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Episode 1 – from finance to entrepreneurship
Episode 1 of the IAB Podcast. From finance to entrepreneurship. Learning to see the changes and making decisions. Interviewing Matthew Peng from Scoro Matthew graduated in Accounting and Finance, before accidentally falling into supporting and implementing what was the golden years of desktop technology for small businesses and professional accounting firms across Australia. Working for Ernst & Young for a
Read moreFraud costs UK firms £682m
New research from Action Fraud shows that UK businesses reported a combined loss of £682m in the past year because of fraud. The data shows that businesses submitted 59,192 reports about fraud in 2018-19, with an average loss of around £11,500 in each case. The highest losses resulted from corporate employee fraud (accounting for £214m in losses), followed by mandate
Read moreEssential dates for planning 2020 automated payments
Businesses can now plan ahead to avoid missing important payments in 2020 with a new processing calendar published by Pay.UK, the home for Bacs Direct Credit and Direct Debit. Outlining all of the public holidays throughout next year, the free-to-download guide also highlights the dates when Bacs payments should be submitted, in order to avoid non-processing days. The calendar is
Read moreCredit where it’s due
Credit card payments have overtaken cash in British shops for the first time. In fact notes and coins were only the third most popular form of payment last year. Just £1 in every £5 spent is now cash. Debit cards account for over half of all transactions (by value). UK Finance is predicting that fewer than one in 10 transactions
Read moreChasing late payments costs UK business more than money
New research from Intuit QuickBooks demonstrates the impact of poor payment practices on UK small firms, with about 56.4 million hours wasted chasing overdue and late payments every year. This is more than a working week spent each year chasing money that’s owed for the typical small business. The study of more than 500 small businesses, found that 30% would
Read moreBeware self assessment tax scams, says HMRC
HMRC is warning millions of self assessment taxpayers to be aware of fraudsters in the run up to the 31 January deadline. Over the past year, HMRC received nearly 900,000 reports from the public about suspicious HMRC contact in the form of phone calls, texts or emails. More than 100,000 of these were phone scams, while over 620,000 reports from
Read moreUK taxes at highest ever levels
UK taxes are at a historical high, accounting for over a third of GDP at 34.4% and up almost seven percentage points from the 1950s, according to a new report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). In the 1950s, taxes accounted for just under a third of GDP at 27.5% (£5.8 billion). Since then, tax revenue rose to £627.9
Read moreNatWest unveils biometric credit card
The first UK biometric fingerprint credit card issued has been issued by NatWest. The bank is piloting the new technology with 150 customers, in partnership with Mastercard and Gemalto. The bank has previously piloted biometric debit cards, but this is the first-time credit cards have been issued. The cards will offer contactless payments using fingerprint verification for transactions up to
Read moreDelaying first-time payments
UK banks may be forced to delay payments made to an account for the first time by 24 hours, under proposals that would help victims of fraud to claim refunds. An influential Commons Treasury committee believes such a move would protect against so-called ‘authorised push payments’ scams in which growing numbers of individuals are tricked into making payments to fraudulent
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