In this networking event with ACCA aimed at accountants in practice, Ron Weatherup and Liz Smith of Lugo IT will look at how the effective use of IT can improve productivity and how it can bring added value to your practice:
- What should you be expecting from your own IT department or your outsourced provider?
- Are your current arrangements cost effective or could you save money?
- Would you like to make money by offering IT as a new added value service to your clients?
There will be a best practice discussion covering cloud services, home working, secure client access, network and email security, remote support and business process improvements.
Hear a case study from an accountant who has already benefited from improving their IT systems.
SPEAKERS
Ron Weatherup studied Accounting and Finance at Edinburgh University. In his final year he developed a real interest in computers which led to him achieving two Microsoft Certified System Engineer (MCSE) qualifications after completing his degree. He founded Lugo (then ScotICT) in 2003 following a period working for the Scottish Sage Accounting Centre where he was involved in installations, migrations, training and ongoing support. At the same time he was implementing IT networks from the ground up for clients based on Windows 2000 and particularly enjoyed designing and implementing networks on which Accountants could run their software.
Liz Smith studied accountancy and worked in practice for 3 years before joining Sage as a Software Consultant for 12 years. Liz now works with Lugo IT offering consultancy services to businesses wanting to get the most out of their investment in IT and helping organisations to set goals, address the practicalities of change and in turn improve efficiency and realise their potential.
LOCATION
Novotel Edinburgh
80 Laurieston Place
Edinburgh
EH3 9DE
Location
Date: Thursday 11th September 2014
Start Time: 6:00pm
Duration: 2 hours
CPD Units: 2
PROGRAMME
6.00pm Registration
6.30pm Presentation
8.00pm Close
COST DETAILS
Presentation FREE
BOOKING DETAILS
Call to book: 0141 534 4810
Email us to book: scotland.events@accaglobal.com
Drivers heading for the West End from the south of the City and Lothian Road could soon find their journey simplified if the City of Edinburgh Council approves changes to current traffic arrangements.
A review of traffic management in the city centre has been completed following the start of tram passenger services.
Among the recommendations in a report to the Transport and Environment Committee on 26 August 2014 is a proposal to allow all traffic to travel westbound from Hope Street to Queensferry Street, rather than buses only as at present.
Traders from the West End called for this in a deputation to the committee on 18 March 2014.
They noted that with the removal of the left turn from Lothian Road into Shandwick Place to facilitate trams, it had become difficult for private vehicles, cycles and taxis in particular to access properties and businesses in the West End.
The report also asks members to give the go-ahead for further investigation into the option of introducing a right turn from Queen Street westbound into Queen Street Gardens East.
Another recommendation, which follows on from the start of the new Experimental Traffic Regulation Order in George Street, is to change the priority of Young Street from an eastbound to a westbound direction.
Residents and businesses here have expressed concerns about a perceived increased volume of traffic and in particular, more vans and heavy good vehicles, since the George Street scheme was first implemented earlier this summer.
Councillor Lesley Hinds, Transport Convener, said: “Now that trams have been running for a couple of months or so, it’s a good time to make any appropriate alterations to surrounding traffic management so that we can make it as straightforward as possible to get from A to B in the city centre.
“We know that West End traders have had concerns about access to their businesses so the proposal to open up Hope Street for all westbound traffic into Queensferry Street should make things much better.
“I was pleased to meet recently with residents and businesses in Young Street to hear how their street has been adversely affected by increased traffic since we started the ETRO in George Street. This narrow cobbled street is simply not fit for the volume and nature of traffic it’s been experiencing of late. Changing the one-way direction will help divert traffic away from Young Street and on to Queen Street, which can accommodate commercial and through-traffic far more comfortably.”
Scottish Business Diversity Awards 2014
The Scottish Union of Supported Employment is delighted to announce the launch of the 2014 Scottish Business Diversity Awards. The awards are the perfect opportunity for businesses to celebrate their diversity practices, and to recognise the achievements of organisations and individuals who refuse to accept that disability should be a barrier to employment.
“Employment can be a positive life changing experience, and we need to make sure that everyone is given that opportunity. We want to celebrate Scotland as an exemplar of embracing diversity, team spirit, and equality in the community and at work.”
Kate Storrow, Chair of the Scottish Union of Supported Employment
This year the awards will be held at the annual SUSE conference at the Apex International Hotel, Edinburgh. Angela Constance, MSP for Training, Youth and Women’s Employment will be the keynote speaker of a programme looking at the future of employment in Scotland.
Through the awards, we aim to:
Celebrate workplaces, organisations, projects and individuals who have promoted the employment and promotion of people with disabilities and long-term conditions (LTCs). Whilst promoting and highlighting the benefits of inclusive employment practice.
Increase knowledge and confidence of Scottish businesses when employing people with disabilities or LTCs. Inspiring people with disabilities and health issues to reach their employment goals.
Strengthen partnerships between employers, specialist employment providers and sources of specialist support and advice on disability in the workplace.
Why apply for an SBDA Employer of the Year Award?
The awards are the ideal way to profile your commitment to diversity and equality in the workplace, to staff engagement and wellbeing.
“We were delighted to be announced Employer of the Year at the 2013 awards. Equality and diversity is at the heart of everything we do within the group. We go above and beyond to ensure all of our recruitment policies are inclusive and fair and our workforce reflects all members of society”
Jennifer Anderson, Community Improvement Officer for GHA’s parent group, Wheatley Group. Employer of the Year 2013.
Entries are judges by a panel of experts on disability in the workplace and responsible business practices. Judges provide free detailed feedback on all nominations, giving you valuable input to review your CSR and diversity practices.
The categories are Employer of the Year, Achiever of the Year, and the Innovation Award. To read more about each category and to download an application form, visit the awards page on our website
The deadline for nominations is 6 October 2014 and awards will be presented at the SUSE 2014 conference on 20 November 2014, to be held at the Apex Hotel, Edinburgh. For more information and to book your place on the conference please email Rebecca.hammond@susescotland.co.uk.
The Scottish Union of Supported Employment registered charity number: SC027649
Advice for companies to prevent unfair dismissal claims
Following a series of expensive unfair dismissal cases being reported in the media this year, HR and health and safety experts Law At Work (LAW) are calling on business leaders to focus more attention on their disciplinary procedures.
The Edinburgh based firm has revealed that the highest number of calls (80%) to their legal managers are related to staff conduct issues as companies strive to set out clear and concise directives when conducting disciplinary proceedings.
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) produced a 2011 report on Conflict Management confirming that “the scale of workplace conflict is remarkable and has increased in the recession”. The report found that almost half of those surveyed say that their organisation has increased its use of disciplinary action (49.5%), grievance procedures (47.7%) and mediation (49.4%). Almost 62% of employers had reported increasing instances of training line managers to handle difficult conversations and two in three respondents (65.3%) quoted that troubleshooting by HR departments has gone up.
Donald MacKinnon, Director of Legal Services at LAW explained that employers need to take discipline procedures seriously and protect themselves from potentially damaging situations. He said:
“Effective management of workplace grievances and disciplinary procedures must be viewed as an important fabric of any business. It can often be a daunting and tricky area for companies to handle themselves and can be an expensive mistake if mismanaged.”
“There are a number of basic steps that businesses must be prepared for in order to undertake successful and well managed investigations or disciplinary procedures. Our experience demonstrates that employers can frequently turn a potentially fair dismissal into an unfair one by failing to apply basic procedural steps or using outdated policies and procedures, which in turn could leave them exposed to costly tribunals and damaging claims.”
LAW is holding seminars on Disciplinary Dilemmas as part of their interactive ‘’Focus On’’ training courses, to find out more about LAW’s training schedule and to request a place, please visit:
http://www.lawatwork.co.uk/focus-on
Law firm Gillespie Macandrew, with offices in Edinburgh and Perth, has reported a turnover of £9.583million for financial year 2013 – 2014, an increase of over 4% on the previous year’s turnover of £9.2 million.
The firm has seen growth across the sectors in which it operates, with the most notable increase being delivered by its Land & Rural Business Division, which has seen turnover rise by over 20% from £1.63million to £1.97 million. Other important contributions were made by the Private Client, Commercial, Housebuilder and Energy teams in addition to the income generated by the Perth office in its first full year in operation.
Operating profit in the latest financial year was £2.745 million, an increase of approximately 3%. For the financial year in question, which ran to 28 February, the firm had 22 partners and the average profit per partner was £124,000, up from £121,000 the previous financial year.
Managing partner, Ian Turnbull, comments:
“We regard this as building on the progress demonstrated last year. It is a good, solid performance during a time of continuing challenge and change within the legal profession in Scotland.
“We are continuing to push ahead with our investment in good quality people at all levels and we are actively looking to recruit in several areas. For example, the Private Client team has done well, particularly on offering tax advice to clients, and we are looking to add to its personnel, both in Edinburgh and Perth, as well as reshaping our proposition to meet client demands and a changing market.
“Indeed, we are seeing positive returns from a number of decisions we made about the shape of the firm. A very tangible addition was the opening of our Perth office and it is pleasing to report that in its first year of full operation it has delivered over £600,000 income, with some notable new clients. This includes a good mix of landed estates, farming and forestry clients and it has helped us extend geographically, north into Angus and west into Argyll. We will be continuing to invest in this office and aim to recruit personnel to build the Private Client team there.
In 2011, at a challenging time in the construction market, we made the decision to expand our Housebuilder team and this has produced a most encouraging return. In the past year we have added several new clients in this sector, including three national house building companies. This is an area in which we have continued to invest, not least by adding Murray Shaw as a partner last year. Murray is recognised as one of Scotland’s leading planning and construction lawyers and we are confident that we will experience further business growth in the property sector as whole, both commercial and residential.
“We aim to deliver the right advice in a cost effective manner to our clients, and we are continuing to work on ensuring that the differentiators that have enabled us to succeed during the past few recessionary years evolve successfully as the economy continues to grow in a positive manner.”
Pictured below: Ian Turnbull, Managing partner
One of the UK’s leading venue finding, event services and accommodation providers, ExecSpace, has announced it is opening premises in Aberdeen – less than a year after it launched operations in the area.
Headquartered in Edinburgh, ExecSpace has experienced rapid growth over the last year in Scotland and across the UK. The company expanded into the Aberdeen and North East area at the beginning of this year, and local operations are headed up by Account Director Jess Atkinson.
The company has taken the decision to open an office in Aberdeen due to high demand for services in and around the city. ExecSpace’s clients in the area include Dana Petroleum, LR Senergy, Aberdeen Asset Management, DOF Subsea and The University of Aberdeen.
During the past year ExecSpace has experienced other expansion including the growth of the team from 7 to 18, and additional personnel will be recruited before the end of the year to service the needs of the growing client base. With a turnover of more than £5 million and a very high client retention rate, ExecSpace is a key player within the Scottish and UK markets.
ExecSpace Founder and Managing Director Emma Little is thrilled to be opening an office in Aberdeen and adds: “Jess Atkinson has done a fantastic job so far in Aberdeen, however I truly believe that continual investment within the areas where we wish to operate is crucial to us providing a flawless service for our clients”.
“It is naïve to believe that all companies across Scotland have the same needs, they quite simply don’t. The Aberdeen market is different to other areas we operate in and I believe having a permanent base in the city, where other agents don’t, will help us better understand and serve our clients even better than we do already”.
Local Account Director, Jess Atkinson, says: “We are delighted to have an office base located in the heart of Aberdeen and we look forward to using it to increase our presence within the region.”
ExecSpace’s new Aberdeen office is located at Riverside House, Riverside Drive, Aberdeen, AB11 7LH To find out more, contact Jess Atkinson on (07557) 864497 or email jess.atkinson@execspace.co.uk. Alternatively visit www.execspace.co.uk
Scottish Chambers of Commerce has published the results of a key international trade survey, looking at the obstacles facing existing and potential Scottish exporters.
By identifying the challenges facing businesses in Scotland, views on both the domestic market and the international market were gathered. A total of 372 businesses responded to the latest survey, undertaken in Q1 2014, which shows Scottish businesses are ambitious with their growth plans but exporting remains a key barrier.
Liz Cameron, Chief Executive, Scottish Chambers of Commerce said,
“The hard work of Scottish businesses is shining through as Scotland’s economy gives us positive signals; orders are increasing, employment is on the up and overall, businesses are more optimistic about the future of their business.
“We know that Scotland’s innovation and people are its strength so we must keep our finger on the pulse, making sure we tackle the barriers preventing us from doing business outside of Scotland. This survey has shown us that Scottish businesses are facing substantial challenges when looking to export to international markets.
“Although Scottish businesses have ambitions to increase domestic growth (89%), the survey indicates that we are reliant on Scotland’s home market. In order to sustain growth and create new opportunities, we have to be outward-looking but it’s clear that we are not doing enough to create a sense of confidence amongst the business community to export internationally.
“Scotland’s business community need to be better informed that global markets want to buy the products and services we have to offer, particularly as a majority of businesses who responded (65%) felt they did not have the right products/services to offer international customers. This is not just a Scottish issue, businesses across the UK are experiencing similar barriers to exporting.
“If we are serious about stimulating growth and seizing international opportunities for the Scottish economy, we must tackle these barriers head-on. We need Scottish and UK Governments to support private sector led initiatives which will drive businesses to think global. Already, the numbers of businesses who are exporting outside of the UK have increased as a direct result of Scottish Chambers of Commerce’s Business Mentoring Scotland programme. It is time to gather pace and recognise the pivotal role of Chambers of Commerce in creating an Exporting Scotland.”
Infographic – International Trade Survey
Leading independent Scottish law firm bto solicitors is returning to the stage at this year’s Fringe Festival in Edinburgh for its sixth consecutive year.
Two members of bto’s specialist Data Protection Defence Team – associates Laura Irvine and Lindsay Urquhart – are appearing on stage at Fringe Central (Venue 2) today (19 August at 11am) and tomorrow (20 August at 12.30pm) to discuss issues around data protection for the performing arts industry and how to avoid unnecessary fines.
The Data Protection Defence Team is the only team of lawyers in the UK who have experience of successfully challenging a fine imposed by the ICO for a breach of the Data Protection Act. Therefore its lawyers speak with authority on how best to handle a data breach and how best to deal with the ICO.
Laura Irvine explained: “As production companies hire casts for their latest plays, send out mass promotional e-mails from a database or blog into the wee small hours, they need to consider whose personal data they are processing… and whether what they are doing is subject to data protection laws.
“The handling of personal information in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) is a minefield. We will be discussing, in plain language, how to avoid a nasty £500,000 fine for getting things wrong.”
Tickets for£500,000? Fine! Why Data Protection Mattersare free and can be obtained at the door of Fringe Central or online at: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/500-000-fine-why-data-protection-matters
We are very proud that we have been shortlisted for Scotland in the Bank of Scotland Enterprise Awards 2014! We will keep you updated about all the varies stages of the awards – starting with the initial heats that take place in Edinburgh this September. Here is the announcement in the Sunday Telegraph:
We are very pleased to be shortlisted as part of this award scheme as it is such a great oppurtunity for our business. Good luck to all the businesses entered!
For more info on the enterprise awards, please check out their website – http://www.bankofscotlandenterpriseawards.com
Edinburgh Rugby face Leicester Tigers for the first time since 2008 when the team produced a 17-12 Heineken Cup win over the then tournament runners-up at the BT Murrayfield Stadium.
It will also be the first chance to see the latest Edinburgh Rugby signings in action against top-flight opposition, littered with familiar faces from the international arena, including 2013 British & Irish Lions Manu Tuilagi, Ben Youngs, Dan Cole and Tom Croft.
For more information please visit:
http://www.edinburghrugby.org/match-report/edinburgh-rugby-vs-leicester-tigers-sat-23082014-1400
