December 31, 2010
Filed under: Sales — Alan @ 5:58 am
The City of Beijing plans to limit its monthly car registrations to just 20,000 over 2011 in order to get control over the amount of traffic in the city. China is the leading automobile market in the world and the restrictions will no doubt drive up the sales numbers for the last few days of December. In fact, over the first two weeks of the month more than 50,000 cars were sold to citizens hoping to get around the restrictions.
Although China was known for the last few decades as the bicycle kingdom of the world, over the year of 2009 in Beijing alone 580,000 cars were sold, and by the end of last year car sales are expected to reach upwards of 850,000. In fact, by the close of 2011 Beijing is expected to have over five million automobiles registered to residents.
As a way to deal with the new restrictions city officials have designed a lottery system for registrations and in order to be eligible for the car lottery citizens must show that they have paid their personal taxes and social security over the past five years.
Parking prices within the city are also due to rise by the month of April and city officials are considering adding additional driving restrictions that will resemble those that were put in place to control traffic during the Olympic Games in the city.
In addition, Beijing officials plan to help lessen traffic congestion by expanding its bicycle lane and subway networks as well as building underground highways that will help minimize the amount of traffic near city buildings.
December 30, 2010
Filed under: Small business — Alan @ 7:41 am
The cold freeze is continuing to have a bad effect on small firms and stores across Britain leading to many to back over their insurance policies in an effort to make sure that they have the best cover in place should they fall into financial problems due to a loss of revenues.
The FSB (Federation of Small Businesses) asked the Alliance and banks to work with them and support small businesses that will need some room to make amends during the winter season following poor New Year and Christmas sales.
The FSB stated that a combination of the public spending cuts, ice and snow, and the increase of the VAT in January will all push some SMEs towards financial problems that they may not be able to get back out of it without the proper support and guidance.
Many SMEs are already in trouble following the poor weather that has led to lower sales than expected and this is not expected to change as the businesses enter the New year therefore the FSB is asking the Government to extend its Time to Pay program that allows small businesses a little flexibility when paying taxes. The FSB has also asked banks to become more flexible when it comes to repayments and business loans that are owed to them.
December 22, 2010
Filed under: Small Business News — Alan @ 9:04 pm
Instead of having Christmas and Boxing Day off, One third of small business owners will be working, over the Christmas holidays, according to a poll of business owners on the FreeIndex business information website. The economic squeeze and inability to detach from work are amongst the main reasons.
‘The figures are worrying, indeed,’ said Martin Turner, managing director of FreeIndex. ‘Taking time off is vital to the well being of workers and business owners. They are risking a burnout by taking none.’
A number of different studies have confirmed that overworking poses short and long-term health risks on workers. One conducted by cancer Research UK has shown that approximately 40% of people are dissatisfied with their work-life balance.
‘Technology has made it easier for people to access work remotely from home or anywhere else, making it difficult to switch off completely. During their holidays, many find themselves unable to resist the temptation of answering their work mobile phone or reply to emails. ’
Filed under: Sales — Alan @ 9:02 pm
Although last weekend should have been the busiest time of the year, blizzards kept shoppers at home and retailers mourning their poor sales despite tempting offers and discounts on household goods, gifts, and clothes.
The West End of London was still crowded even and centres were said to still said to have solid trading numbers, but experts believe that the poor weather likely reduced the amount of sales that could have been made as retailers attempted to match last Christmas’s sales.
HIS Global Insight chief economist for the UK, Howard Archer, stated that the sudden influx of ice and snow was a large blow for retailers that were hoping it would not hit until after the final Christmas shopping weekend. He added that many supply chains faced a hit as well given the fact that their Christmas shipments were stuck at the ports.
The West End Company which represents over 600 retailers in the Regent Street, Bond Street, and Oxford Street are in London, stated that before the blizzard hit they were expecting to see about £130m worth of sales and 1.2m shoppers throughout their stores.
Spokeswoman Sarah Cordey for the British Retail Consortium commented that the weekend was the last shopping opportunity for many people and those who still need them probably were still determined enough to get out to the stores.
The last few weeks before the holidays make up as much as 60% of the yearly turnover for many retailers but as consumers continue refine their budgets in anticipation of government spending cuts stores did not expect to see as a great influx of sales with a BRC survey showing that only 35% of all retailers expected their sales to be higher than last year’s holiday sales.
December 17, 2010
Filed under: FSB — Alan @ 4:58 pm
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Additional jobs, more than 30,000, would be created if the starting point for small businesses paying VAT were increased”, reported the Federation of Small Businesses. Raising the VAT minimum requirement from £70,000 to £90,000 would minimize the VAT bureaucracy, save over £160 million each year, but also reduce VAT payments by £710 million.
From this money over 30,000 jobs could be created. The jobs revenue and the surplus of over £12 billion, from the new 20% VAT, as of January 4, 2011, will compensate for the change in Treasury VAT money.
Coventry chair, Bruce Undy, of the FSB, said that they were requesting the threshold be increased to spare the small businesses, which would be required to pay exorbitant VAT fees. He went on to point out that the government’s commitment to recovery arising from the private sector should make room for small businesses to flourish.
Reinvesting the money saved by small firm from the VAT increase, or hiring new staff, will improve small business growth, according to the Small Business Programme for Growth. Cuts in government spending, as noted in the Comprehensive Spending Review, will go toward recovery, hand in hand with this programme.
The 2.5% hike in VAT will damage the small business and cause the economy to suffer further. Small firms cannot handle the burden of such increases. Consequently, manage will close, placing a further strain on unemployment and a reduction in VAT revenues.
If a business survives it will have to reduce its inventory or pass on the cost to the client. The private sector then will cease to be the tool for recovery and become the albatross around the government’s neck. The latest estimates from the FSB indicate the more than 10% of all firms anticipate reducing their employment in the last quarter.
December 13, 2010
Filed under: Business Software,Business Tools,Small business — admin @ 11:03 am
When running a small business, you’ll need to take a few business training courses in order to properly succeed. You could enroll in a few You could enroll in a few Microsoft Excel courses, which can help in keeping up with payroll and other type of statistics. If you’re not familiar with the rest of the Microsoft Office suite tools for example Microsoft PowerPoint, then you’ll want to get yourself familiarised with them too. This can help make your business easier to keep organised. A few companies online will help you in setting up courses for your small business.
With a small business, it’s best to have staff-training. You want staff-training because of the fact that you can get everyone trained at the same amount of time and the same speed without having to worry about someone getting lost in the process. Small businesses are pretty fast to get going especially when you have everyone assigned to a specific area. There are sites available online where you can enroll to for courses on an area you need.
Small businesses are encouraged to have some forms of business training courses within their company. This not only helps others in seeing what your company actually needs but it can also appeal to many people working for you. If you’re having a hard time trying to find a course, don’t worry. The company would be more than happy to make a few suggestions on what you may need. For example, most businesses may want to look into enrolling people in a few Microsoft Excel training sessions. In Excel, you’ll learn formulas and how to get data in rows and columns. This is especially great for data entry type of jobs. Of course you want to make sure that most of your staff employers have some type of knowledge within the Microsoft Office Suite. It’s a popular program that’s used by many businesses so without due knowledge, it’ll be difficult to keep things organised.
December 12, 2010
Filed under: Small Business News — Alan @ 5:20 am
The government is boasting that it will get rid of Mega contracts in bidding for government projects. The problem is that government has pledged in the past to get the red tape out of the way, which is what they are pledging again.
The government says that it is attempting to make participation by SMEs easier and have even developed a website to this end. Changes to procurement include the possibility of publishing contractual terms online.
The Federation of Small Businesses is watching the developments cautiously. It warns that the current bureaucracy would need to be substantially reduced in order to create opportunity for SMEs, because everyone is going to want to bid.
Small businesses just don’t have full time people whose job is to pitch public sector work. That’s the reason SMEs do not typically get the contracts, one expert advises. So, in order to give SMEs more access, which is what the government is promising, they [the government] will have to substantially change their own bureaucracy.
Less than 20 per cent of government jobs are currently awarded to small business. In a recent survey it was discovered that about 25 per cent of FSB members had done some work for local authorities and around 7 per cent had contracts supplying agencies in government. Another 10 per cent or so had gotten contracts with NHS, while only 5 per cent had ever worked with central government.
The FSB represents the lion’s share of SMEs in the UK, so there is as much as about 95 per cent of Whitehall business going to large companies and conglomerates. It is small wonder that the government is trying to change the perception of their association to small business, say FSB authorities.
December 9, 2010
Filed under: General — Alan @ 6:14 am
The foul winter weather is having a bitter effect on small businesses, according to the Centre for Economics and Business Research. Some 800 small businesses throughout the UK could be in jeopardy.
The weather’s strain on the British economy is not fully known, but it is estimated that the harsh weather could be costing as much as £1 billion daily. Some experts dispute that sum and say the numbers are closer to £250 million, with one in ten businesses hit hard. Either way, Mother Nature is costing the UK.
While businesses such as construction expect delays in operation, they can come back to finish projects after the weather has cleared. Other operations, like retail, restaurants, and pubs will lose business on a permanent basis.
When restaurant reservations, for example, are cancelled due to inclement weather, the business never gets that night back again to recoup. If the loss is repeated, night after night, the business could find itself in financial trouble due to bad weather.
When the bad weather is acting in tandem with bad economic conditions, like we have now, businesses that were just managing to maintain could go under. It is expected that continued poor weather could wipe out several hundred small business operations by cutting cash flow and forcing them into bankruptcy.
The combination of bad weather and the bad economy is going to be the knock out punch for some operations, one expert suggests. Continued loss of revenue due to poor weather will just break their backs.
Many businesses are doing everything they can to adjust to the conditions, like allowing employees to work at home if it’s feasible and altering hours and schedules to accommodate workers and those who do get out.
December 2, 2010
Filed under: Business Awards — Alan @ 6:11 am
The decision handed down by the Court of Appeals in the case of Robert James-Cooper has had some very detrimental effects on the international business climate in the U.K.
In November 2009, the Court ruled that the wealthy entrepreneur did not qualify for a non-resident business tax rate due to his presence in the U.K. for more than the established number of 90 days during a given tax year.
Following that ruling, which James-Cooper’s attorneys argued was inconsistent and discriminatory, foreign investors have been much more leery of the U.K. as a place to invest or do business. Peter Vaines, of the law firm Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, said he believes that the ruling has caused the number of new investors in the U.K. to fall off by half.
Mr. Vaines said that HMRC had re-interpreted the tax laws, specifically the “90-day rule” set out in section IR20. That rule has been understood by everyone concerned to mean that if a taxpayer was not in residence in the U.K. for more than 90 days during a tax year, he or she would qualify for non-resident taxpayer status.
HMRC argued that James-Cooper did not sever his ties with the U.K.; his family home in Henley-on-Thames, visits to Ascot racecourse and a collection of Rolls-Royces based in the country were cited as evidence that he had not adhered to the letter of the law. This is the crux of the argument, since it is not clear exactly what “the letter of the law” means in this case.
Gaines-Cooper remarked that he has dealt with 16 different countries’ tax laws, and those in the U.K. “.took more time and cost more money than the 15 others put together.” He plans to appeal the judgment.
December 1, 2010
Filed under: Business Awards — Alan @ 6:06 am
Standard Chartered Private Bank and the Entrepreneurs Organisation have developed a special award for entrepreneurs who are not only successful at running their own enterprises, but who are active in helping other progressing entrepreneurs along the way.
The award will be called, The Entrepreneur All Rounder. Applicants will have to prove that they are not only successful in their own business endeavours, but will also have to demonstrate a passion and ability to build the community of entrepreneurs in the UK.
The Entrepreneurs Organisation consists of business entrepreneurs from around the world who run operations making £650,000 a year or more.
Representatives of the Entrepreneurs Organisation in the UK said that they believe entrepreneurs will drive the engine of recovery for the country and in giving this reward they are looking not only for businesspeople who demonstrate experience in creating an increase of market share, spear-heading rapid growth, and demonstrating excellent customer service, but individuals who can lead other entrepreneurs to do the same.
The idea and commitment of sharing expertise is what will make the entrepreneur who receives this award an absolute stand out.
Standard Chartered Private Bank is happy to involve itself in The Entrepreneur All Rounder award to help demonstrate its desire to work with entrepreneurs from all around the country in an effort to provide funding and financial services for the businesses it also sees as the future of the UK.
The awards ceremonies will be held next year and applicants can be fielded through the Entrepreneurs Organisation UK.
