Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

A Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year from BusinessPlus.

Christmas and the New Year are often a time to reflect on the past year and plan for the next.

We've been very busy this year, with lots of varied work. A challenging year, but with some steady growth.

We've welcomed several new Sage customers with Sage 50 Accounts, Sage Payroll, Sage HR and Sage ACT! We've helped them get set up and started and provided training where needed. We've also picked up some new customers who wanted layouts designed and training.

The growth areas have been existing customers, where we've helped design layouts for invoices, provided training to help them get the most out of their Sage investment. We've been helping those customers with Payroll Year End, Accounts Year End, installing PCs, providing IT support and installing Panda Cloud Protection.

We've also doubled our income from our Utility Warehouse business, helping small businesses and householders save money on their gas, electric, phone, broadband and mobile bills.

We've taken and passed our Sage re-accreditation exams, to keep us up-to-date with the launch of Sage 50 Accounts 2013, Payroll 2013 and ACT! 2013.

On the systems front, we've completed upgrades to existing systems, written and installed a system for Bank Transactions import into Sage. We're currently rolling out an invoice emailing system to five companies in the south east.

Looking towards next year, we'll be busy with the introduction of the biggest change to payroll since 1944, Real Time Information.

What's your year been like?
Best Regards,

Bob and Jenny Earnshaw

HMRC are changing the way you process your payroll.

So, how does this affect you?

Real Time Information (RTI) will be introduced from April 2013 and by October 2013 it will be mandatory for all employers to process PAYE data using the new system.  It requires that PAYE information is sent to HMRC online every time a payment is made, NOT just at year-end.

First of all, if you run your own payroll, do you use payroll software to calculate and submit your employee’s information?

If you don't, you need either commercial payroll software (like Sage 50 Payroll), a payroll service provider such as an accountant or payroll bureau who can do it for you, or you can use HMRC's free basic tools.

If you want to do payroll yourself and would like to have a free no obligation look at Sage Payroll, let me know. But you should know that Sage Payroll is now available RTI ready.

New Sage 50 Payroll RTI Edition has been designed to ensure the easiest transition to RTI possible, with a number of new features to help you get prepared for this important legislation change. New features include:

·    New RTI Centre - one-stop-shop for help and support to prepare for RTI

·    New RTI Centre Health Check - checks your data, spots errors and provides solutions

·    New RTI Submissions Log - enables you to keep track of internet submissions to HMRC

·    New Report Browser - clear signposting, with easy to understand report descriptions

About Sage 50 Payroll

Award-winning Sage payroll software is accredited by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and meets the latest legislation requirements for accurate calculations of tax and National Insurance. It’s easy to use and helps businesses pay the right people the right amount of money on the right day.

Sage 50 Payroll is ideal for small to growing businesses that need to manage the payroll for 1 to 50 employees. It helps pay people quickly and accurately, automatically working out payments and deductions including tax, National Insurance, pensions and sick pay.

Sage has a website to keep you up-to-date on RTI. Please see: http://sage-exchange.co.uk/tags/rti

Washed her Blackberry in the Washing Machine

A friend accidentally put her Blackberry in the Washing Machine, Blackberry in one hand, washing in the other, filling up the washing machine. She didn't realise until too late. All her contacts, emails and appointments washed away as it were, and worse still, no way of getting them back. So, what lessons did we learn?

1. Don't drop your Blackberry in water, they don't mix. If you go near water, don't take your Blackberry with you.
2. Make sure your Blackberry is insured, or you have replacement phone cover that can provide a replacement phone. (I can help with this!)
3. Back it up using the free Blackberry desktop software that comes with your Blackberry.
4. Sync your Blackberry with contact management software like Sage ACT! (I can help with this!)

More information:

http://www.bplus.co.uk/sage/default.html#Sage_ACT!
http://www.1bill.co.uk See Mobile Phones

Solar panel payments are lowered

There are many ways to save energy, and help the environment.  Microgeneration – the generation of heat and power by individuals using zero- or lowcarbon technology – is one way you can really make a difference. You can become a microgenerator by installing a wind turbine, solar photovoltaic panels, a small hydro-electric system, an anerobic digestion system, or a CHP scheme. The Government’s intention is to promote low-carbon technologies. That’s why the Feed-In Tariffs (FIT) scheme was introduced.

Payment for solar panels

The FIT is made of three elements:

• the generation tariff – paid for each unit of electricity produced, whether it's used in the home or not
• the export tariff – paid for each unit of electricity exported to the grid
• the savings made on your electricity bills – because you'll be generating some of your own household electricity, your bills will be lower.

The Bad News

Homeowners who install solar panels are now paid less for the electricity they generate - 16p/kWh, it was 21p/kWh.

These changes only affect solar panels and they also include:

• the length of time consumers will get the FIT for is reduced from 25 years to 20 years
• the export tariff, for every unit of electricity generated by the system and sent to the grid, will increase from 3.2p/kWh to 4.5p/kWh
• for houses with an energy performance certificate lower than band D the FIT generation rate drops even further to 7.1p/kWh.

The changes also only affect installations after 1 August 2012.

The Good News

Utility Warehouse will pay an extra 2p per kWh on top of the standard FIT Generation Payments for a minimum of two years, for all Gold Status customers. That's customers who take four services from the five that they offer - Electric, Gas, Telephone, Broadband or Mobiles.

Are Solar panels a good investment?

Whilst the FIT has been reduced, the cost of solar panels has dropped considerably. An average-sized 3kWp photovoltaic system now costs around £7,000 to £10,000, and I can recommend a good installer.

With the new rates of FIT, and the additional 2p per kWh on top of the standard FIT generation tariffs, solar panels can still be worth investing in.

If you would like to know more, contact me on 0770 3321215.

Project Costing with Sage 50 Accounts

Not the worlds sexiest title for a post, I know, but Sage 50 Accounts Projects is an overlooked feature of Sage 50 Accounts in my opinion.



Once you can identify a piece of work that can be thought of as a project, and the customer has accepted a quotation or estimate, you can create a project within Sage 50 Accounts.

The Projects feature is enabled in Company Preferences, Parameters and the preferences can be changed in Configuration Editor, Project Costing.

What Project Costing allows you to do is:

1. Create a project with a start and end date.
2. Enter prices quoted.
3. Record budgets.
4. Record costs for materials, labour and project only costs against the project.
5. Record project only costs - for example work done by contractors.
6. Create structures - the ability to link the project into a multi-project structure.
7. Allocate stock to the project.
8. Record invoices and revenue received against the project.
9. As the project progresses you can analyse costs and compare progress against budgets and the quotation.

In use, all the user needs to do is ensure that when they record supplier invoices and customer invoices they use the correct project number, and cost code.

So there you have it, a quick look at Project Costing. Do please contact me if you'd like to know more.

Network Marketing

I have to confess that when I started my Network Marketing business, I didn't really understand what it was, so it's not surprising that other people don't understand network marketing.

The first question many people have is "Is it a pyramid scheme", and most people don't know what a pyramid scheme is either. Wikipedia defines it thus: "A pyramid scheme is a non-sustainable business model that involves promising participants payment or services, primarily for enrolling other people into the scheme, rather than supplying any real investment or sale of products or services to the public."

My network marketing business is partnering with a UK based Public Limited Company listed on the London Stock Exchange who were established in 1996 and they provide key utilities for businesses and households in the UK. I'm an independent distributor for that company, not an employee, and I earn a small commission every time I sign up a member with that company, and a small commission every time the members pay their utility bill. I'm building the business by showing other people how to sign up members and I earn a smaller commission each time their members pay their bill to my network marketing company. So as you can see, I'm paid commission by my network marketing company for the work I do. The more members who I sign up, the more I'm paid, and that's the interesting bit.

When I continue to receive commission as people pay their bills, that's what's called residual income. It's payment for work I did once, continuing as long as they remain a customer, and I remain a distributor. And it means I can go on holiday, and still get paid. It means I might be ill and still get paid. Once I've been in the business for long enough and reached a certain status I can choose to lock in that income and effectively retire, whilst still receiving that income. As far as I'm concerned that's the pension income. It's a way off yet, because this is a 5-10 year plan, it's not a get rich quick scheme!

What I like about this business is:

• I don't have to stock any products.
• I can fit it in with the rest of my business
• I meet a lot of great people
• I get a lot of free personal development
• I help people save money and the company do the rest.

If you are interested and want to know more, please watch this video: http://www.spare150secs.co.uk/

It saves a LOTof time!

We got a lead from an IT company we know, who said their customer is spending a lot of time inputting data.

The customer inputs a lot of bank transactions into their accounts system, Quick Books. Their accountant said "you don't want to use Quick Books, use what I use, Sage 50 Accounts". OK, he said, "so I'll input a lot of transactions into Sage now".

We all thought this was a waste of valuable time and that we could do something to speed it up.

We designed a system that imports transactions downloaded from their Bank, and processes them. It automatically identifies 20 different types of transactions, puts them into a nominal accounts category, allocates them to one of 35 bank accounts and allows the user to check any exceptions. Finally it produces a file that is imported into Sage 50 Accounts.

What was taking hours, now takes minutes, which saves a LOT of time!

Web Databases and Postage Charges

Jenny, my wife, has been writing Alpha desktop databases since 1992. They've come a long way since then, and now they are more likely to be web based.

She's just finished a database for a local company to record and produce their quality certificates for their customers. It replaced a DOS database they had used happily for many years. They had some very postive things to say about Jenny, which naturally makes me happy. I think the key thing was that the database did what they wanted. The key points are that the system is:

• Easy to use ,
• Easy to find information in,
• Requires no additional software is required apart from the web server,
• Can be accessed from anywhere, with just about any browser,

It's led on to being asked to do some work for a "front-end" for their current invoicing system, with the simple requirement to allow them to send invoices by email. I suspect that the demand for systems that can email invoices will increase since the 60p first class stamp was announced.

So, thank you Royal Mail for increasing your postal charges!

The End of Payroll Year End?

HMRC have announced a new way of reporting PAYE: Real Time Information or RTI.

What this means is that information about payroll payments will be submitted throughout the year, rather than waiting until the end of the payroll year, in April.

The statement from HMRC is "Most employers will be legally required to use RTI from April 2013 and all employers will be required to by October 2013."

What this means for business who run their own payroll is the end of the stressful end-of-year payroll submissions. For my business, it means the loss of some business at the end of the year, helping small business deal with this stress!

For businesses with Sage Payroll, Sage are currently piloting the changes required - see www.sage.co.uk/rti so it's a bit, watch this space!

As more businesses will be submitting data more frequently, the potential for problems does increase somewhat. So the advice now is to make sure that your Sage Payroll data is up to date and correct. Here are some do's and don'ts from Sage:

Some simple Do’s and Don’ts of recording employee names

• DO – enter the employee’s full forename and surname.
• DO – enter a double barrelled forename or surname in full.
• DON’T – use known as, for example, if HMRC know the employee as ‘Robert’ don’t use ‘Bob’.
• DON’T – enter an initial in either the Forename or Surname boxes.

Some simple Do’s and Don’ts of recording employee dates of birth

• DO – enter the correct date of birth and ensure it’s in the format DD/MM/YYYY, for example 05/05/1985.
• DON’T – enter a default date of birth, such as 01/01/1901, or make one up.

Some simple DO’s and Don’ts of recording employee NI numbers

• DO – only enter an employee’s correct National Insurance number.
• DON’T – make up an employee’s National Insurance number.

All of the don't can make the payroll submission fail, not just once, but potentially 52 times!

And, if you do want help with your last payroll year end, do let me know - 0770 3321215 or email bob.earnshaw@bplus.co.uk

HMRC information:

Main RTI website: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/rti/index.htm

Improving your payroll data: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/rti/dip/index.htm

Sage Payroll Year End: http://pye.sage.co.uk/

Mobile Phone Deals

Like a lot of people I get a lot of Spam for mobile phone deals and like most people I always wonder what's the catch. One in particular caught my eye, it was an iPhone 4S 16Gb with 3 on a 24 months contract, 2,000 minutes, with a whopping 5,000 text messages, all for £35 a month! Wow, and the Handset was free! When I investigated, the handset wasn't free - but a one-off payment of £99. Strange type of free or is that 3? 

The reason I check is to make sure that Utility Warehouse are still giving the best deal on mobiles. So what could I get for £35 a month with Utility Warehouse? Well, I can get an iPhone 4S, 16Gb with 800 minutes, unlimited texts and 500Mb of data for a one-off payment of £170. Admittedly, 2000 minutes is fairly unlimited, so not a bad deal then with 3?

So why would I choose the Utility Warehouse mobile over the 3 mobile?

1. Something to check is how much you pay for calls outside your bundle. On this 3 deal, when you've used your minutes voice calls are 30p per minute. Utility Warehouse mobile voicecalls are 18p once outside your bundle.
2. Once your contract term is finished my iPhone will go down to the SIM only price of £15 a month. I couldn't find out what happened to the 3 deal.
3. Utility Warehouse are on the Everything Everywhere network, with the widest coverage. 3 are on the 3 network.
4. My mobile bill will come on one bill, with my gas, electric, telephone and internet. One bill, one direct debit.
5. I've got a cashback card that regularly discounts £30 a month off my utility bill. Oh, that's my iPhone for a fiver every month then.....

See http://www.1bill.co.uk/ Mobile, Pay Monthly for more details.

What's the difference between a Spreadsheet and a Database?

I still come across people who use spreadsheets, when what they really need is a Database. So, what's the difference and why do you need a database?

Many people start their databases as a spreadsheet but, as it becomes larger and more complex, the spreadsheet becomes more and more difficult to work with. There are many advantages to using a database.

A database can contain a virtually unlimited number of records while most spreadsheets have a limited number of records or rows, and you end up with multiple spreadsheets and it's difficult to find the information you need.

Data input can be controlled much better in a database through the use of field rules. This means fewer input errors - especially when new employees or temporary help is employed.

Data input can be easier, faster, and more versatile through the use of lookup lists and lookup tables – for example address details can be brought forward into an invoice without retyping.

Multiple report formats can easily be created for the same data without physically re-sorting or re-ordering any data. Reporting capabilities are much more powerful and formats can generally be more complex.

Sorting and filtering of data for viewing, editing, and reporting is much easier and more powerful than with a spreadsheet.

So, if you want someone who is able to write an database solution for you, or you know someone would benefit, please have a look at http://www.bplus.co.uk/AlphaSoftware and let's have a chat.