What are your predictions for 2008?

What are your predictions for 2008?

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This weekend will see a flurry of predictions from various experts, but the collective wisdom of AccountingWEB members is likely to be closer to the mark. Below are a few suggestions collected from our regular contributors and submissions from the likes of the FSB and AVN's Steve Pipe:

  • Self assessment season will go without a hitch, but trouble will start with PAYE Online and continue as more and more subcontractors lose gross payment status and face penalties under CIS. With low morale and further staff cuts, HMRC customer service could collapse.
  • Economic downturn: CGT reforms will spark a lot of business, practice and property sales, worsening market conditions for all concerned; investment squeeze and clampdown on VCTs and EIS will slow SME growth.
  • Banks will scale back overdrafts & arouse complaints of unjust treatment from small businesses.
  • UK practitioners will lose clients to Indian accountants and face increasing pressure on pricing, according to Steve Pipe. Some observers have predicted that these pressures could herald the demise of the sole practitioner: the average age is climbing to 50+, clients are getting more demanding and regulations such as the anti-money laundering rules are becoming ever more Draconian, not to mention the never-ending complications around tax. Many practitioners are deciding to give up the fight.
  • Thanks to well publicised breaches at HMRC and other government departments, data privacy will become a bigger issue for government, industry and practitioners.
  • Gordon Brown may not be leader by end of year - brought down by "meddle" factor and worsening economy.
  • The arrival of Microsoft's updated SQL Server 2008 relational database management system will increase the hype around integrated business intelligence.
  • Increased environmental awareness: "Small businesses in this country are already doing much to reduce their carbon footprint and... are socially aware and responsible. Small businesses view things like recycling and waste minimisation as plain old good business practice," said FSB national chairman John Wright.
  • Internet.com wireless correspondent David Needle predicts that a new generation of mobile Internet devices will emerge in 2008, making it more practical for users to access the web while on the go. At the Consumer Electronics Show in January Intel is due to launch a revamped chip architecture for mobile devices, along with the 2Gb+ Z-P140 PATA Solid-State Drive (SSD) drive.
  • If social networking was the big noise in 2007, the next year will see the fad infiltrate the corporate sphere.

Let us know what you think of them, and put forward your own suggestions for the trends that will matter in 2008.
John Stokdyk, AccountingWEB.co.uk

Replies (2)

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Dennis Howlett
By dahowlett
29th Dec 2007 11:59

No predictions
Just a wishlist

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Dennis Howlett
By dahowlett
04th Jan 2008 16:56

Skype?
@Mark: Skype is way too flaky for general purpose use despite its brand leadership. I prefer a service like Gizmo for voice which is much more reliable and Twitter for text. Twitter forces brevity. Lacks audit trail capability but that will come.

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