Attendees Views

Case Study 1

Palmbrokers of Burnham in Buckinghamshire specialise in supplying television and the film industry with plants and greenery.

Pauline Slater has worked for them for three years as a financial controller, dealing with all their accounts, invoicing and credit control. She read about the EmployerTalk event in the HM Revenue and Customs quarterly magazine.

She attended an event in Birmingham with the main intention of ensuring she was doing everything correctly and by the book, but welcomed the opportunity to discuss various matters of payroll and accounts face to face with the experts.

'We are a relatively small company with just 11 members of staff so the payroll is relatively straight forward. But it was good to be reassured about some things and improve my general knowledge on accounting matters.'

'I also had the opportunity find out more about directors' pensions firsthand. Pensions is a complicated area and it was good to be able to discuss its complexities with the experts.'

'I'm definitely planning to go to the next one, it's a great way of keeping on top of everything and being as effective as you can possibly be.'

Case Study 2

Kath Dudson is a tax advisor with a small firm of accountants called Dimbleby and Dale in Beighton, Sheffield. The firm only has seven staff but handles accountancy matters for up to 500 customers from various size businesses, all of which have very different needs.

Kath is a real fan of the annual events run by HMRC and likes to attend most years to ensure she is up to date on the latest developments. She attended the EmployerTalk event in March this year, as she particularly wanted to improve her knowledge of the online tax services.

'Having the ability to file online is becoming increasingly popular and is something our clients want more and more.'

'In some ways I feel I'm the wrong generation so I was eager for any opportunity to learn more about filing tax returns, PAYE and using CIS online.'

'I've always found the annual events run by HMRC to be excellent, easy to understand and very informative, so I was keen to attend the EmployerTalk roadshow.'

'What I really appreciated was the chance to have one to one advice with the experts and to be able to do that face to face. For me, it was very useful to have access to someone in person instead of having to talk to someone at the end of a phone.'

'It's much easier to grasp how to do something online when you can sit down with someone and they can take you through it step by step.'

Although Kath's primary aim was to get advice on the online services, she was also able to take advantage of the opportunity to ask the experts about issues one of her clients had around foreign income.

'I would not hesitate in recommending these events to anyone, they really are a great opportunity to tap into a wealth of information and are invaluable to small businesses.'