Accountants Journal : UK Accountancy News & Views

Fascinating post over at Newsnight journalist Paul Mason's BBC blog regarding the possibility that a major high street bank will go under in "the next year".

While Paul is only quoting a conversation between a couple of people involved in hedge funds, this is pretty much the kind of scaremongering we don't really need at this point.

The thing is that: despite serious problems faced by HBOS and a number of other big players, we know that the British government will never allow a major bank to fail.

Northern Rock has already proven that. (It's interesting that the British government is effectively sponsoring Newcastle Utd football club...that will please that famous Magpies fan Tony Blair, I'm sure).

So, Mr Mason's post is of 'the sky is falling' form of journalism.

However, if we really truly were a 'free market' economy, he would, of course, be pretty much spot on.

But, the ultimate irony of 'free market' economics is that - ever since Thatcher, The Adam Smith Institute and Reaganomics - it only applies to companies outside of the establishment.

It shocks and depresses me that mis-managed institutions like the banks are allowed to continue where any other company would be out of business.

Last year, one of the main complaints among new businesses contacting Just Accountants was that their VAT registration applications seemed to have been stuck in the ether for weeks, even months at a time.

The rumour, largely perpetuated by HMRC chief David Harnett, was that one firm of accountants had single handedly caused a massive bottleneck in the process by submitting 20,000 VAT applications in only one month.

However, it appears that this wasn't the reason for the delays at all.

In fact, the real reason was that "The VAT registration computer systems could not provide reliable information on the level of work unhand as the data was not robust. Also, staff shortages meant that some applications were not entered promptly on to the registration computer systems."

While the firm of accountants alleged to have submitted so many applications in a single month was never named, I don't see them receiving an apology from Mr Harnett.

Is this because there was no such firm? Who knows.

It appears that the suggestion by Lord Howe (yes, he is still alive!) to investigate government business tax proposals has met with a favourable response.

A number of well-known companies, including Shire and United Business Media, have recently moved out of UK tax jurisdiction because they view the UK tax system as both unfair and unreasonably complex.

Members of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants were polled and felt that the United Kingdom was at the bottom of the pile when it came to transparency and fairness.

You know when your tax system is too complicated and bogged down in bureaucracy when even the accountants themselves - who, after all, are paid to understand this stuff - feel things needs to be clarified.

If they feel that way, what hope the rest of us?