Over the years there have been some consistent themes since my earliest years as a trainee - no-one has ever wanted to do P11Ds or annual returns - or to be the office VAT expert!

And I still hate doing P11Ds:

1. Because clients don't value them, and hence don't value our time doing them on their behalf - i.e you can't charge an adequate fee for all the hassle they are. One of my clients uses a big payroll bureau who charge just £7 per P11D! I'm not interested in competing with that!

Practitioner's Diary

Like a fashionista during the big spring shows, John Stokdyk has been gallivanting around laptop suppliers of late and fingering their latest merchandise. While awed by the selection on offer, he wonders if the wider market will get as excited.

The A-Team Blog

 March 9 – Three lots of good news.

Almost as her swan song as a divisional manager, and as her opening gift to the newly promoted manager of our new department, she and he together closed negotiation for the biggest deal this department has ever done. If no other department in this company grows in the coming year this one can now hardly avoid doing so. From being a new venture this ‘sideline’ hunch of mine has now turned into what might be a major profit centre.

CEO's Diary

Bill Nighy and Richard Curtis joined tax campaigners and other finance professionals to debate the proposed ‘Robin Hood’ tax at an RSA event in London today. Consulting practice editor Mark Lee was there to take part in the discussion.

The A-Team Blog

Yes, how about them indeed. Like, how do you go about getting one?

Like getting CT refunds from earlier years following a loss carry back, getting s419 back when a loan is repaid seems to be equally difficult.

Practitioner's Diary

 March 8 – And I thought I’d got everything under control with two companies by the end of last week. Then my wife announced she wants to apply for a new job which will require us to move, but which would be good for schools for the children and will only mean I have to commute roughly the same distance but from the almost opposite direction and my life was thrown into utter turmoil at the weekend.

CEO's Diary

Erin called with two messages for Barry. Firstly she’d decided that she and Barry would finally go on that much needed date – she’d already booked tickets for them to hear the Metropolitan Police Male Voice Choir at the Barbican. Erin’s second message was that she had sent a huge bunch of flowers to Mrs Tams in Barry’s name.

A delighted Jeffrey Drum boomed across to Barry’s desk that morning. “You’ve sent Mrs Tams flowers, Abacus! Why didn’t you say so? She’s over the moon!”

The firm next door

Mac life has been pretty quiet this year, so I finally said goodbye to my ailing PC. Big mistake!

The PC has been acting as my central server, in the sense that the Internet connection and printer were attached to it. Internet is no problem - in fact it's far more reliable now that the PC has gone. Previously I was forever re-booting the router to restore the wireless connection.

Nigel Harris's Mac Diary