Payroll under disaster conditions

Millions of Americans may be short of electricity, water or a decent roof over their head after Hurricane Sandy, but are still hoping that their ‘pay check’ arrives. With power cuts potentially stopping regular payroll payments, companies without remotely situated data centres or other disaster plans could struggle to make payments. An article in Payroll World magazine looks at reactions of both employers and employees in the United States trying to cope. Martin Caddick, director of business continuity at PwC, says that larger businesses with facilities outside of the disaster zone will run last month’s payroll from remote centres “It may not be 100% accurate, but it puts money into the staff bank accounts,” he said. He advises that all companies should think of what they would do in a situation ‘analogous to a hurricane and have simple contingency plans to cope.” For more about disaster planning for payroll management read the full article at http://www.payrollworld.com/article/14509/magazine/hurricane-sandy-hits-us-payrolls

Hot topic workshops for payroll professionals

Members of the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals have a number of opportunities this autumn to get up to date with all the changes in payroll and pension legislation. The ‘Hot Topics Workshops’, taking place at London, Birmingham and Glasgow all before Christmas, give an overview of issues such as automatic enrolment for pensions, payroll software and data improvement for real time information. The full day also includes opportunities to network and find out more about Continuing Professional Development (CPD). You can even book a one-to-one appointment to talk to an advisor from the CIPP  to talk about your personal CPD situation. Colleagues who are not yet members can also attend at a slightly higher cost. The London event takes place first on 28^th Nov, then Birmingham on the 4^th Dec and Glasgow on the 13^th Dec. For full details visit the CIPP website. http://www.cipp.org.uk/en/learning-and-development/cipp-events/index.cfm/shorturl/hot-topics/sessionid/A256E47C-7425-4BA5-80D304F3ACB8F723

Freelancer or employee? Public accounts committee urges public sector review

How should finance departments ensure that the freelancers who work for them pay enough tax? Which organisations have significant numbers of employees who don’t pay tax at source? The Public Accounts Committee has recently expressed concerns about the BBC in particular, and other bodies with high numbers of staff apparently in this situation. In an article on the Accountancy Age website, more details are given of the number of employees who work this way and other bodies that the cross-party committee may want to investigate including the NHS and local government. Margaret Hodge MP, chair of the committee, explained that the scrutiny was to ‘show leadership in the fight against tax avoidance’ and that "those whose income is derived from monies raised through taxation have a particular obligation to make sure that they do not use tax avoidance schemes." For more on the review read the full article at http://www.accountancyage.com/aa/news/2214799/mps-shocked-by-bbc-tax-arrangements#ixzz28hcdiJzv

Accountancy Awards 2012 – is your firm on the list?

The nominations for this year’s British Accountancy Awards have recently been announced prior to the awards ceremony on the 21^st November in London. Categories include global, national and regional firms of the year along with awards for audit excellence and accountancy software product of the year. In the Midlands the five firms nominated for ‘Independent firm of the year’ are Accounts Assist, Adams Moore, Coalesco, Sterling Financial and The Chartwell Practice. In the category of ‘Employer excellence’ the nine national candidates cover a range of disciplines from accountancy to tax and auditors. They are Charterhouse (Accountants), DSC Chartered Accountants, Evolution Business & Tax Advisors, Fish Partnership, Fitzgerald and Law, Green & Co, Lamont Pridmore, Price Bailey and UNW. To see whether you work for one of the nominated firms or to find out more about the full shortlist, visit the Accountancy Age website, organisers of the nominations and event. See more here http://www.accountancyage.com/aa/news/2205419/british-accountancy-awards-2012-the-shortlist#ixzz27OOc7nCg

Is your payroll office ready for RTI?

‘Real Time Information (RTI) is about to become one of the biggest things to hit payroll since the introduction of Pay As You Earn (PAYE).’ That’s according to John Black, RTI specialist at Midland HR, writing on the Fresh Business Thinking website. This fundamental change to how and when employees pay details are sent to HMRC affects all employers and businesses. Rather than an end-of-year P45 submission, employees’ pay details will be sent monthly. All businesses need to be signed up for the new scheme by October of this year. Many businesses have taken part in trials of these changes for the payroll department since April. Feedback so far has been generally positive. Payroll managers are encouraged both to get involved early in the scheme and to speak to their supplier of payroll software. For a clear, comprehensive guide for payroll managers and employees, read the full article at http://www.freshbusinessthinking.com/articles_print.php?CID=1&AID=10775

More help to be offered at tax office

To help individuals and businesses get through to the previously overstretched HMRC call centres, staff numbers are to be increased with 1000 more recruits. Large investments are due to be made at tax helpline call centres in order to meet its target of answering 90% of calls. A report in June of this year found that currently one quarter of calls go unanswered with many people hanging up after waiting an average of nearly 6 minutes. Quoted in an article on the  Accountancy Age  website, Liz Homer, Chief Executive of HMRC, described the current situation, “”The feedback we get is that the quality of the advice we give when people get through is good, but we haven't been answering enough calls." Response rates have increased recently and the Treasury aims to reach its targets with future investments. For more details on the new jobs at tax office call centres read the full article at http://www.accountancyage.com/aa/news/2198024/taxman-to-take-on-extra-1-000-contact-staff

Actuaries – book now for events and conferences

If you’re a professional actuary taking a break in August, make sure you keep a look out for all the events happening in September. For increased knowledge of your industry, networking or gaining extra CPD hours, there may well be an event on The Actuarial Profession's event calendar that can help. If you want to to get a European perspective, the ‘annual gathering of the UK’s general insurance actuarial community’ will be held in Brussels this year with themes including pricing, reinsurance and strategic modeling. Closer to home there are conferences and workshops in Leicester, Manchester and London. In particular for those unable to attend the annual pensions conference in Brighton, shorter events in both Manchester and London will look at the conference highlights with additional speakers. Other specialist events include ‘Actuaries and the Law’. For more on these events to develop your skills, knowledge and contacts, read the events page at http://www.actuaries.org.uk/events/calendar/2012-9/all