Around 1,500 businesses in the city are set to receive one-to-one advice during the pilot scheme. Businesses will be advised on building a successful website and how they can maximise their Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
If the pilot scheme is a success, the initiative will then be launched across the UK.
Google UK’s head of small business initiatives, Raj Saggi, said that this would be the first time Google has focused a great deal of time on one city’s internet economy. And there were also reasons as to why Liverpool businesses were chosen to test out the initiative.
“With Liverpool's strong business networks and sense of community, we believe this is the best city to run such an initiative,” he said.
Matt Brittin, managing director of Google UK, said small businesses were put off because they thought launching online was “too complex and complicated”.
“What we’re trying to do now is go a bit deeper, to try to understand what businesses are doing and how best to aid their growth. We’re coming to spend a significant amount of time working with people in a community and helping people make the most of the internet,” he said.
"It's all about developing the ecosystem. We care about the internet's potential to do good and we think that if we can make it a better place for businesses and consumers, the rest will follow. The UK is good at this stuff. It is the worldwide leader in e-commerce, but it is time to start thinking bigger.
"This is the first time we’ve done this – we’re looking to see what we can learn from it."
Following allegations that Google has become too powerful and predatory, the web search giant is launching various initiatives to shake off the image with Google chairman Eric Schmidt even declaring that the company “loved” Britain. He said that the company would be willing to pay more tax into Great Britain if our tax laws were not so weak.
It will be interesting to see how successful the scheme is in Liverpool and to see if Google will offer their advice to small businesses across the UK.
"For more information, please contact Glazers, Chartered Accountants London or visit www.glazers.co.uk
[ add comment ] ( 75 views ) | permalink |
( 3 / 670 )A five-year review of the UK tax system by the Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned that the 50p rate of income tax is costing the Treasury up to £500 million a year due to the wealthy storing money overseas.
To escape from paying the higher rate of tax, people who earn more than £150,000 are resorting to legal tax avoidance schemes.
Mounting pressure is already on the Chancellor to axe the 50p rate next year, although the move has been met with criticism, however, this news will add further pressure onto Mr Osborne to relieve high earners from the tax rate.
Paul Johnson, director of the IFS, said: “It looks like the 50p rate may be too high and that it is possible it will reduce tax revenues.
“It could lead to more people investing in tax avoidance, illegally hiding their income or even leaving the country altogether. I wouldn’t have introduced the 50p rate in the first place.”
The IFS also said that the highest rate that could be introduced without tax revenue being reduced is around 40 percent.
In response to the calls to axe the tax, Mr Osborne has also called on HMRC to review the tax rate over the next year and to see what impact it has on the economy. Previous figures released by the Treasury show estimates of £2.7 billion being raised each year by the tax.
The 50p tax rate was introduced by Labour, and currently 320,000 people are hit by the tax, or one per cent of taxpayers, according to HMRC.
The Government is divided on whether to keep the tax on high earners in place. Nick Clegg believes that if it is axed it should be replaced with a “mansion tax” on homes worth more than £2 million.
The IFS claims there are other methods in order to tax the wealthy. Mr Johnson said: “Wealth inequality has grown very strongly over the past few years, so if you are worried about it, inheritance tax is relatively useful.”
The review of the UK tax system, which was done over five years, will not be welcome news for the Chancellor. The IFS said the economy was losing tens of billions of pounds due to the bureaucracy and inefficiencies of Britain’s current tax system.
"For more information, please contact Glazers, Chartered Accountants London or visit www.glazers.co.uk
[ add comment ] ( 11 views ) | permalink |
( 3 / 661 )The rising cost of utility bills has pushed the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation to 4.5 percent in August, up from 4.4 percent in July, according to figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS).
The ONS also said that housing, water, electricity and gas prices increased by 5.1 percent year-on-year, which is the highest annual increase since July 2009.
Utility bills have hit a two-year high and clothing costs have seen their biggest increase on record. The ONS said clothing and footwear had provided the biggest rise in prices, with the 3.7 percent monthly increase a record between July and August.
The Retail Prices Index (RPI) measure increased to 5.2 percent from 5 percent.
Figures from ONS also showed that the UK's trade deficit in goods and services had remained unchanged from July at £4.45bn. The deficit on trade in goods was £8.92bn, while the surplus on services was £4.47bn.
The inflation rate is well above the 2 percent target set by the Bank of England. The Bank claims that inflation is above target mainly due to VAT rising to 20 percent at the beginning of the year and the increases to global energy prices.
Many analysts think the rate of CPI inflation may rise further, possibly touching 5 percent, before falling back towards the end of the year or at the beginning of next year.
Howard Archer of IHS Global Insight said: “There were no nasty surprises on the inflation front, which will likely reinforce the Bank of England's central view that inflation will head down markedly after likely peaking around 5 percent in the near term.
"While the rise back up in consumer price inflation to 4.5 percent in August (its equal highest level with April and May since October 2008) is hardly pleasant news, it is fully in line with expectations and does not materially change the monetary policy outlook. It is evident that any interest rate hike is off the Bank of England's agenda for a considerable time to come given the current softness of the economy and weakened growth prospects. Indeed, we do not expect the Bank of England to raise interest rates until 2013.”
Jonathan Loynes of Capital Economics said: “August's consumer prices figures brought further hope that the peak in inflation is close. We still expect inflation to be well below its 2 percent target at the end of next year.”
"For more information, please contact Glazers, Chartered Accountants London or visit www.glazers.co.uk
[ add comment ] ( 14 views ) | permalink |
( 3 / 613 )There is a bleak outlook for economic growth following the latest optimism index from BDO revealing that business confidence has hit a two-year low.
The BDO Output index, which measures the state of companies' order books, fell from 95 in July to 93.6 in August, which suggests that the economy could contract in the third quarter.
The score of 93.6 is the lowest score for 26 months, only scores above 95 indicate growth.
Peter Hemington, partner at BDO said: "It's worrying to see such a reliable growth indicator fall to a two-year low.
"Our predictions should serve as a wake-up call to policymakers that action must be taken to avoid economic contraction.
Mr Hemington also said the Bank of England may likely be forced to implement quantitative easing, having voted against renewing its quantitative easing programme last week.
"Those asking for a rise in interest rates are doing so prematurely. What is needed and what we have long called for is a further round of quantitative easing, and it is heartening to see this stance becoming an increasingly credible position. The MPC must therefore give QE3 profound consideration if we are to arrest the forecasted economic slump,” he added.
However, the forward-looking optimism index was more optimistic, coming in at 95.5, forecasting slight growth for the beginning of next year.
BDO said the index has been “teetering around the 95 point for three consecutive months”.
There was also some optimism regarding expectations of inflation, which showed its first monthly fall since December 2010.
The reports from BDO follows a report by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) who slashed its growth expectations for the UK and said the country was at "significant risk" of a double-dip recession.
"For more information, please contact Glazers, Chartered Accountants London or visit www.glazers.co.uk
[ add comment ] ( 9 views ) | permalink |
( 3 / 601 )Amid fears that customers will bear the brunt of the “biggest reform on the financial sector since 1930s”, Chancellor George Osborne yesterday signalled that he will give the controversial bank reforms the go ahead.
The Chancellor said it would be “very foolish” not to take action to prevent another financial crisis.
Although there has been opposition from the banks, next week the Treasury is expected to press ahead and accept the need for stricter “firewalls” in order to insulate High Street retail banks from their extended arms that focus on risky investment banking.
Mr Osborne said: “This country had probably the greatest banking crash in its history a couple of years ago.
“It would be very foolish not to learn the lessons of what went wrong and to protect British families from having to bail out the banks again on the scale they did a few years ago.”
Independent experts have calculated that the cost of the reforms could be as high as £15bn, and with charges expected to rise for customers, it will be them who will be picking up the price.
Sir John Vickers, the chairman of the Independent Commission of Banking, admitted that it was likely that there would be “some effect” on costs to customers.
Mr Vickers said the changes could raise the level of mortgage rates up to around one percent, which would add almost £1,000 a year to the cost of paying a typical mortgage of £140,000.
So how will the money be spent? It is expected the reforms will see High Street banking arms being required to have separate staff, funding arrangements and computer systems from investment banks.
The move is designed to ensure the banking industry will not be thrown into another financial crash, as High Street banks would be unaffected if a bank’s investment divisions is thrown into financial difficulty with the changes in place.
"For more information, please contact Glazers, Chartered Accountants London or visit www.glazers.co.uk
[ add comment ] ( 103 views ) | permalink |
( 3 / 575 )
Random Entry
