A brave accountant admits he needs help and asks for it.

By |2022-10-11T18:51:37+01:00October 18th, 2022|Accountants, Client servikce, Professional Negligence, Tax related|

An accountant approached me last week to ask whether any of the members of my Tax Advice Network would be willing to work with his practice on a regular basis? The answer was 'yes'. The background to this accountant's question was not uncommon. What I admired however was his desire to address the issue. And

Why I gave up giving tax advice

By |2021-07-24T18:12:20+01:00July 27th, 2021|Accountants, Tax related|

This is a very different blog post to usual. I hope it will be of interest to accountants and tax advisers generally even though it does not contain any of my usual insights, guidance and advice. Thirteen years ago, in July 2008, I authored the lead comment article in Taxation magazine: Why

When I’m wrong, I admit it

By |2023-07-25T18:11:03+01:00October 25th, 2012|Tax related|

This post is a post-script to a couple of posts I originally wrote for the TaxBuzz blog. As I no longer update that blog I have to comment here. And, yes, I HAVE to comment. Two people with whom I worked some years ago have been found guilty and imprisoned for their part in a fraudulent tax

Is a ‘me too’ Budget summary worth sending to anyone?

By |2023-07-25T18:13:30+01:00March 14th, 2012|Accountants, Business messaging and branding, Marketing and promotion, Tax related|

Last year I awarded a (notional) prize for what I considered to be the  best Budget night 'commentary' that I saw the following day.  The winner, and runner-up to a lesser extent, stood out among the dozens of 'me too' pieces that were, frankly, not worth anyone's time and effort. Many years ago the Chancellor's

And the award for best budget night commentary goes to…..

By |2023-07-23T10:19:48+01:00March 24th, 2011|Accountants, Business messaging and branding, STANDING OUT, Tax related|

I've long been critical of the 'me too' type of overnight budget commentaries. Indeed, these days 'overnight' is slow and many commentaries appear online within hours. I have seen dozens of such identikit commentaries since the Chancellor sat down yesterday. Almost all contain pretty standard lists of the headline measures, cut and paste extracts from the

Keen to recruit your first tax partner? 8 key questions

By |2010-12-22T12:03:57+00:00December 22nd, 2010|Tax related|

One of the most common questions I'm asked, often by recruiters, is if I know a prospective new tax partner for a smaller or mid-size practice. Sadly I can rarely help directly - especially if, as is usually the case, the firm would like their new recruit to have a following (ie clients and fees).

What sort of advice do you give? Specialist, Compliance or Dangerous? (part two)

By |2007-10-02T08:14:09+01:00October 2nd, 2007|Professional Negligence, Tax related|

In yesterday's blog I described what I see as the three categories of advice that best describe the approach of many professional advisers. The third category I described was 'dangerous' and I explained that advisers giving dangerous advice, normally do so as they are what we might term 'unconscious incompetents'. That is they are unaware

What sort of advice do you give? Specialist, Compliance or Dangerous? (part one)

By |2007-10-01T08:07:04+01:00October 1st, 2007|Professional Negligence, Tax related|

What would be the impact on your practice if a client alleged that you had been negligent? It's not something that anyone wants to consider, of course.Often such allegations lead to complaints that result in investigations and disciplinary proceedings, or a professional indemnity insurance claim – whether justified or not. All such eventualities invariably result

Go to Top