Monthly Archives: May 2011

Duplicate payments are potentially a source of waste

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Accounts can be a complex process, which in terms of the bottom line means they can be a costly business. There aren’t many firms that don’t have some kind of mistake in their books at the end of the year. That can have different consequences, some of them major. On the one hand, it might just mean the figures don’t quite add up, little more than a frustration to an accountant somewhere. On the other, it could result in a substantial loss of cash for your organisation, or a problem with the Inland Revenue. An accounts payable audit can help you smoothe out many of the glitches in your accounts, enabling you to locate issues such as duplicate payments and other types of overpayment. This is all possible using specialist recovery audit software, which checks your accounts and finds sources of mistakes. The results can be shocking, particularly for larger organisations, and can represent a significant saving. In fact, the software could easily pay for itself the first time you use it.

Audit software is versatile enough to check for not only problems that happen due to negligence or accident – simple human error – but also more sinister cases, such as fraud, when a client deliberately overcharges you or keeps funds that you have paid by mistake. (In fact, the Inland Revenue uses this kind of software to check returns, using the information to identify possible occurrences of fraud.) That’s important, because if your client list is long or complicated, there may well be opportunities to exploit that, costing you even more money. Running the software will flag up suspicious entries, enabling you to regain funds that you never should have paid in the first place. That’s got to be a good thing in difficult times, when every little extra could mean the difference between balancing the books and wondering about ‘efficiencies’ – usually meaning layoffs – or even worse.

If you’re in need of convincing, start with the (not unreasonable) principle that errors could account for 1 percent of turnover, perhaps more. What does that equal in cash terms, and is it worth pursuing – apart from any other concerns such as tax returns and catching fraudsters? For most companies, the answer will be a clear ‘yes’ – recovery audit software is inherently worthwhile. duplicate payments and other overpayments can be hugely and unnecessarily expensive, so an accounts payable audit is often highly illuminating.

Please visit http://www.fiscaltechnologies.com/ for further information about this topic.

http://www.fiscaltechnologies.com/

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Kickboxing London -€“ the basics

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Many people know something about kickboxing, and think of it as something they might be interested in getting involved in, but don’t quite know where to begin.  There are several clubs and leisure centres which offer kickboxing London, but the variety of styles and approaches can be quite confusing for the new kickboxer. Finding a kickboxing club should not be too much of a headache, though, as long as you have some idea if what you are looking for.

One form of kickboxing is Zen-Do, which translated from the Japanese means ‘all paths’ and originates from the traditional Karate style of Wado-Ryu and Mu-Gen-Do fighting system.  Sensei Hironori Ohtsuka created the Japanese martial art of Wado-Ryu Karate in 1934, after studying another form of karate called Kiu-jitsu.  The full name of this style means ‘way of peace’, which suggests that the intention was to use it as a means of solving issues in a non-violent way.  Karate-Do means ‘way of the empty hand’, as karate is always done without the use of weapons.

Karate took off in England in the 1970s, when the first group of instructors pioneered Wado-Ryu karate in the UK.  Meiji Suzuki came here  to teach at the Tonbridge Club in London’s King’s Cross. Whilst he was here he decided to expand his martial arts knowledge by going beyond  the strict training system he was accustomed to.  He travelled to Yugoslavia and trained with the national team coach there, who was an expert in kick-boxing.  He then created  a system called ‘the unlimited way’, so called because it remains open to new ideas and techniques.  The focus of this style of fighting is seeking the most appropriate and correct answer to the problem of a fight.  If a participant loses, he will think about his mind, body and technique in order to work out what might have gone wrong.  As Zen-Do is not bound by tradition, like some martial arts, it is constantly evolving.  Another reason for its popularity is that it is not just physical in nature, but it represents the development of the mind, body and spirit in a continuous cycle.

If you are looking for a kickboxing club in London and are interested in a form of kickboxing that allows for some creativity and expression of individuality, then it well well be that Zen-Do is for you.  But if you think you might be better suited to a more rigid discipline, the current kickboxing London scene is sophisticated enough that there will certainly be a club out there to suit your demands.

Please visit http://www.zendokickboxing.com/ for further information about this topic.

http://www.zendokickboxing.com/

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IT support London for small businesses

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For those who run small businesses in London, organising computer support London can be a tricky decision.  If there are fewer than 50 employees in your business, it may not seem worth employing a full time IT person, who might seem to only be useful when things go wrong.  You might be of the opinion that there is so much it support London available, that it is easy enough to call someone in when the system experiences problems, but you really need to ask yourself how dependent your company is on the smooth working of its IT systems. Waiting an hour or two for somebody to come and fix a problem with the server can waste a significant amount of employees’ time – if you have 50 employees who are unable to use their computers for an hour, you are effectively wasting 50 hours of paid employees’ time.

It seems therefore that the average small company looking for computer support London has two choices.  The first is to make sure you have somebody on-site at all times who can handle most IT issues that arise.  It may seem that an IT crisis does not occur frequently enough to justify a full-time employee, but it is worth thinking about the other ways in which an IT professional could help your business.  For example, setting new employees up on the system, general troubleshooting, and dealing with printers and complicated software will be so much quicker if you have an expert on-hand. This will mean that your staff will have more time to get on with the jobs that they are trained to do.

The other possibility is to find a company that you can call upon in times of need.  In looking for this kind of support, you are likely to have three things in mind.  How well can the company in question deal with my issue, how quickly can they get to me, and how much will it cost?  It may sound obvious, but it is worth looking around to find the company that is as close to your office as possible, so that you have the best chance of having your problem solved quickly.  Having found the closest IT support London, it is worth trying them out to test their services.  If you are happy with the quality of their technical support and their efficiency, then you need to consider the full cost of the service, including call out fee, and decide whether this will be acceptable should it be required about once a month.

Looking for computer support London can present a difficult balancing act, but knowing the right questions to ask will set you in good stead.  Whether you work for the biggest company in the city or a tiny start up, it is likely that you will be dependent on IT for the smooth working of your business.  Finding it support London that is reliable, affordable and effective, then, is surely worth spending some time on.

Please visit http://www.fwcs.co.uk/ for further information about this topic.

http://www.fwcs.co.uk/

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Jobs in occupational therapy have never been easier to find

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Given that the NHS is Britain’s biggest employer (and given it is not the only provider of healthcare, although certainly the biggest by far), it is not surprising that the recruitment of appropriate staff is a massive task. The mere law of averages dictates that people will want to move between posts and, very often, different parts of the country, making recruiting for allied health jobs an ongoing headache for personnel departments in both the NHS and other organisations. Fortunately for both the poor folk in personnel and the time-poor job-seeker, it is now far easier to find anything from jobs in occupational therapy to jobs in radiography, due to two key advances of recent years.

The first of these is, of course, the internet, a tool perfectly designed for the unwillingly-uprooted spouse searching for jobs in occupational therapy in a new part of the country or the ambitious career-climber, willing to spend hours searching for interesting jobs in radiography. It’s a far cry from the bad old days when subscribing to the local paper in a faraway area or repeated telephone calls with several potential new employers was necessary if one was to keep afoot of new openings. These days, searches can be precisely tailored and narrowed down to avoid trawling through lists of other allied health jobs in the hunt for the one which will fit a candidate’s qualifications, experience and aspirations.

The other development, which has been repeated across many other fields of public service personnel, is the growth of specialist recruitment agencies who are usually able to match candidates to openings with more speed and less effort and cost than traditional personnel departments would be able to through traditional advertising. In fact, the growth of these companies, such as About Health Professionals, an off-shoot of the well-regarded Sanctuary Personnel, is intrinsically linked with the new ways in which we look for work. Their web-site offers features most of us now take for granted when job-hunting: precise search functions with several different search parameters, e-mail alerts for suitable posts and the option to upload a CV for potential employers to peruse.

This also works well, of course, for the departments offering allied health jobs who are far more likely to find the right candidate if their jobs in radiography are being read by candidates across the country, their search for dieticians is nation-wide with no further effort or expense than if it wasn’t and their jobs in occupational therapy are visible to those who maybe work for a neighbouring PCT but who are keen to move on to the next step in their careers. Given these huge advantages to both job-hunter and employer, It’s hard to remember how anyone managed before!

Please visit http://www.abouthealthprofessionals.co.uk/ for further information about this topic.

http://www.abouthealthprofessionals.co.uk/

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Get into (financial) shape courtesy of Cash Genie

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Cash Genie is committed to responsible lending standards, and it’s a business principle that clients should not have to come back and use the short-term loan services over and over. Apart from anything else, it’s not smart commercial sense, because encouraging risky financial practices means that clients are more likely to default on their debts! So a part of the service is helping customers to organise their budgets in such a way that they won’t need to opt for such loans in the future.

The best way to do this is to scrutinise your spending: all of it. It sounds like a big deal, but it can make a huge difference. Break it down if it seems too much. First, check all of your major outgoings: rent or mortgage, bills, utilities, phone, internet, debt repayment, council tax and so on. It may be that you can save money already by changing providers for one of these. In the case of a mortgage, that could save you hundreds of pounds or more a year. Others might mean you have an extra ten or twenty quid at the end of the month – still worthwhile.

But the most surprising figures are likely to come from the expenses you barely see. These are the small, cumulative expenditures you notch up over the week. When you look at them over the course of the month and year, they can make a huge difference. Buying a coffee on the way to work every morning? That’s only £2 or so, right? But that’s £10 a week, £40 a month or getting on for £500 a year. That could represent an instalment on your mortgage or a month’s rent. Similarly, buying a sandwich and drink every day instead of making a meal at home? Easy another £1,000 a year. The same goes for the odd night out: it’s very easy to lose track.

Cash Genie recommends keeping an eye on these little expenses. It doesn’t mean you have to deny yourself entirely – no one’s saying that you shouldn’t enjoy the odd treat or lunch out. What’s important is that you know what these are actually costing you. Once you know that, you can decide whether the convenience or treat is really worth it, if the ultimate result is staying in debt (and therefore having to pay more through interest) in the end. Plus, if you’ve got debts you need to pay off, this can be a great motivator. If a couple of drinks a week fewer means peace of mind in the long term, then it’s no contest.

Please visit http://www.cashgenie.co.uk/ for further information about this topic.

http://www.cashgenie.co.uk/

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Care home manager jobs vacancies are higher than searchers

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It’s not an easy task to source quality candidates to fill care home manager jobs. If you think about it, home manager jobs require a complex and potentially conflicting range of skills, combining an understanding of the clinical and caring aspects of the nursing and care professions, along with the commercial sense of any other business manager. Many nursing home manager jobs are filled by candidates who lean to one side of this divide or the other; lacking either the clinical understanding needed to manage nursing staff well or the commercial experience needed to run a profitable business. In an ideal world, a care home would be run by someone with hands-on experience of the nursing profession together with the business acumen required of anyone heading up a successful commercial organisation. It is indeed a tough ask – so what is the answer?

As in many other sectors of the healthcare industry, it is becoming increasingly common to involve recruitment agencies when looking for new managers, but can an agency really understand the uniquely complex needs of the home manager’s role? And, given this is an industry with a lack of well-qualified staff and a fairly high level of burn-out, is it enough just to look at those currently seeking employment?

One recruitment consultancy in this field, About Care, has taken the brave step of directly employing both qualified care home managers and experienced RGNs within its organisation to provide a deeper understanding of the needs of those looking to fill nursing home manager jobs. This means that its service is driven by staff with direct experience of the sector, not mere consultants who can only see from the outside in. It’s a smart move, especially in this particular field, and has served them well.

Another important element to their approach, and one essential in any industry where there are more openings than suitably qualified and experienced candidates, is to approach existing managers with excellent track records and qualifications and present them with available care home manager jobs, giving them the opportunity to progress their careers in another care or nursing home. The big advantage of this approach is that it tends to avoid organisations being forced to fill home manager jobs from a field consisting only of those desperate to leave their current role (for whatever reason). Although it must be stressed that not every job-seeker is an imperfect candidate, the traditional methods of recruitment for nursing home manager jobs can limit the options for a home determined to find the very best person for the job – which is why a break from the more usual methods can really pay dividends.

Please visit http://www.aboutcare.co.uk/ for further information about this topic.

http://www.aboutcare.co.uk/

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