Accountingnet.ie News Feed

Finance Bill 2010 – VAT measures relating to "transitional properties".

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:47:53 PST

Background
The Minister for Finance intends to introduce a Committee Stage amendment to the Finance Bill (as initiated) - Amendment Number 77 on the List of Proposed Committee Stage Amendments refers – which will substitute a new subsection for the existing subsection (10) of section 4C of the Value-Added Tax Act 1972 (as amended). This new measure, if enacted by the Oireachtas, will provide that the "big-swing" rule in the capital goods scheme ("CGS") will apply to transitional properties [1]. The situations in which this rule will apply are outlined below together with some examples of how the rule will operate in practice.

33% Increase In Insolvencies – Five Companies Went Bust Each Day In February

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:39:27 PST

New statistics compiled by InsolvencyJournal.ie this week reveal a significant increase in insolvencies in February. The number of companies that went out of business last month was up by 33 per cent from 110 in January to 146 in February with approximately five businesses per day going bust last month.

ISME Reports a Deterioration in SME Bank Lending

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:23:06 PST

Details of the ISME Bank Watch Survey, issued today (Monday, 1st March), confirm deterioration in bank credit for SMEs, in the three months to end of February. More than half of loan and overdraft requests have been refused, despite the banks assertions that they are ‘open for business’. The Association outlined that the Government now has no option but to immediately intervene through the NAMA process and force the banks to start opening up lending channels to small businesses. Any banks that fail to comply should automatically be refused any further state assistance with their recapitilisation programme.

5 Steps to Find the Right Measures

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:17:40 PST

How to find the right measures is the most asked question in the field of performance measurement. And it's little wonder, because the more meaningful measures track outcomes which tend to be less tangible than the traditional things we've measured, like how many widgets we produced.

When consumer IT enters business, so does the risk of cyberattack

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:00:26 PST

At first glance there would appear to be little to connect Apple’s iPad and the Greek’s Trojan horse. After all, centuries separate the two creations. The Trojan horse described in Virgil’s Latin epic poem The Aeneid was wheeled into Troy in the Bronze Age: Apple’s much-hyped tablet device signifies cutting-edge, 21st-century computing technology.

Irish Tech Firms Funding up almost 20% to €288m in 2009

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 10:53:54 PST

Irish companies raised €288m in 2009, up 18.6% on the previous year according to the Irish Venture Capital Association (IVCA) Venture Pulse survey.

“This strong performance was against a backdrop of a severe credit crunch and global banking crisis,” commented John Tracey, chairman IVCA and CEO, TVC Holdings plc. He said that the record year in Ireland compared with significant falls in activity levels of between 50-70% in US and UK markets which were back to levels experienced in the late 1990s.

Place of Supply of Services Rules 2010

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 10:42:10 PST

As you know 1 January 2010 saw the introduction of the new place of supply rules for services. Now that the rules have had time to bed in it is a good idea to benchmark how business is coping with the changes.

Why Most Accounting Firms Websites Fail

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 10:11:58 PST

The success of every website revolves around being found on the search engines. In other words, your website needs to be towards the top of the search engines in order to generate new business for your practice. Otherwise, it’s just another website that is lost in space, which is useless.

Finance Bill 2010

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 10:43:19 PST

The Finance Bill replicates the tone of the Minister for Finance’s budget speech last December in that “High Earners Must Pay Their Fair Share”. The Finance Bill introduces a number of measures which will not only restrict the amount of tax relief high earners can claim, it will also ensure that certain individuals who continue to have close ties to the State will pay make a contribution to the State in respect of their citizenship.

The Auditors Role in the Bank Crisis

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 10:39:50 PST

The Irish Bank crisis occurred largely without early warning from all the various experts entrusted with governing and overseeing the financial sector. The Banks’ directors, the Financial regulator and the Banks’ Auditors were all silent until very late in the day.

Changes to R&D Tax Credit Regime – A Missed Opportunity?

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 10:27:26 PST

Finance Minister Mr Brian Lenihan earlier this month published the Finance Bill 2010 which gives effect to the taxation measures announced in last December’s Budget. The existing R&D Tax Credit regime has been amended to cover situations where a company carries out R&D activities in different facilities in separate geographical locations and the activities in one of these facilities is permanently discontinued.

Chartered Accountants Ireland backs biggest accounting change for domestic firms for the last 20 years

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 10:17:17 PST

Chartered Accountants Ireland has added its support to proposed changes in accounting standards which would see Irish and UK Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) replaced by a three-tiered approach, whereby companies would apply one of the following:

Preparing Companies for Liquidation

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 10:14:08 PST

A Company facing an inevitable insolvency can present a difficult and stressful time for its Directors on a number of levels. Despite the understandable turmoil that they may be experiencing it is important that the Directors of the Company take professional advice to ensure that they meet their legal obligations.

Average Payment in Ireland Takes 75 days!

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 09:36:30 PST

The Director of the Small Firms Association (SFA), Patricia Callan, has said that late payments in Ireland are worsening and are compounding an already difficult financial environment for many small firms. The SFA Winter Credit Conditions Survey highlights the challenges that are being experienced by small businesses in relation to late payments. Callan said: “in Ireland, from the time a firm issues an invoice to the date it is settled is now on average 75 days (up from 66 days in our Autumn Survey).

Sharp Improvement in Irish Consumer Sentiment in January

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 09:29:05 PST

Irish consumer sentiment showed a surprisingly strong improvement in January. The KBC Bank/ESRI Consumer Sentiment Index rose to 64.6 from 53.3 in December, boosting the Index to it’s highest level in two years. The 11.3 point increase was also the strongest monthly change since a similar rise in December 2004. While this increase looks almost suspiciously large and there may be some pullback in February, the January data suggest a clear brightening in the mood among Irish consumers.

Majority of Irish businesses planning to continue restructuring in the year ahead

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 07:21:31 PST

A poll carried out by PwC with the Dublin Chamber of Commerce revealed that business restructuring continues to be a significant challenge for nearly two-thirds (64%) of Irish businesses.

A Schizophrenic Profession! (?)

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 07:04:18 PST

As an accountant you prepared accounts – because no-one else could; you completed clients’ tax returns – because someone had to; you audited limited companies accounts – because that was the law. You were always busy and all you had to do was multiply pay rates by three,

Is there an alternative to redundancy?

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 07:02:33 PST

Alternatives to Redundancy? what are the options, how practical are they and could they give rise to a legal challenge?

The Eleven Commandments of Marketing Your Practice

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 06:57:02 PST

While you will never find these Eleven Commandments on two stone tablets, they should provide you with direction as you seek to grow and develop your practice each and every day.

The Cloud Computing Quandary

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 06:49:26 PST

Cloud computing refers to the online outsourcing of technology requirements. Cloud services fall into three broad categories: infrastructure, platforms and software, which are provided through the internet rather than being facilitated in-house. The internet is