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British Airways Facing Sky High Fines for Data Breach

If anyone is still thinking that GDPR is simply a box ticking exercise, the news today that British Airways have been fined £183m for a data breach first disclosed in September 2018 should make you think again.The previous record fine imposed by the ICO was £500,000, levied on Facebook in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The increase in potential fines is as a result of a law change that now allows fines of up to 4% of annual turnover. For anyone in charge of cybersecurity at a maj...

It's All in the Bag.

As more and more retailers pledge to replace plastic bags for paper ones, you could be forgiven for  believing that we are becoming more environmentally friendly. But is replacing plastic bags really a good thing? Not necessarily, according to the Environment Agency. Research shows that it takes more than four times as much energy to manufacture a paper bag as it does to manufacture a plastic one. Whereas plastic bags are produced from the waste products of oil refining, paper bags require ...

An end to payday loan moans?

Payday loans, with their associated high interest rates may become a thing of the past if a new scheme which allows employees to gain early access to earned money, takes off.Wagestream, the company behind the scheme, is currently in talks with NHS trusts, local authorities and the army and believes that hundreds and thousands of public sector workers could benefit from the scheme within the next 12 months.Workers, whose employers sign up to the scheme are given an app that shows them how much th...

Pride of England

The Lionesses, England's women's football team, opened their World Cup campaign with a 2 - 1 victory over Scotland. England entered the competition ranked 3rd in the world and with high hopes of bettering their previous World Cup position when they finished third in 2015. However based on their performance last night, pundits claimed that other teams will not feel threatened by England's performance. Former England International Alex Scott said ' Yes, England have done well but I don't thin...

Just say Non

According to recent research, many UK workers are struggling to stick to working within their designated office hours. The survey found that over 35% continue to answer work emails or conduct work tasks on their personal mobile phones when they get home from work. A quarter do the same during their lunch break and just under a quarter work on their handsets on their commute.In France, employees now have the legal right to ignore work emails outside of working hours, with companies of over 5...

Teresa May's Swan Song?

Teresa May is trying to gain Cabinet backing for what she describes as a 'new, bold offer' on Brexit. She is expected to urge ministers to support measures to be included in the Withdrawal Agreement Bill aimed at winning over Labour MP'S.  The bill will be put to a vote in early June. However as MP's have already soundly rejected the Withdrawal Agreement on three separate occasions, it is hard to see this new offer having any more success than Michael Rice at Eurovision on Saturday. If the ...

Welcome Baby Sussex

Congratulations to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex on the birth of their son. The boy, whose name is yet to be announced was born at 5.26 on Monday, weighing in at 7lb 3oz. Seventh in line to the throne, he is the Queen's eighth great grandchild.Whilst the Royal Family are celebrating, the same certainly cannot be said of the main political parties after their disastrous results in the local elections. Both the Conservatives and Labour parties lost heavily as the electorate expressed it's lack of...

Bounty Hunters

On the 25th May the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will have been in force for a year and whilst the topic was in the forefront of people's minds this time last year, it is tempting with the passage of time to allow other issues to take priority.However, data protection is an evolving beast and businesses cannot become complacent. Policies need to be continually reviewed to ensure that they are still compliant. As a stark reminder of this, pregnancy club, Bounty UK have been fined £4...

Flying Solo.

With opinions already divided about the safety of driver less cars, Austrian aerospace company FACC are taking things even further. They have teamed up with Chinese drone maker EHang to launch a pilot less 'flying taxi'  The EHang 216 which can seat 2 passengers rose above the pitch at Vienna's Generali Arena, home to soccer club Austria Wien, last Thursday; circled in the air briefly before coming down to land within a few minutes. Weighing just 340 kg the craft can fly at up to 150 km per...

Nothing is Certain...

In 1789, Benjamin Franklin famously wrote "Nothing is certain except death and taxes" and as a new tax year dawns this seems truer than ever. Even the weather it seems, can't decide what to do as the lovely warm spell we have been enjoying looks set to be replaced by freezing temperatures, April showers and even snow in some areas of the UK. Uncertainty is everywhere and like the weather, change can be very unpredictable. One change affecting businesses this new tax year is the introduction of t...

A Bigger Pizza the Profits?

Domino's Pizza have been accused of misleading investors over relations with some of the franchisees who own the outlets. Last year, 11 of the company's biggest franchisees wrote to the Domino's board threatening to 'declare war' on the firm unless they got a bigger slice of the company's profits. The Domino's Franchise Association (DFA) warned that they could stop opening new outlets if their demands were not met. Domino's released their results last week and acknowledged that relations with fr...

Top Dog

Dylan the Papillon has been crowned Best in Show at this year's Crufts. The name Papillon derives from the French word for Butterfly, in reference to the shape of the ears of this toy breed. According to the Urban Dictionary, 'Papillon' also symbolises freedom. 'There are no chains on a Papillon as they go where they want and do whatever they choose' Sadly this is not true for the many people living in the UK who have fallen prey to modern slavery, particularly in industries such as domestic wor...

Falling Short

Bohemian Rhapsody actor, Rami Malek won the Oscar for Best Actor at last night's award ceremony. Sadly his triumph was somewhat  marred when he fell off the stage and took an embarrassing tumble into the audience. Thankfully the only damage incurred was to his pride.Equally red faced must be HMRC who have admitted that they will be late in sending out penalty notices to the estimated 746,000 taxpayers who missed the 31st January deadline for submitting tax returns. HMRC normally sends out w...

Labour Contractions.

Seven MP's have resigned from the Labour Party in protest at Jeremy Corbyn's approach to Brexit and anti-Semitism. They are Chuka Umunna, Luciana Berger, Chris Leslie, Angela Smith, Ann Coffey, Gavin Shuker and Mike Grapes. The MP's, who all back a further EU referendum, will sit in Parliament as The Independent Group. So is this the birth of a new political party? Apparently not, however Chuka Umunna said they had 'taken the first step' and urged other Labour MP's and also members of other...

6 Nations

English Rugby fans celebrated a comprehensive win over France in the second round of the 6 Nations yesterday at Twickenham. Winning by an impressive margin of 44 - 8, the victory saw England move to the head of the leader board. Man of the Match, Jonny May scored a hat trick in the first half - the first English man to score a hat trick against France since Jake Jacob in 1924.  Fans now eagerly await the next match against Wales later this month. In form Wales, described by England head coa...

Deal or No Deal?

With time running out to finalise a Brexit deal the Alternative Arrangements Working Group will meet today to discuss alternative arrangements for the Irish Backstop. The Working Group, consisting of a mix of leave and remain MP's are tasked with finding an acceptable solution to the Irish border question.  Under the current Brexit deal, the 310 mile Irish border would become the only land border between the UK and the EU. The backstop 'insurance policy' will kick in if the two sides are un...

Baking Bad

After nearly 100 years of trading, Patisserie Valerie has collapsed into administration after it was unable to extend its bank facilities due to 'significant fraud' in the company's past accounts. The crisis started last year after accounting irregularities left the luxury bakers with a tax bill of more than £1m, a winding-up order and a £20m deficit in it's accounts. The irregularities had led to the company significantly overstating its cash position for years. Earlier this month, Patisserie...

The Rise of the Greek

In a thrilling fourth round match at the Australian Open, Stefanos Tsitsipas beat defending champion Roger Federer to become the first Greek to reach the last eight in a grand slam tournament. He will now go on to play Roberto Bautista Agut in the quarter finals.Whether or not he will go on to win the tournament remains to be seen but as the Greek philosopher Aristotle once said 'well begun is half done'A good beginning for Making Tax Digital preparation could be to sign up for the MTD pilot. If...

Game, Set and Match.

An emotional Andy Murray announced that he will be retiring this year due to a hip injury. The news was greeted with dismay by British tennis fans and many fellow professional players, including Roger Federer also expressed their shock and surprise at the news.Andy Murray may be uncertain as to his future plans but presumably thanks to his past successes, he will not have to worry too much about his finances once he retires. Sadly that is not the case for most of us and saving for our retirement...

British Gold

British stars shone brightly at the 2019 Golden Globe Awards. Olivia Coleman was named best actress in a musical comedy for her role as Queen Anne in The Favourite and Christian Bale won best actor in a musical / comedy for his portrayal of US Vice President Dick Cheney in Vice.Bohemian Rhapsody won Best Film Drama and musician Mark Ronson won the best song, along with Lady Gaga for Shallow from the film A Star is Born.  In the TV category, Richard Madden won best TV drama actor for The Bod...

New Year Resolution

Happy New Year from all at The Accounts Place.Traditionally the New Year is a time to make a resolution for change. However recent research shows that only 8% of people achieve their New Year goals and staggeringly most people report failing their resolution by as early as January 12th.If you are one of the 5,552,000 taxpayers who have not yet completed their 2017 -18 tax return then one resolution you cannot afford to fail will be to complete your return by the 31st January deadline. Penalties ...

It'll be lonely this Christmas ....

Parliament is scheduled for winter recess from 20th December to 7 January 2019.  However in view of the Brexit deadlock there are increasing calls to cancel the Christmas break until the vote is done. House of Commons Speaker, John Bercow has publicly stated that he is 'happy to chair debates over Christmas' if MP's decide the decision cannot wait.  Liberal Democrat MP, Tom Brake tweeted 'At a time of so much uncertainty caused by this Brexit mess, it is an insult to the British people...

Long Live King Harry!

Harry Redknapp has been been crowned King of the Jungle. After 3 weeks of camp life and bush tucker trials, Harry was voted the winner of this year's I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!. After winning Harry said 'I'm amazed. I'm amazed I survived 3 weeks to be honest with you' and in a tribute to his fellow camp mates, Harry added ' They were amazing. Without them, I would never have survived' For many small business owners, one of the biggest trials to face can be keeping all the necess...

Christmas is coming - fast!

The countdown to Christmas has officially started with  advent calendars being opened across the country. However for some it seems Christmas may be coming slightly earlier than planned as according to some John Lewis customers the message inside door number 2 of their advent calendar reads 'only 16 days to go'  Oops.  ...

Nothing is Certain.

In a surprising turn of events in Strictly Come Dancing this weekend, Ashley Roberts and her professional partner Pasha Kovalev found themselves in the dreaded dance off, despite consistently being placed near the top of the leaders table. Whilst they were unanimously saved by the judges it just goes to show that nothing can be taken for granted. Uncertainty has also been cast over the introduction of Making Tax Digital with a report today that a parliamentary Select Committee has implored HMRC ...