There was an interesting report in Accountancy Age about Macintyre Hudson creating MHA with 5 other regional accounting firms. The most interesting part was the questioning of whether it creates real value, which was made by an accountancy practice broker, who did not appear to be impressed. As accountancy practice brokers ourselves and having our own accountancy practice that works with other firms on specialist jobs, we see no reason why it cannot create value. Perhaps not as much as a full merger but then again, how many full mergers are truly successful in the creation of value and return on chargeable time investment.The value here surely lies in the network effect and in time the MHA brand is bound to grow in worth. Whatever others may think, at FD we wish Macintyre Hudson and their new MHA partners success in their endeavours.

A royal wedding eh? Most people will be thrilled at the idea of the bank holiday to celebrate the royal wedding. I hope that it will be added to an existing one as the thought of disrupting a “full” week does not usually excite the business community too much. Weeks with an public holiday always seem to be that bit quieter and less productive. One wonders if Her Majesty and Prince Philip will be thinking along these lines too.

Nobody enjoys paying their tax but it is our duty as citizens to do so and indeed the majority of us meet our obligations. As ever there is a lot of work for HMRC to do and a lot of more that is owing , both known and unknown. All the stranger that HMRC resources are being severely cut back in a bid to save money. Companies are told by business gurus that a recession is exactly when resources need to be utilised to reach out to customers. For some reason this is not being applied to HMRC with the double whammy that if it precipiates industrial action the cash flow will really be throttled.