And yes, the picture is of things that might normally be called Christmas decorations. We haven’t lost our marbles, given the date they are now officially bi-seasonal.
 
And I suppose it would be difficult to be writing this in Suffolk today without hoping that May the 4^th be with those wearing blue/white and kicking a pig’s bladder around on the park at Portman Road. (Although I’m reliably told that they now use spheres made of inflated plastic, how things have moved on since I was a lad.)
 
Anywho, enough of this frivolity, let’s move on to the important matter of news in the world of accounting and finance…
 
This is the time of year that our Payroll Princesses (as they have been called by more than one client) are busy, having finalised year end submissions, rolling forwards payrolls into the new year and completing P11D forms – the forms which record benefits in kind for employees (company cars, medical insurance, employer provided accommodation etc).  
 
There are four million P11D forms completed each year, (not all by our Payroll Princesses, although I’m sure it feels like it), but not for much longer – from April 2026 all benefits in kind are going to have to be ‘payrolled’. This means they will be dealt with every month. Watch this space as to how that is going to affect you…it will undoubtedly involve more work.
 
On the subject of payroll, we’ve just completed the first month’s rollout of BrightPay Connect, where payslips are being uploaded securely for each employee to view. It’s been a successful rollout, and is (almost) the latest technological development that we’ve embraced. Although there is an extra cost, benefits to our clients using it include:-

• Better data protection and GDPR compliance
• Avoids the need to print or email payslips
• Makes the payslip and related documents ‘self service’ for the employee
• It also allows things like holiday requests to be operated electronically

So if that was almost the latest tech development what’s the latest one ? Armalytix…
 
The old fashioned accountant would, at the end of the year, be given a carrier bag of receipts and bank statements. (My worst memory of this is a farmer who always sent his books in a used seed potato sack)
 
Things have moved on, more commonly we now get bank statements sent in as PDF downloads. Which is better but has some challenges, including, for example, the fact that we all know email is not totally secure. Also, date order can be a challenge…
 
Wouldn’t it be great if there were some way we could get a report of what has gone through clients’ bank accounts and the balances, without having access to the account itself ? 
 
Enter Armalytix which, with consent, does just that. The client sets it up using your security protocols, it relies on open banking credentials so interrogation only, no ability to access the balance, it grabs the data we need and securely passes it across to you.  
 
We’ll be rolling this out to clients where we think it will be helpful over the coming months.
 
Wanting a break from all this technology I recently found myself looking at a photo of myself and realised that I can’t get away with the ‘high forehead’ excuse anymore. I have to admit that yes, the hairline is very slightly, bit by bit, millimetre by millimetre, slowly, um, err, well, kind of, in a small way, well, I guess, ahem, cough, receding.  
 
I briefly researched hair transplants, but have decided that it is too high a price toupee.
 
I get the hint, time to go…

Categories: Positive Accountant