your peers.

Thought leadership

In Sage we refer to this as ‘Thought Leadership’, being seen by your industry as a reliable source of relevant information. Writing a blog isn’t easy, far from it. Your content needs to be accurate, relevant, engaging and most importantly original. Once you get into the habit of writing though, it becomes a lot less challenging and you will actually find that there are lots of topics out there for you to discuss.

What are the latest developments from HMRC, has using software helped your practice become more efficient, how will VAT changes impact upon your clients, how has working with your practice helped resolve problems for a client. There are a handful of topics ripe for blogging, which you can have on me!

Ideally I’d recommend keeping your blogs fairly short, something like 300 words is about right, and should only take you around half an hour to write. When you start, don’t overstretch yourself, try to write a blog once a fortnight, perhaps while you’re having a sandwich over your keyboard. Don’t expect instant results, but keep writing anyhow, the more relevant content you create, the better. The key part is that if you persevere, you will get results.

If you use other social media like Twitter, Facebook or Linkedin, then share your content there as well. Every click and inbound link will add to your blog’s authority and help to improve search engine performance.

Once you’re feeling confident in your blogging, you could even guest blog on Sage’s blog, we’re always interested in hosting content, which by linking back to your site will add to its authority. Just let us know if you fancy giving it a go!

Alex Walker, Sage Accountants’ Team @alexatsage

A 10-hour day. 5 individual sessions. Around 50 customers in total, all of whom would probably prefer to be on billable time. I must be mad!

Me and my colleagues on one side of the 1-way glass (a little twitchy, wondering whether we were going to like what we heard), the customers sat in the plusher room and comfier chairs on the other (presumably ready to sock it to us). One plus for us though: we had wine in our fridge!

We’d hired a mediator via a local agency, the discussion guides were approved and ready to go, the first group now all sat in their chairs, intros done, the lights dimmed on our side of the glass, the final True Lies impression done by one of my co-workers, so we hit ‘record’ on the video camera.

Turns out, the sessions were extremely insightful.

Not everyone waxed lyrical about us, that’s never going to happen; but we certainly had plenty of advocates and when they came up against the odd person who disagreed, it was genuinely interesting to see people argue over the pros and cons of our work.

It’s reassuring that the majority of people want to be nice, although you’ll always have to accept that not everyone is going to say what you want to hear. Expect to see someone literally jumping around on their seat, sprouting disgruntled feedback before the mediator has even done the intros round. And why not? They’ve given up their time to be there!

Still, I know I adopted a somewhat puckered posture when someone took a pop at my magazine (labelling it “just a piece of marketing!”); and just maybe I found myself approaching the glass, climbing up on the shelf below the viewing pane, ready to flip through it.

Okay maybe I exaggerated that last point, but it does rather force you on the defensive (or attack??) when you’re not hearing a ringing endorsement of what you currently offer.

Thankfully, I remember my über-defensive stance wasn’t needed for too long, as customers started to give examples of what they genuinely liked about our products, our marketing and, thankfully, our little magazine. My arms loosened, hands slipping casually into my pockets, I stepped back from window.

10 hours and 5 sessions seems like a heck of a long day when you think it’s going to be an endless upper and downer, between smiling serenely at warm praise one minute, and then curling up in a ball the next.

But once you’ve decided mentally that you’re just going to sit and listen, take the rough with the smooth to try and form an holistic and objective summary of what customers perceptions truly are, you really do get a lot out of them.  And of course you don’t have to do 5 sessions, but the more you hear and the more you see, the more solid your interpretation is, and you’re not allowing one or two people to skew your summary either way.

Okay they may be tough at times, but I say the more focus groups the better. Blissful ignorance gets you nowhere…

Steve Porter, Sage Accountants’ Team

Since early July, HMRC have been targeting – via a series of direct communications  – approximately 40,000 UK businesses who should now be VAT registered, having already reached the current VAT threshold of £73k. If you are an accountant, you could well have clients who’ve been contacted in such a way.

HMRC say that failure by these targeted businesses to register for VAT will result in serious implications. Put simply, if a business reaches the threshold and remains unregistered, HRMC will recoup the full tax owed and may charge a substantial penalty for non-disclosure.

However, as part of this brief ‘VAT Initiative’ period, HMRC are aiming to raise an estimated £600m from a voluntary disclosure process. The current campaign encourages those with outstanding liabilities to come forward and make a full disclosure in exchange for preferential settlement terms. It states that most disclosures will qualify for a 10% penalty, instead of the normal penalty of up to 100% of the tax, as well as the likelihood of the disclosure being accepted without undergoing any follow up queries.

After the registration deadline of 30 September 2011, HMRC has warned that it will start investigations into businesses that have not come forward, by making use of information compiled using ‘web-bot’ software. Using this software, HMRC can now more accurately pinpoint businesses that have failed to pay the right tax by matching a vast amount of data, enabling a fast and focused response to tax evasion. It highlights previously hidden relationships, uncovering anomalies between such elements as bank interest and property income.

What’s the process if your clients have been targeted under this initiative?

Firstly, the business will have to decide whether it wants to notify HMRC, or run the risk of carrying on unregistered. If the business decides to notify an intention to make a disclosure, it has until 30 September 2011 to do so by downloading and completing the VAT Initiative Notification Form.  Unfortunately, the form can’t be filed with HMRC online, instead it must be posted.

The business then has until 31 December 2011 to provide HMRC with a full disclosure – by filling out a VAT1 form – and to pay the tax, interest and penalties. It’s vital for the business to include on this form the Notification Reference Number (NRN) they receive once the initial notification has been processed.  Without the NRN, a business will not be able to take advantage of the lower penalties on offer as part of the initiative.

The facility also allows for the disclosure of additional, related tax liabilities, other than VAT. Again these can be disclosed with a lower penalty than HMRC would charge during an investigation.

How can Sage accountants help?

Although promoted as a straightforward process by HMRC, it is clear from the guidance there are a number of taxpayers and circumstances where the full benefits of the VAT Initiative may not apply. Businesses in such a position will be advised to contact their accountant.

You may not have any clients who’ve been targeted by the initiative, but we’d still stress the importance of any business to maintain accurate and complete bookkeeping records. Sage offers a range of solutions to assist, all of which boast fast, first-time online filing of VAT. Sage Instant Accounts, Sage 50 Accounts, and our online accounting solution, Sage One*, all offer comprehensive VAT management and online filing. For more information on VAT management software available for your clients, call us on 0845 111 1111 today or visit www.growgreenshoots.co.uk.

*online VAT filing facility offered in Sage One Accounts

Georgina Timothy, Sage Accountants’ Division Trainer

One of the better know examples is the London Underground Map, which takes a network of train lines and stations of potentially overwhelming complexity and using simple colour coding makes it simple, navigable and beautiful.

We decided to try our hand at infographics because as we’re sure you know, the world of accountancy, finance and taxation can be complex. And we feel that there are better ways to present this data than just through tables! The beauty of infographics is that they also allow you to provide a narrative to the data, whilst representing the numbers in a manner that is more easily digested.

We chose to produce an Accountant’s Overview of Social Media as we know from our recent Roadshows and Virtual Conference that it is a topic which is prompting a lot of debate in the industry.  I hope you find it useful and if you have any feedback, we’d love to hear it!

So without further ado, here is Sage Accountants’ Division’s first infographic:

Alex Walker, Sage Accountants’ Team

Jon Martingale

I love Question Time. I love staying in on a Thursday night, with a glass of red wine, watching Hugh Grant take on the tabloids, or listening to a couple of political veterans debating the topical subject of the week. But I must admit, that I always think that I could do just as well if I had the chance to discuss my own areas of expertise.

Thinking this is one thing, but actually having to prove it is quite different. So, when I got asked if I would be willing to be involved in a discussion on iXBRL (if iXBRL is a mystery to you then check out our XBRL doesn’t have to be four letter word blog post), and this would be filmed to world-wide audience, I admit I was hesitant.

The offer was to discuss XBRL: ‘the vision versus reality’, for the ACCA virtual conference taking place on the 27^th July 2011. The opportunity to be involved in such a high profile event, to engage with accountants as a representative of Sage, and to do something as cool as a ‘virtual conference’ was too great. I chose to ignore my doubts and go for it.

Prior preparation and planning prevents poor performance

So, on the day of filming I had done my XBRL revision, and was preparing myself for time in ‘make up’ getting ready to be in front of the cameras, the shout of “action” from a director, followed by multiple takes of the filming of each question and answer until we got things right. However, the reality was a little different.

We had a 60 minute continuous discussion, with some pre-prepared questions but also the opportunity to develop interesting topics – effectively going off-piste but with the pressure of knowing any mistake would be caught on camera. This was much more like Question Time than I could have ever imagined!

Having lived and breathed iXBRL in relation to Sage UK and software for the last 9 months, it was also a challenge to ensure that I kept discussions very general. And given the global audience, I also had to consider the world-wide impact of XBRL rather than just focusing on the UK – something I had not considered until the cameras started rolling.

Presenting to the Daleks

Ah, the cameras. Earlier this year, I presented at many Sage XBRL road show events. And whilst I enjoyed the experience immensely, it was a challenge of my presenting skills to articulate messages effectively and share important information. I assumed that 3 cameras would be much easier to talk to than a room full of Sage customers, but how wrong I was. Having ‘Daleks’ (well that’s what they felt like at the time anyway) with bright green lights pointing at you is off-putting indeed and the total lack of audience feedback is unnerving. You do not appreciate the collective nod of an agreeing audience fully, until it is not there when you speak in public.

I have to admit, it was a great experience though, and a new way for me to gain new insight and appreciation on a familiar subject. I have taken information that we discussed on the day and will use it to inform future software development. So, customers on the Sage strategic development group may have a chance to share their views on my ideas in the future. And who knows, in the future, users of Sage software may find a new feature in their software that was first thought of during the filming for the ACCA virtual conference.

Following this experience, I will look to be involved in filmed discussions in the future and hope I get opportunities to develop my on screen skills. And one thing is for sure, when I next watch Question Time, I will definitely have more of an appreciation for how tough the job of a panelist is.

Jon Martingale, Sage Accoutants’ Team

Paul Donno

Sorry – competition now closed – We’re giving away three free tickets to the ICAEW’s Business Benefits of Social Media (in association with Sage). To win leave a comment on this blog post by Thursday 30th June and we’ll randomly chose the winners. Don’t forget to include your email address!

It revolutionised our leisure time, now social media is redefining the way we do business too. Or is it? I work in marketing and over the past 3 years social media has become a widely used communication channel; every campaign that I work on now has a ‘social media’ element.  I happily admit that I live in a ‘communication’ bubble due to my role, so was left wondering if the rest of the world is switched onto using social media for business…or is it just us?

It seems that the answer from accountants is “yes, we are interested”. So interested in fact that ICAEW approached us about partnering with them to create a social media event for accountants, as they felt there was a need for accountants to get more information on this subject and how they can use it to market their practice. Obviously we agree!

So is it useful to my business?

Like all marketing tools, getting it right takes time and energy. A well-defined social media plan will help you achieve further growth. And as accountants are finding out, the benefits of an effective strategy can be many and varied, offering cost-effective ways to market your practice and services.

Ok, sounds good, but give me an example…

This is where I hand over to Accountant, Paul Donno, who has been one of those accountants keen to embrace the trend which is now providing him great results. His Suffolk-based practice, Paul Donno & Co Ltd, serves more than 300 small to medium-sized clients and has had a formal social media strategy in place since 2010.

For us it’s about branding and marketing, about putting a human face to our business and broadcasting our messages to a wider audience.

It gives clients a snapshot of who we are and how we operate and can work well as a recruiting tool. It is straightforward to negotiate, extremely cost-effective – in most instances it will only cost you the time it takes to update your account – and it’s fast too.

We use it in a variety of ways, most notably to tell people about things like training courses. The results speak for themselves. We’ve just had bookings for two days of ACT! training as a direct consequence of our Twitter advertising.

Our followers are growing every day, so much so we’ve taken on an external agency to manage our account for us. Now we’re looking to identify further channels and ways of reaching our clients and market.”

Paul’s Tips For Social Media Success

Be consistent

If you are going to have a social media presence, you must be prepared to maintain it. There’s no point starting something you can’t finish!

We’ve issued three iPhones to staff on the condition that they use them to tweet every day, that way we know there will always be a steady flow of information.

Decide on tone and content

Think carefully about the image you want to project – and the language you need to use to do this.

In relation to content for our corporate Twitter account, my brief is actually fairly wide. At this stage, I’m as interested in the idea of creating a solid social media presence as the content. I trust my team to produce tweets and content that is appropriate – in the same way I’d trust them to attend a networking event and behave in a way that was respectful.

Think engagement

For me, social media is a great way of engaging with people – and showing them the human side of your business. With that in mind, content has to be engaging – interesting enough to keep their attention and relevant enough to keep them coming back for more.

Who will manage things moving forward?

Many practices, including ours, consider taking on an external agency to manage and implement their social media strategy. They can help monitor your output, take care of day to day maintenance and also measure your success.

Joined up thinking

It’s worth thinking about how you are going to let people know you have a social media presence and where they can find you.

Linking different platforms – websites, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn pages– is relatively straightforward and can help direct traffic. We have recently added a live Twitter feed to our web page to ensure clients can see what we’re saying, and what our thoughts are, across a range of platforms.

Look ahead

Technology is constantly transforming the way we communicate and we are always looking for the next ‘big thing’. YouTube is going to be massive for us. We’re looking in to using it at the moment because it’s great for putting short, sharp messages across in an accessible way.

Follow Paul Donno @pauldonno

Follow Sage UK @sageuk

To register or find out more go to ICAEW Business Benefits of Social Media in association with Sage or follow  #icaewsm on Twitter

Sheryl Thomposon, Sage Accountants’ Team and Paul Donno, Paul Donno & Co Ltd

Jon Martingale, Sage Accountants' Division

From 1 June, HMRC has been trialling a ‘single compliance process’ for enquiries across a range of taxes. Most people will not be aware of what ‘single compliance process’ is, so firstly, let me explain what this process is and what it could mean.

The single compliance process is a framework within which HMRC will undertake the majority of future enquiries. The framework uses five process stages (planning, contact, process, resolution and closing) common to most enquiries. Any enquiry will have a set level of intensity dependent on the risks identified. The level of intensity will determine how long the enquiry will last, ranging from 1.5 to 8 days.

The trial will run for 6 months in the following locations:

• Reading/Slough
• Newcastle
• Warrington
• York
• Exeter
• London Euston
• Southampton
• Cardiff
• Belfast
• Edinburgh
• Dundee

During the trial period, the business records of up to 1,200 small and medium businesses will be checked during meetings on business premises. If the trial is successful, the new process will be rolled out nationally from January 2012.

The new process and checks will help HMRC identify mistakes in paperwork and records. If any errors or high risks are detected as part of a check, this will lead to a tax investigation and a fine of up to £3000. If an investigation is undertaken, HMRC will check all areas of compliance – e.g. VAT, income tax, corporation tax and PAYE – as they will work on an assumption that if an error has been made in one area, then errors are likely to have been made in other areas.

HMRC claim that analysis has highlighted how poor record-keeping can lead to underpayment of tax. Once the process is rolled out, up to 50,000 SMEs will be checked each year and HMRC expects to collect an additional £150m a year in tax.

VAT registration

In addition, HMRC have also recently announced a summer campaign on VAT registration. Businesses with an annual turnover at, or close to, the VAT threshold of £73,000 will be checked for VAT registration. It will be important to ensure that businesses who have reached the threshold are VAT registered before any amnesty runs out.

How can Sage accountants help their clients?

It is important that all businesses maintain accurate and complete records moving forward. Sage offers a range of solutions to assist; including Sage 50 Accounts and Sage 50 Payroll, as well as our latest online accounting software – Sage One

Sage One Accounts is an online accounting service for small business owners who want greater control of their finances, but don’t have an accounting background or time for software training. Sage One can automatically calculate VAT based on the information entered by the user, and once it has worked this out will automatically submit the VAT return online in a few clicks. This will allow VAT returns to be submitted to HMRC accurately, efficiently and on time. This can be demonstrated easily to a tax investigator at any PC with an internet connection.

Sage one also offers an ‘Accountant Edition’ to make the process of accountants working with clients seamless and effortless. Accountants simply connect with their clients and access live financial information immediately. This means that the accountant can offer advice and guidance to clients to ensure that they are prepared for any HMRC checks.

Sage One Accountants Edition is available for free to all Sage Accountants Club members*, and you can sign up for a free trial or webex session by visiting www.sageone.com

Jon Martingale, Sage Product Manager

*Standard access fee for Sage One Accountant Edition is £250 per annum. Sage Accountants’ Club members who subscribe to Sage One by purchasing credits for Sage One Cashbook or Sage One Accounts get access for free.

Steve Porter, Exchange Magazine

Hip Replacement?

The mind-meltingly patronising ‘Hip Replacement’ magazine was being pitted against the outdated, garish and gauche ‘Covered’; the former being described as something Viz would mock up, the latter boasting a section classily entitled ‘blowing your load’.

Clichés such as ‘funky’ were being thrown around in wild abandon. “Old people” were being asked what, well, “old people” like nowadays. Guys from the GQ generation were being stopped in the street and asked what they’d blow their aforementioned load on.

In both instances, the response that came back was one of incredulity or just plain dismissal! “I don’t want to tell you” was a common retort when the men were quizzed, and when the “hip” bunch were asked for their input they made it clear that 60 year olds don’t want to think that they’re 60.

So, what followed had me sat eating my arm, as the guys’ utter lack of engagement with the load-blowing section were overlooked, and Hip Replacement was rolled out containing imagery of, well, 60 year olds embracing in the most awkward, unnatural pose – looking every single one of the 60 years they weren’t supposed to be making reference to.

Even for viewers who have never been even remotely involved with magazine editing it was cringe worthy stuff. The looks on the faces of the publishers was priceless, and I never got bored of their reaction to the title ‘Hip Replacement’.

Getting your content right

But then I thought, well what about my own periodical – ‘exchange’ magazine for Sage Accountants’ Club?

Is it right that I sit here, throwing smug criticism after smug criticism at the television screen?

Is my magazine so targeted, so newsworthy, so well written that I can laugh outlandishly at two other magazines falling so far short of the standards of my own prized publication?

Obviously the answer I came to very quickly is “of course it is!”

I guess every editor likes to think that they’ve got their content absolutely nailed down; that they have the right mix of informative, interesting and topical articles.

The harsh truth, though, is that you’re never going to get it absolutely right all of the time – you try to provide the right content for as many people as possible and I suppose you have to accept that 100% of the stuff in there isn’t going to be right for 100% of the readers. But I find the best way to gauge how well you’re doing is to ask the readers, but more importantly to listen to what they’re telling you and then acting on it.

We’ve previously sent out feedback forms with exchange magazine, breaking down all the sections and asking people to rank then. We’ve asked what they want to see more/less of, and all the time we try our best to take this on board. So that customers can see the results in future editions.

My first task as editor of exchange was to completely relaunch it; to give it a complete makeover and to make sure it contained what accountants wanted to see. But even when we relaunched it, in November 2009, we knew we wouldn’t get it 100% right first time. So we used 2-way dialogue with our accountant readers to get their thoughts.

We found out quite early that readers didn’t like the very wide page format, so we changed it and slimmed it down. They wanted to see more technical information and tips on our software, so we doubled the no. of pages dedicated to it.

I’m not saying that exchange is now 100% right for everyone, far from it. But I like to think that it’s constantly moving in the right direction. And we’ll only edge further to that impossible 100% through continuously listening to the folk that read it.

So maybe I won’t be as hard on those Lord Sugar wannabes next week, as I know they didn’t have the luxury of time in order to get their magazine right. And maybe I need to up my game, as it takes me 3 months to produce an edition of exchange, whereas they did it in 9 hours!

And I certainly won’t be shouting at the tele again – because I know they won’t be listening!!

Steve Porter, Exchange Editor