Latest News

Oct 25 2019

State Pension – to claim or not to claim?

Categories: Agriculture

The average age of a UK farmer is now 59 and with changes to the State Pension regime, it may be time to consider how these may affect you. The full basic state pension is currently worth £8,767.20 a year and you can check when you are entitled to claim using the H M Revenue more

Oct 25 2019

Significant purchase activity in the hotel sector

Categories: Leisure

In the past two years particularly, our specialist leisure team has seen a spike in the volume of hotels being bought and sold in Scotland, many of which we have been directly involved in. Whilst there have been a number of ‘corporate purchasers’, there is still strong demand from independent operators and from the overseas more

Oct 24 2019

The first steps to protecting your charity against internal fraud

Categories: Charities

You may be surprised to read that fraud in charities is an underlying problem. Higher profile cases such as Birmingham Dogs Home, where the chief executive was imprisoned for stealing £650,000 from the charity, are thankfully few and far between. The majority of chief executives and Trustees enter the charity sector to make a difference more

Oct 18 2019

Gabriel reporting – a new system in development

Categories: Professions

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is undertaking a significant project to make changes to its current data collection system – Gabriel.  Gabriel, which stands for ‘gathering better regulatory information electronically’, has been criticised over the years for its complexity, but is looking to make considerable improvements to remedy this.  The FCA launched a survey earlier more

Oct 16 2019

Helping our clients, James Penman Plant Hire, benefit from the increased AIA limit

Categories: Engineering & ManufacturingTaxation

As mentioned in our previous article, the Annual Investment Allowance (AIA) limit has been increased from £200,000 to £1million and is valid until 31 December 2020, however many businesses aren’t planning on taking advantage of this higher limit, partly, due to a lack of understanding and awareness. The AIA increase provides a great opportunity for businesses to more

Oct 14 2019

How to prepare your nursery for the increase to funded childcare by 2020

Categories: Healthcare

The implementation of the Scottish Government’s plans to increase funded childcare from 600 to 1140 hours is fast approaching. The aim is to provide all children with the best possible start in life, however, as a direct result of the proposed changes, many private and third sector nurseries are predicting a shortfall in funding which more

Oct 11 2019

Working in our EQ Accounting Payroll team

Categories: EQ AccountingPayrollPeople

At EQ, our EQ Accounting team help you manage the financial and operational side of your business – allowing you to focus on the important day-to-day business activities. Their range of services include bookkeeping, payroll, VAT compliance, management accounting, and, for some clients, the full outsourcing of their financial record-keeping. We are currently looking to expand our more

Oct 8 2019

Strengthening our presence in Fife with a new appointment

Categories: EQ NewsPeople

An experienced Fife business advisor, who has supported the local business community for over 30 years, has joined us as a Consultant. Bryan Johnston, former Relationship Director with Royal Bank of Scotland, will strengthen our presence in Fife, working alongside Partners and staff within our Glenrothes office. David Cameron, Managing Partner commented, “We are absolutely more