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ACCOUNTING FIRMS --------------------------------------------

Arthur Andersen
The
Home Page looks good but it has so many "bells and whistles" that it is slow to download - don't even try once the Americans are awake and online! There is plenty of information for the US market but the UK site is only a minisite within the US one and it contains very little of current interest.
Their
KnowledgeSpacesite is packed with information and services. However, most of these are paid for packages from AA. It is worth getting the 30 day free trial to have a browse of the site and find whether there is anything of use. The Business links are probably the most useful free feature.

BDO Stoy Hayward
One of the features of the BDO site is their focus on AIM. As well as some in depth information about AIM, BDO Stoy Hayward include a
graph of the AIM index. BDO also run the Property Forum, a virtual conferencing area mainly about Commercial Property.

Chantrey Vellacott
The
Chantrey Vellacott DFK website has been given a facelift and a new URL. It looks good and is easy to navigate. The information contained has not yet been updated but there are some interesting articles and publications. For example, there is a useful article on the Year 2000 - Audit Implications as well as a thoughtful and informative one on E-Business and the Internet. The Business Update page, from which all the articles are accessible, is worth keeping an eye on.

Cooper Lancaster Brewers
Not a traditional accountancy firm site, but a promotional area for CLB's 'migration services' - companies seeking to relocate an executive or individuals looking for a new life abroad!

Critchleys
The
Critchleys site was launched in June 1998 and has not changed since. It has some nice close up pictures of the partners and a clear explanation of the Critchley approach. It is a bit unfortunate that they advertise the fact that the site is unchanged by stating on the home page that the site is still under construction.

Deloitte & Touche
The Deloitte & Touche site has improved considerably during 1998. The site is frequently updated with new
articles and news items. Apart from some dull stuff about what D&T do, the best area of the site is the graduate recruitment area, which has 2 quizzes and a 'day in the life of an accountant' piece. The quizzes are interesting because if you work through them you can clearly see how Internet based training will work.

Ernst & Young
The
E&Y UK site has been given a new look to fit in with the International site. There is a lot of information here but you have to know where to look. For example, there is already a Budget 99 page with comment on the Green Budget, which is worth a read. However this is hidden under "tax" within "services". There is no easy way of finding when new information is added to the site or where it is.

Forrester Boyd
There was a spate of enthusiasm when this
website was relatively new. Forrester Boyd put up some useful articles and items of general interest. However, the first flush of excitement appears to have worn out now and not much has been added since September 1998.

Hacker Young
This site looks suitably serious, if a bit dull, with its dark grey wallpaper. It has some useful features, including a
tax corner where you can e-mail a query to be answered by one of their specialists. There is a Business Opportunities Register but, disappointingly, it only allows you to register an opportunity. If you want to find out about one, you have to email the firm.

Haines Watts
The Haines Watt site has gone off the air (Oct 98), and now features a countdown to its new lease of life on 31 January 1999! A small suggestion from us here at AccountingWEB - why not have an email registration box on the site so that if any Haines Watt clients do happen to want to know how many minutes there are to go to 31 January 1999, the opportunity to grab their addresses will not go astray.

Hays Allan
A fairly basic site with a minimum of information. It is difficult to read due to the textured background used on every page. Although there is a page entitled
Feedback this is actually no more than an invitation to write a letter to the firm.

Horwath Clark Whitehill
Horwath Clark Whitehill have a focus on the charity sector, and have prepared some items of specific interest to charities and the not-for-profit sector. The site also contains some more generally useful
Tax Tips and News items. However, one oddity is that once you have left the home page there is no navigation back to it.

Hughes Allen
One of the more innovative sites from a top 50 firm. Rather than focus on blurb about the firm, Hughes Allen have focussed on business solutions and information. The newest feature is an
online company formation order form.

Kidsons Impey
A straightforward, businesslike site. Details of some interesting publications including
Forensic Brief for barristers and solicitors and Business Essentials which is a monthly business information cassette.

Kingston Smith
A large site with a lot of information, clearly presented. The most unusual features are the
Business Opportunity Bulletin Board which is a searchable database giving details of businesses for sale and Gro-NED a register of non-executive directors for smaller growing companies.

KPMG
Another site that has benefitted from a reappraisal this summer, the KPMG site has some nice features - a daily tax tip, weekly tax summary and an excellent help page. There is also an impressive number of serious articles on a wide range of subjects. Current features that you might be interested in are: their
Consolidation Systems 1997 Survey Results information, their analysis of the tax law rewrite plans announced by the government, their feature on Self-assessment and, their year 2000 home page. In our opinion the best of the Big Six (Famous Five) sites.

Levy Gee
A difficult to use site rich in uneccessary graphics. Once you have left the home page behind, it becomes extremely difficult to find your way back again. The misnamed
What's New area is actually a series of (generally dated) articles on a variety of topics from the March Budget to the late payment bill.

Lubbock Fine
The usual online company brochure - partners pictures, office addresses etc. Nothing of particular interest. Although it says there is a NEW Publications database, nothing on the site appeares to have been updated since February 1997.

Moore Stephens
An attractive site and easy to navigate. There is not much more than the usual information about the practice but it is well laid out and the home page contains some interesting snippets such as a summary of the tax consequences of the sale of the RAC. There is also a link from the home page to a list of businesses for sale and wanted. Although these are frequently updated, they are not searchable.

Moores Rowland
A deceptively simple looking site. It is actually packed with useful and informative stuff. As well as the usual details about the company, its aims, its offices etc etc, it has a well stocked, and frequently updated information service. There is a quarterly
newsletter, a series of press releases commenting on recent developments e.g on on construction workers, some meaty articles such as self assessment for companies and finally an impressive list of publications
Altogether, an impressive site, and one to visit regularly.

Morison Stoneham
This site is unaccountably slow; it has some uneccessary graphics but seems unreasonably prone to freezing. It has some news and comment which is all very much directed towards potential clients. The
Budget pages contain a useful summary of the new tax rates. There are two newsletters for clients Tax Intelligence and Rural Outlook Both contain useful planning tips.

Neville Russell
There are snippets of interesting information here but some of them are pretty well hidden. There is a newsletter for charities, but you have to go to "Industry Sectors" and then "Charities" before you find it. The listing of publications is merely that - it gives a brief description of each but there are none online. The so-called "Web Library" is, in fact, a rather limited number of links to other sites. The site proudly displays a claim about how recently it was updated but most of the information contained is pretty old. All in all a rather empty site for a major practice.

Pannell Kerr Forster
This site is updated regularly with
the latest insolvency news, surveys and you can download their PKF P11D Software.

PricewaterhouseCoopers
The PWC site now incorporates a more professional look and feel than either of its separate antecedents with pocket Tax Guides, Survey Guides and their Test Cricket ratings. The
International site gives access to the complete range of PWC material online.

Reeves & Neylan
A simple site with some useful features. The home page has a number of graphics which serve little function other than to slow the download time. However, the rest of the site is clean and quick. There is a series of useful
factsheets and their Budget feature was added very promptly last March.

Robson Rhodes
is among the last of the large accountancy firms to put up a website. However, if you did not know otherwise, you would be forgiven for thinking that all the firm does is its annual Legal IT Survey. The home page says "Wecome to the Legal IT Page" and has a huge logo for the survey. However, on delving you do find information about the other services offered by the firm.

Saffery Champness
A somewhat cumbersome site with some useful features. It contains a large page of Tax Tables, along with online versions of newsletters and Budget comment.

Sheltons
International tax consultants based in Copenhagen. They also offer training courses and it is this side of the business that the site focuses on. Courses are held in London, Manchester, Douglas (Isle of Man), Jersey, Antwerp, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Geneva and Luxembourg.
 

WD Johnston & Carmichael
A pretty basic site - no more than an online company prospectus.

Titmuss Sainer Dechert 
Technicolour pages for the London legal firm of over 300 staff (with partners throughout Europe and America).


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PENSIONS --------------------------------------------

 

Clerical Medical
Internet service for independent financial advisers and their customers - "professional people". Separate sections of info and advice to the pro's and clients.

LineOne Savings & Loans
A wealth of advice to make the most of your money, with some neat on-line services to shop around for the best loans, credit agreements and investments and personal finance news from The Times and Sunday Times. You can even work out what you're worth.

Richard Branson's Guide to PEPs, TESSAs and ISAs
You don't become one of the UK's wealthiest men without knowing a thing or two about money, so the Virgin boss should be well qualified to give free financial planning advice in his on-line and printed guides. There's a link to Virgin Direct, his financial services company, naturally.

This Is Money
Cracking new arrival on the money scene: savings and investment news, advice and special columnists in a great web site based on the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and London Evening Standard.

Times Money
Smart coverage of money matters from The Times, ranging from big corporate news and market information to advice about all aspects of personal finance to help you make your money go further.

Lloyds Bank
The black horse gallops in to offer a site devoted to banking (business, commercial, offshore, corporate and institutional), franchising and recruitment.

Save & Prosper
Old-established (1930s) investment company and independent financial adviser, company, Save & Prosper manage more than?3.4 billion-worth of funds for half a billion customers. They cover a range from unit trusts and PEPs to pensions and banking services.

Equitable Life Assurance Society
The world's oldest mutual-life insurance office, founded in 1762. The Equitable can boast that it has no shareholders or brokers to pay - it's owned by the with-profits policyholders. There's a lot of advice here on how to plan your own pension.

Marks & Spencer: Financial Services
The UK retail chain detail their financial services: savings and investments, life assurance and pensions and personal loans.

Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority
The statutory regulator for UK occupational pension schemes was launched in 1997 following the Robert Maxwell affair. This is about who they are, what they do and how you can lodge complaints about company pension schemes.


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ORGANISATIONS---------------------------------------------------

Overseas Accountancy Bodies

Listed here are the top overseas accounting, tax and pensions institutes.
American Accounting Association
If you want to know what is going on in the American accountancy world, this is a good place to start. A huge site containing mountains of information: lists of publications (with abstracts of articles), details of conferences and calls for papers, and so forth. Perhaps the most useful pages for UK purposes are the comprehensive
Links.

European Accounting Association
The site gives details of the publications and conferences of the EAA. There is an online newsletter and a useful feature is
What's New which is readily accessed from the home page and shows what has recently been updated on the site.

ICAI - The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland
Full details of their library catalogue, a directory of Irish member firm homepages, but no online access to their journal "Accountancy Ireland".

IFAC - International Federation of Accountants
An impressive site containing an almost overwhelming amount of information. It is divided into five parts:
Facts and Figures which gives an overview of the organisation and its component members; IFAC News which is just what it says; Committee Activities which outlines the constituent committees and what they do; Standards and Guidance which gives details of such things as outstanding exposure drafts and IFAC services; finally there is a Members area giving information about forthcoming meetings and conferences.

Summa Project
Based at The University of Birmingham, this is funded by the ICAEW Research Board and provides a WWW information server for accounting academics and other professionals. The aim of the project is to support and encourage Accountancy departments in universities and large accountancy firms to provide information, to promote the electronic publication of research and to provide a point of entry to WWW sites of interest in this area.

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICP
One of the leading sites from a professional accounting body, which includes good news, features and discussion forums that are particularly active. One of the most interesting programs that the AICPA is involved with is their WebTrust initiative that is pushing US accounting firms into new areas where they give Independent Accountants reports on web sites.

The Australian Society of Certified Practising Accountants (
Many of the issues facing Australian accountants will ring bells with those of us in the UK so it is worth taking a look at this site. There are pages on a proposed merger of professional bodies as well as a whole area devoted to
Tax Reform. The News Stand is also worth a look.

The Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA)
Interestingly enough the CICA has members in Bermuda as well as Canada. There are some useful links on the site - both Canadian and international (including AccountingWEB). However, the site is very difficult to navigate and most of the detailed information it contains is in pdf format.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia
This site's users share many of the concerns and therefore it covers many of the same issues as the ASCPA site. However, it is less easy to use and has the annoying habit of opening multiple versions of your browser. However, it is interesting to see another view on the Australian scene.

UK Accountancy Bodies

Here are the top accounting, tax and pensions institutes for the UK.

ACCA - The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants
An exciting, content rich site from the ACCA recently completely redesigned by Sift plc. Full of useful information including press releases, policy statements, diary dates, contact details, and loads of things to download (a staff directory, member facilities, technical commentaries, exam notes, graduate information, and even a 65 page list of graduates who passed their final exams).
Another recent development is the launch of their special
merger site with all the latest news on their proposals for merger with CIMA and CIPFA.

Association of Accounting Technicians
Launched at the end of 1997 and redesigned in the summer of 1998, the AAT site features plenty of information about the Institute. There is a useful
"What's New" area which gives links to all the recent developments. The site is regularly updated and says clearly when each item was last changed.

Association of International Accountants
The AIA is a UK body, founded in 1928, which provides an audit-based training, particularly geared to people seeking an international career. The site is a promotional one, giving information about the training and how to get it.

British Accounting Association
The site reflects the aims of the BAA which are, in particular, directed towards accountancy education. There are links to academic conferences around the world as well as to the journal of the BAA,
British Accounting Review The site is kept well up to date and directs users, on its home page to new developments on the site.

CIMA - The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants
The CIMA site was launched in January 1998. With a wealth of new features, it is the first UK institute site to initiate a significant dialogue with its users, who can register their interest in particular topics online, join discussion forums or search through the events and news databases. One of the best accolades for the site comes from New Media Age who said that "this site is so full of resources that it is next to impossible imagining doing it any other way than on the Web". 1998 is sure to see the other institutes follow in CIMA's steps. Net Profit magazine gave it five stars, and said, "An easy-to-use newspaper style layout with excellent navigation makes the site eminently practical, and a well-used chat area".

CIPFA - The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accoun
A very recently introduced site and rather graphically intensive which could cause frustration if you don't have a fast modem. An elegant site but slow. They have also added an area devoted to the
ACCA merger proposals which includes relevant articles from their magazine, Public Finance.

ICAEW - Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wa
The ICAEW site has everything you would expect: details of all their publications, contact details for the district societies, a downloadable list of students who have passed their final exams, all their press releases, a useful alphabetical listing of the site, a great deal of graduate information - even the email address of Leiths restaurant (leiths@icaew.co.uk). Best place to start is the
alphabetical listing For a bit of fun check out the 20 most borrowed books in 1996 Probably the best reason to visit is to wander through the links pages (one of the best and most comprehensive list of links to business resources).
No feeling of community here, and far too many telephone numbers and details of things that you have to order by telephone. Most recently the
Tax Faculty has revamped its area giving lots of useful details of its publications - many of which are available online. The It Faculty has included discussion forums on the site.

ICAS - The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland
The ICAS site finally went live in June 1997. Unfortunately, it's no more than a comprehensive online brochure - good to find someone's telephone number but not much else! There is a pretty map which you can click on to get the list of members in that area but there are no live links within those listings. And don't go there for an online version of CA magazine either, as there's only a
synopsis of the most recent issue available. Though there is a, somewhat surprising, synopsis of future issues too. It can only get better!

The Chartered Institute of Taxation
The CIOT site continues to improve. The site now has both a beginners and an experts section. In the former there is a page of jokes and quotes. Still no access to the Institutes magazine 'The Taxation Practitioner'. A useful feature of the site is the
tax facts and figures
section maintained by the consultant editor of Hardman's Tax Rates & Tables from CCH Editions Limited. Another good addition is the
Tax Tip of the Week

The Institute of Financial Accountants
This site is still, very much under construction. There are only three pages and the background colour is so strong that the majority of what is there is illegible! There is a promise of further developments - watch this space...

The Institute of Internal Auditors
It looks impressive but there actually isn't an awful lot on this site. There is a long index of all their
publications but none of these are online. The page of events is not updated often so the information it contains is out of date.

The Pensions Institute
Pensions Institute home page, papers, online library and research. Lots of serious, academic papers from around the world. A searchable
Pensions Directory of specialists in the industry. Emphasis is distinctly on the academic, rather than practice, side.
 

The Society of Practitioners of Insolvency
Official site of SPI (the Society of Practitioners of Insolvency). Not very heavily featured, not very up-to-date. Several pages had broken links when last visited. However, there is a page for
Courses which are bookable online.

Below is an assortment of Government sites, including such sites as Customs & Excise, Contributions Agency, Companies House and LIFFE. Most feature online search facilities to locate more specific documents.

Central Office of Information
Links to web sites of all government departments and agencies - by definition the most comprehensive list of government sites. At the moment most individual agencies just give access to press releases, but expect this to change.

Companies House
Recently revamped site from Companies House, with better presentation of their Notes and Guidance documents and press releases. Still a long way to go before you can change the name of your company online, or issue some shares. Companies House have now launched the new Companies Direct service, however this is not available over the Internet, but via a dial-up connection. You have to ring Companies House on 0345 573991 to set up the service (one-off registration fee of £50 and monthly subscription of £7.50).

Contributions Agency
The full contents of the 1997 Employers pack are available online, including the tables and working sheets. However they're only available in PDF format; so if you accidentally drop your SMP tables in the shredder, it's the 18th of the month, and you're not using payroll software this might be useful! The Orderline items are useful as these do take quite a few days to come through over the phone. Of particular interest:
Employers' Pack, Contributions Agency Leaflets

CORDIS
European Commission initiative - Community Research and Development Information Service, with access to searchable databases and R&D European news.

Customs & Excise
Direct link to the home page for HM Customs & Excise containing advice, customs allowances, details on VAT refunds together with an increasing number of Customs & Excise's huge range of publications on duty and VAT. The site is now divided into two sections - one for the general public and one specifically for business. The general
What's New page is an overall summary of recent developments while the Information for Business What's New contains in depth articles, any new Statutory Instruments and VAT leaflets.

Customs & Excise Joint Working Group Press Releases
This site was active for a brief period in late 1997 but there has been nothing posted there since then. Presumably it has been overtaken by "Closer Working".

Department of Trade and Industry
The site is huge, with lots of information - press releases, news, regulatory guidance, business support. There is a consultation service which gives questions and answers on DTI and links to pages hosted by the site and external ones. Unfortunately the site is also very slow and it is hard to find where everything is because it is so cumbersome. However, a good way to keep abreast of developments is to keep an eye on the
DTI News Pages

Department of Trade and Industry Press Releases
The DTI Press Releases are regularly updated and give you access to the main news as released by the department. In conjunction with the
"What's new" pages, this will keep you up to date with all the new initiatives launched by the DTI.

EBRD
The European Bank of Reconstruction and Development was set up in 1991 " to foster the transition towards open market-oriented economies and to promote private and entrepreneurial initiative in the countries of central and eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)". The site gives details of recent developments, explains its money-lending policy, and describes what is happening in the countries involved.

EnterpriseZone
An initiative sponsored by Microsoft to provide the small business owner with direct access to relevant business and information sites. It has sections for new businesses, growing businesses and exporters. Each section is full of useful links. An attractive and useful site.

Eurostat
Statistical office of the European Communities - fairly technical. There are
Press Releases on matters ranging from the latest employment figures to the number of children born outside marriage in Europe (1 in 4!). There is also a list of publications which are, presumably, fascinating for statisticians but the rest of us may find them a bit arcane.

Finance (No 2) Act 1997
The Stationary Office makes all General and Local Acts of Parliament available on their website. This version of the Finance (No 2) Act 1997 mirrors the text of the act that received Royal Assent. It is, however, indexed to make searching for specific sections straight forward to do.

Finance Act 1998
The full text is now on the Stationery Office site. It has links to each Section from the index so they are all easily accessible. All the Schedules are also there in full and they have been sensibly cut up into small sections so that even the ones (eg Sch 27) with huge tables don't take long to access.
 

Financial Services Authority
Everything you would expect from a regulator. Details of Press Releases and publications, advice to the public and links to other regulatory bodies. Not an exciting site perhaps but businesslike and full of the necessary information.
 

Government Information Service
Site with general news of developments at government sites. Includes history archives. "What's New" gives a useful chronological listing of all Departments' Press Releases and other publications. The "Organisations" index is the most comprehensive listing of governmental bodies - both local and national.

HM Treasury
HM Treasury home page, with access to press releases, news, economic statistics / forecasts and Treasury white papers. You can also subscribe here to the Treasury's free E-mail information service. The Finance Bills are also published here in full, before they get Royal Assent, along with the useful Treasury Notes. The Acts themselves are put onto the Sattionery Office site, but this usually takes some time after they are passed.

Houses of Parliament
Houses of Parliament home page, with full online access to
Hansard and links to all publications from the Stationery Office. There is also a Weekly Information Bulletin which gives a useful summary of the business in the House.
If you are interested in tax (and other) cases, there are full transcripts of all the judgments handed down by the Lords. See, for example
C&E Comrs v Thorn Materials

Information Society Initiative (ISI)
The Information Society Initiative (ISI) is a partnership between industry and Government to help British business thrive in the emerging information-based economy.

Inland Revenue
There is a huge amount of information on the Inland Revenue site. As well as access to Press Releases and Statutory Instruments, there are consultation documents, the Tax Bulletin and reams of stuff on the Tax Law Rewrite. Many of the
Inland Revenue Leaflets are available on line, including Self Assessment Forms.
All the self assessment tax returns, notes, helpsheets and Tax Guides are available, however some are only available in PDF format. Also online is the electronic version of the tax return, an executable program which you can run to generate your tax return. Mind you, you still need to sign it!
All of the self assessment materials are available on the "user friendly"
SA Pages featuring Hector and his goldfish.
There is also a special mini-site for
GiftAid 2000 - but you can't actually make donations Online, you need to resort to the good old fashioned telephone to do that.

Inland Revenue Press Releases
The Inland Revenue makes its Press Releases available on its website pretty soon after their publication - usually within 24 hours. So this is a good place to see whether they have issued any statements about changes in legislation, interpretation etc.

International Monetary Fund (IMF)
In an informative introductory article,
"What is the IMF?" the author admits "Except to a small circle of economists and financial officials, the International Monetary Fund is a mysterious presence on the international scene". This site is clearly designed to shed light on that mystery. There is plenty of up-to-date information explaining exactly what the IMF is currently engaged in doing and what its aims are.

Invest in Britain Bureau
Site from the DTI aimed at overseas companies wanting to do business in the UK.

LIFFE
Home page of the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange

Monopolies and Mergers Commission
Link to the home page of the MMC giving details of contacts, procedures, merger references etc.

National Audit Office
You still have to pay to get hold of the NAO reports, but there's plenty of interesting information here, including: copies of the press releases which announce the NAO reports; a list of the public sector bodies, which publish 'white paper' accounts; the NAO's 1996 accounts; and a paper entitled 'State Audit in the European Union', which examines the audit and accountability arrangements in the member states of the European Union.

Office of Fair Trading
A suitably user friendly site. The OFT has succeeded in making a useful and accessible site which should be of genuine help to consumers. It has several interesting features including a
Guide to Personal Finance

Overseas Development Agency
Home page of the ODA, with press releases, information about the organisation and some research.

The Stationery Office
The Stationery Office site gives online access to the full text of all Acts of Parliament published since 1996, together with Statutory Instruments. Copyright Unit site also within this site.

The World Bank Group
Anyone interested in development work, particularly in the Third World, will find this site full of interest. It gives up-to-date information about recent World Bank funded projects and useful summaries of research papers. There is a particular emphasis on the smaller, business-based projects rather than the high profile work with governments that the World Bank is more well known for.

Trading Standards
Not the official Trading Standards home page, but a good independent view.

Treasury working group to look into smaller quoted companies
The Treasury have announced the setting up of a working group which will look into the problems facing small quoted companies. In making the
announcement, the Paymaster General, Geoffrey Robinson, stressed the importance of this sector to the UK economy and said that he hoped the working group would help such companies by identifying potential barriers to their growth. He has asked the group, which will be under the chairmanship of Derek Riches from Merrill Lynch, to report back to him in the autumn.

World Trade Organisation
Fairly traditional site from the World Trade Organisation, with press releases, some news and information about the organisation.


British Royal Mint
The fascinating story of how Britain's coins have been minted for more than 1,000 years. The Mint, a government agency based in South Wales, is responsible for making coins for the UK and 100 other countries. There's a coin club here, too.


The LR Group
Detailed information about the products and services of the group that includes the famous Lloyd's Register - the shipping classification society - and a number of other companies involved in engineering and computer-based shipping information.


London Chamber of Commerce and Industry
The Web's an ideal place for the chamber to promote thousands of London companies on the world stage, and they do a thoroughly professional job. Essential reading for anyone doing business in the English capital.


The Bank of England's Euro Page
Practical advice for businesses and financiers concerning the introduction of the single European currency. It comes from a reliable source - the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street.


British Bankers' Association
An account of the activities of the association for banks operating in the UK (over 300 members from more than 60 countries) with information for banking professionals as well as advice for bank customers.


This Is Money
Cracking new arrival on the money scene: savings and investment news, advice and special columnists in a great web site based on the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and London Evening Standard.

Euro
The British government's official web site, offering information to "UK businesses adjusting to the reality of the Euro in 1999".


The World Bank Group
It couldn't be a more worthy reason for existing: the World Bank Group's task is to reduce poverty around the globe.


HM Treasury
The UK government department responsible for financial and economic policies. Here are statements, departmental reports, forecasts and summaries.


PricewaterhouseCoopers
Vast finance house combining Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand. One result: a near-unreadable title.


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MORTGAGES --------------------------------------------

Welcome to Egg
A glossy rundown of the flexible financial services of Egg, an arm of the Prudential, offering savings accounts, mortgages and personal loans. There's also expert advice on saving and borrowing and major life decisions such as buying a home or making a will.

Clerical Medical
Internet service for independent financial advisers and their customers - "professional people". Separate sections of info and advice to the pro's and clients.

ABI's Consumer Information Service
Do your eyes fog over when someone so much as mentions the word 'insurance'? Here the Association of British Insurers explain all the things you need to know about home, life, travel, medical and motor policies, in plain and simple terms.

LineOne Savings & Loans
A wealth of advice to make the most of your money, with some neat on-line services to shop around for the best loans, credit agreements and investments and personal finance news from The Times and Sunday Times. You can even work out what you're worth.

LineOne Mortgages
Does the prospect of getting a mortgage bring you out in a cold sweat? LineOne give no-nonsense advice for those daunted by the task, explaining different types of mortgage and how to go about finding the best one for you. Includes news, a table of the best deals and links to major lenders.

This Is Money
Cracking new arrival on the money scene: savings and investment news, advice and special columnists in a great web site based on the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and London Evening Standard.

Times Money
Smart coverage of money matters from The Times, ranging from big corporate news and market information to advice about all aspects of personal finance to help you make your money go further.

Budget 99
All the details and explanations of the March 1999 UK Budget, from This Is Money.

Barclays Bank
All about this well-known bank's services, from mortgages to straight loans to stockbroking, as well as an entire shopping mall. Travel insurance too.

Alliance & Leicester
Nice clear guide to their services and charges. If you want to know the cost of a particular kind of mortgage, fill in the form on screen and get the instant answer.


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MONEYSITES --------------------------------------------

LineOne Money Clubs
It makes the world go round, as the song goes, and we'd all like a little bit more tucked away for a rainy day. LineOne's personal finance experts present a guide to the folding stuff with advice about making the most of our pounds and pennies and the day's financial headlines.

This Is Money
Cracking new arrival on the money scene: savings and investment news, advice and special columnists in a great web site based on the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and London Evening Standard.

Times Money
Smart coverage of money matters from The Times, ranging from big corporate news and market information to advice about all aspects of personal finance to help you make your money go further.

Law Money
News hot off the press for lawyers around the world, brought to the Web by the London-based Legal Publications Group.

History of Money
... from Ancient Times to the Present Day, as told by Glyn and Roy Davies. This is partly an advert for a book published by University of Wales Press in Cardiff, but the web site contains lots of interesting stuff.

Business Money Internet Gateway
Review of finance and banking for business: includes World Financial Index and sections for (eg) foreign exchange, stocks, bonds, building societies. A Prospects section contains businesses for sale and wanted.

Independent Money Information
Scots have a canny reputation with cash and IMF, based in Lerwick and Dundee, offer advice on how to make the most of it.

Libertarian Views on Money
A listing of links to money, free market, currency and monetary concerns and policies. Each link has a short review and most of them, as you've probably guessed, take a libertarian perspective.

Business Money
An independent review of finance and banking for business with listings of UK bank charges among many other things.

Clerical Medical
Internet service for independent financial advisers and their customers - "professional people". Separate sections of info and advice to the pro's and clients.

LineOne Tax Club
Taxing issues are made clear by experts in this excellent guide from LineOne's money team. Includes hints, tips and tools to help fill out those dreaded tax returns, news, free downloads and advice for LineOne members from "Dr Tax".

This Is Money
Cracking new arrival on the money scene: savings and investment news, advice and special columnists in a great web site based on the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and London Evening Standard.

Times Money
Smart coverage of money matters from The Times, ranging from big corporate news and market information to advice about all aspects of personal finance to help you make your money go further.

Budget 99
All the details and explanations of the March 1999 UK Budget, from This Is Money.

HM Treasury
The UK government department responsible for financial and economic policies. Here are statements, departmental reports, forecasts and summaries.

Inland Revenue
Those nice people at the Revenue (around 50,000 of them) explain their job, and the wonderful Self Assessment system.

PricewaterhouseCoopers
Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand merged. Better and more easily known as PwC

Teletext on the Web
Addicts can get their Teletext fix here, without even switching on the television. News and sports headlines, holidays and online-only services.

HM Treasury
The UK government department responsible for financial and economic policies. Here are statements, departmental reports, forecasts and summaries.

Business Day Interactive (Evening Standard)
City business news pages on line from London's Evening Standard, now part of the This Is London web site. Indexed company news, Company info, stock market prices and the City People Diary (plus a quick sideways peek at the big sports items of the day).

London Stock Exchange
Official guide to this "marketplace to the world", one of the Big Three stock exchanges.

The Motley Fool UK
Britain's "first cyberspace hub of foolery, fun and finance" follows the example of its American forefather by injecting some humour into stocks and shares while delivering serious investment tips. If they pay off you'll be laughing all the way to the bank. Order Online.

This Is Money
Cracking new arrival on the money scene: savings and investment news, advice and special columnists in a great web site based on the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and London Evening Standard.

Nasdaq
America's National Association of Securities Dealers ("the largest electronic, screen-based market in the world, with the capacity to handle in excess of one billion shares a day") - and now inviting UK investors to join in. Read all about them here.

Captain Euro
Let the Euro-friendly superhero guide you through the maze of the single currency with his animated adventures, news and euro currency converter. He's billed as the "new face of Europe and the single currency" and available for product endorsements from UK communications group Twelve Stars.

The Bank of England's Euro Page
Practical advice for businesses and financiers concerning the introduction of the single European currency. It comes from a reliable source - the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street.

FTSE International
Independent UK company run by the Financial Times (FT) and Stock Exchange (the SE bit) to provide a worldwide range of stock-market indices. Also known as Footsie. Registration Required

 

Tax, Budget and Law Resources

For information on the latest tax developments keep an eye on this page. You will find here past & present budget reports, relevant government bills and accountancy firms with a focus on tax.

1997 Budget Speech
Entire Budget speeches have been made available on the Internet live (almost) for the last three years. The 1997 speech is available in full on the Treasury website and is indexed by topic to make skimming through the material for specific issues very straight forward

D&T have snaffled what must be the best Budget URL http://www.ukbudget.com/. As if that was not enough of a coup, they also snaffled the Chancellor himself for a live Budget briefing on the site, the morning after the Budget. Apart from this, there is also good Budget commentary giving the firm's views of the various measures.

PwC was one of the first firms to make its Budget area live. It also was pretty quick off the mark in getting Budget commentary up there after the Chancellor's speech. It now contains comprehensive commentary and analysis of the Budget with all the facts and figures you could want.

Kidsons Impey have a single summary page on the Budget which is straightforward and to the point. There is also their series of Business Essentials which are articles, not in print but on audio cassettes. Their last five editions of this have all been on issues of relevance to the Budget. You can listen to them on Real Audio or order the cassettes from the firm.

Pannell Kerr Forster have useful Budget coverage including a summary and several Press Releases commenting on selected measures.

Institutes
The IFS has one of the best approaches to the Budget. In previous years they have had a feature called "Be your own Chancellor" which enabled you to change various parameters in the economy and see what effect this would have. This year they have built on this and have an extremely sophisticated economic model, similar to those used by the Treasury, to show how the economy works. Called the
Virtual Economy it is presented in an extremely interesting and accessible way so it is both informative and great fun to use. Try Gordon's proposals in the model - it shows some interesting results! 

News Sources
The FT has a comprehensive
site where they have brought together all their recent articles on the 99 Budget. You can find the in-depth news and informed comment you would expect from the FT.

The BBC's Budget site is pushing the IFS's Virtual Economy hard. Quite right too; as we have said, it is the most interesting Budget feature on the Web. However, as well as this, there is masses of other useful information. News, opinion, expert analysis - all are there in depth. There are also other fun features apart from the Virtual Economy; there is a good quiz (a House of Commons set of whisky glasses to the winner!), a discussion forum, and an article on what Chancellors through the years have drunk while giving the speech.

Arthur Andersen UK Budget Briefing 1998


C&L budget special


Coopers & Lybrand (Budget 98)
A copy of Coopers & Lybrand's discussion of the Chancellor's Pre-Budget Report laid out by category for easy reading.

Treasury
The Treasury's
Budget site has all the material from the Government related to the Budget. Here you can find all the Press Releases and background information in one place.

Customs' Budget papers are available on their site including links to past Budgets.

Deloitte & Touche budget special

Ernst & Young
Ernst & Young provide extensive commentary on the Pre-Budget Report. It includes their own budget predictions, a lengthy report highlighting the need for the Chancellor to consider the UK's tax system in the light of international activity (not just the national scene), Pre-Budget tax planning suggestions and a call for CGT reform (published just before the Pre-Budget announcement that this was in fact to happen).

(NB as their site is run from a database you can't directly access particular pages - but the Budget link is currently prominent on the UK home page)

Finance Act (No.2) 1997
The Stationary Office makes all General and Local Acts of Parliament available on their website. This version of the Finance Act 1997 mirrors the text of the act that received Royal Assent. It is, however, indexed to make searching for specific sections straight forward to do.

Finance Bill 1998
The Chartered Institute of Taxation's Budget 1998 page, with good summaries of its progress through parliament, analysis and links.

Financial Statement and Budget Report
The Financial Statement and Budget Report contains the Government's assessment of the medium-term economic and budgetary position. It sets out the Government's tax and spending plans, including those for public investment, in the context of its overall approach to social, economic, and environmental objectives. After approval by Parliament this report will form the basis of submissions to the European Commission by the government as part of its obligations to the European Union.

FT budget special
Registration required.  

Gordon Brown's Budget Speech
The full text of the Chancellors first Budget speech

HM Treasury budget special

KPMG (Budget 98)
The KPMG Budget 98 pages contain a Budget Commentary from their UK Head of Tax and Budget prediction sections for Personal and Corporate tax. This page will grow as the Budget happens in March with details of KPMG's view on the final announcements.

KPMG budget special
 

KPMG International Tax Centre
KPMG's excellent international tax centre, which has a huge number of Country Tax Facts, a similar number of International Executive Tax summaries, and a Corporate Tax Rate Survey; available as PDFs, covering countries from Albania to Yugoslavia.
 

KPMG tax
Access straight to the main KPMG UK tax page

The KPMG tax Nov 1996 budget tax card
Tax card from KPMG showing the allowances for 1997/98.
 

MoneyWorld budget calculator
 

Pre-Budget Speech and Official Guide
this page contains the complete text of the Chancellor's November Pre-Budget speech - 'Securing Britain's Long Term Economic Future'. It also provides links to an index of HMT, Inland Revenue and Customs & Excise News Releases to do with the speech and with responses to the on-going Pre-Budget debate.

SmartTax Personal Tax Preparation Software
Offering personal tax preparation software, with the added facility to lodge the return with the Inland Revenue by a dial-up service through SmartTax.

Tax Ready Reckoner and Tax Reliefs
The Tax Ready Reckoner provides estimates of the effects of various illustrative tax changes on the tax receipts in 1997-8 and 1998-9 and estimates of the costs of the main tax reliefs in 1995-6 and 1996-7. The information provided on these pages helps to make clear some of the reasoning behind the current tax proposals and actions of the Government. It is separated into tables on Direct and Indirect taxes and tax reliefs.

Tax Tables
Through an arrangement with one of the leading tax publishers, CCH Editions, the Chartered Institute of Taxation has one of the best and most comprehensive set of tax tables.
 

TaxSites Countries Other than the United States Foreign Taxes

The Budget Guide
This page should be used as the definitive guide to Budget process and procedure. It provides the starting point for a range of information on pre-97 budgets and on the procedure surrounding the budget process.
 

Treasury Email Information Service
The Treasury operates a free email-based Information Service that anyone can subscribe to. This service will automatically notify you of any new news releases, services or documentation being made available on the Treasury website.
 

UK Employment Law
Over 1,000 pages of information on Employment Law.


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MARKETS--------------------------------------------

The Motley Fool UK
Britain's "first cyberspace hub of foolery, fun and finance" follows the example of its American forefather by injecting some humour into stocks and shares while delivering serious investment tips. If they pay off you'll be laughing all the way to the bank. Order Online.

This Is Money
Cracking new arrival on the money scene: savings and investment news, advice and special columnists in a great web site based on the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and London Evening Standard.

Times Money
Smart coverage of money matters from The Times, ranging from big corporate news and market information to advice about all aspects of personal finance to help you make your money go further.

Saga Investment Direct
Strictly for the over-50s: savings and investment opportunities including Tessas, ISAs, Guaranteed Income Bonds, postal savings and share deals.

Bloomberg Online
Business news, facts and figures from the global money and stock markets, updated around the clock. You can subscribe for more detailed and personalised services.

Reuters
A highly-polished site from "the world's leading news and financial information company". News (very US), plus sections aimed at the money markets, media and other business sectors (eg health, transport, insurance, advertising).
Registration Required.

Nasdaq
America's National Association of Securities Dealers ("the largest electronic, screen-based market in the world, with the capacity to handle in excess of one billion shares a day") - and now inviting UK investors to join in. Read all about them here.

FTSE International
Independent UK company run by the Financial Times (FT) and Stock Exchange (the SE bit) to provide a worldwide range of stock-market indices. Also known as Footsie. Registration Required.

Hemmington Scott Publishing Limited
London publishers of The Company guide ("the number one source of information on all 2,300 UK stockmarket companies") and other vital works, available on subscription.

London Stock Exchange
Official guide to this "marketplace to the world", one of the Big Three stock exchanges.


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BANKING --------------------------------------------

The Bank of England's Euro Page
Practical advice for businesses and financiers concerning the introduction of the single European currency. It comes from a reliable source - the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street.

British Bankers' Association
An account of the activities of the association for banks operating in the UK (over 300 members from more than 60 countries) with information for banking professionals as well as advice for bank customers.

Company Barclaycard
Barclaycard promote their range of company charge cards for business credit card users, with details of savings on mobile phones, travel and hotels to be had by customers. Brochures for their gold and silver cards can be downloaded here.

Bank of England
The UK's central bank ("sometimes known as the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street") tells what she does and describes the archive which she kindly keeps open for academic research.

The Co-operative Bank
Guide to the high street bank who pride themselves on ethical investments. They set out their principles here, with details of accounts and services.

Swiss Bank Dormant Accounts
List of "inactive" accounts in Swiss banks, opened before the end of the Second World War and believed to belong to victims of Hitler's Holocaust massacres, or their relatives. There are phone contacts for 14 countries.

Capital Bank
Smart site for this Scottish company - part of the Bank of Scotland group - who claim to be the second largest finance house in the UK. They naturally offer a wide range of services: see it all here.

Standard Life
All about the financial services giant and what they offer: pensions, life assurance, investment products. They manage ?60 billion of funds - "more than the market value of Boots, Tesco, Marks & Spencer, Cadbury Schweppes and British Airways put together".

First Direct Bank
A rundown of on-line and telephone banking services from the division of the Midland Bank. They somehow make banking look and sound interesting and, for an unexpected treat, there's a gallery of monochrome pictures from the photography competition they sponsor.

Coutts
A marvellous introduction to the history and services of the private bank (part of NatWest Group) which has been doing business in the UK since 1692 and counts members of the Royal Family among its customers. If you ever get a cheque from the Queen, it will come with a Coutts crest.


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INVESTORS --------------------------------------------

Need information on firms authorised to do investment business? Here's a listing of the firms authorised under the Financial Services Act 1986 to deal with investment business:
http://thecentralregister.co.uk/

Lloyd's
The opulence of the world famous insurance market's City of London HQ is mirrored by their state-of-the-art guide to their business and history. The centrepiece is a 3D room with "virtual" brokers and underwriters that somehow manages to make insurance look exciting.

Welcome to Egg
A glossy rundown of the flexible financial services of Egg, an arm of the Prudential, offering savings accounts, mortgages and personal loans. There's also expert advice on saving and borrowing and major life decisions such as buying a home or making a will.

Clerical Medical
Internet service for independent financial advisers and their customers - "professional people". Separate sections of info and advice to the pro's and clients.

The Motley Fool UK
Britain's "first cyberspace hub of foolery, fun and finance" follows the example of its American forefather by injecting some humour into stocks and shares while delivering serious investment tips. If they pay off you'll be laughing all the way to the bank. Order Online.

LineOne Savings & Loans
A wealth of advice to make the most of your money, with some neat on-line services to shop around for the best loans, credit agreements and investments and personal finance news from The Times and Sunday Times. You can even work out what you're worth.

Richard Branson's Guide to PEPs, TESSAs and ISAs
You don't become one of the UK's wealthiest men without knowing a thing or two about money, so the Virgin boss should be well qualified to give free financial planning advice in his on-line and printed guides. There's a link to Virgin Direct, his financial services company, naturally.

Times Money
Smart coverage of money matters from The Times, ranging from big corporate news and market information to advice about all aspects of personal finance to help you make your money go further.

Saga Investment Direct
Strictly for the over-50s: savings and investment opportunities including Tessas, ISAs, Guaranteed Income Bonds, postal savings and share deals.

Barclays Bank
All about this well-known bank's services, from mortgages to straight loans to stockbroking, as well as an entire shopping mall. Travel insurance too.

Interactive Investor
News, performance history, and contact details of UK independent fund advisers, unit trusts, investment trusts, pensions, mortgages, PEPs and offshore funds. Plus advice on investing your money.


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FINANCENEWS --------------------------------------------

Euro
European Commission web site explaining the move to just one kind of money for all European Union member states, and what it all means to the humble punter.

Welcome to Egg
A glossy rundown of the flexible financial services of Egg, an arm of the Prudential, offering savings accounts, mortgages and personal loans. There's also expert advice on saving and borrowing and major life decisions such as buying a home or making a will.

The Motley Fool UK
Britain's "first cyberspace hub of foolery, fun and finance" follows the example of its American forefather by injecting some humour into stocks and shares while delivering serious investment tips. If they pay off you'll be laughing all the way to the bank. Order Online.

The Bank of England's Euro Page
Practical advice for businesses and financiers concerning the introduction of the single European currency. It comes from a reliable source - the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street.

Captain Euro
Let the Euro-friendly superhero guide you through the maze of the single currency with his animated adventures, news and euro currency converter. He's billed as the "new face of Europe and the single currency" and available for product endorsements from UK communications group Twelve Stars.

LineOne Money Clubs
It makes the world go round, as the song goes, and we'd all like a little bit more tucked away for a rainy day. LineOne's personal finance experts present a guide to the folding stuff with advice about making the most of our pounds and pennies and the day's financial headlines.

LineOne Savings & Loans
A wealth of advice to make the most of your money, with some neat on-line services to shop around for the best loans, credit agreements and investments and personal finance news from The Times and Sunday Times. You can even work out what you're worth.

Richard Branson's Guide to PEPs, TESSAs and ISAs
You don't become one of the UK's wealthiest men without knowing a thing or two about money, so the Virgin boss should be well qualified to give free financial planning advice in his on-line and printed guides. There's a link to Virgin Direct, his financial services company, naturally.

This Is Money
Cracking new arrival on the money scene: savings and investment news, advice and special columnists in a great web site based on the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and London Evening Standard.

Times Money
Smart coverage of money matters from The Times, ranging from big corporate news and market information to advice about all aspects of personal finance to help you make your money go further.


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JOBS ON THE NET--------------------------------------------

Whether you're looking for a new job, or looking for staff, these sites feature many excellent firms, some with online registration facilities for job searches.

About People

Accountancy Magazine (jobs
Unfortunately this is only a small subset of the jobs listed in Accountancy Magazine each week.

AccountancyAge "job.net"

Assets Accountancy
 

Barclay Simpson
Internal audit, public practice and IT consultancy recruitment.

Chichester Observer (accountancy)

Cooper Lomaz

Douglas Llambias Associates

Hamilton Recruitment
Hamilton Recruitment is a company that specialises in placing chartered accountants to work in Bermuda.

Harrison Willis

Hitchenor Maher

ICAEW - Chartac Recruitment Services

Job Hunter (regional papers)

Jobsite UK
Online recruitment site. Can be used to place ads or search for jobs. Registered job seekers can receive free e-mails of jobs available. Vacancies can be placed at a cost of £7.50 per ad.

Jobsite UK (accountancy)

London Careers

PSD FMS Finance Accountancy Recruitment

Reed Accountancy Personnel

Robert Half & Accountemps

Search Recruitment & Selection

Sure Employment
 

taps.com
A very large pan-european database of jobs.

The Monster Board

Top Jobs

Looking for a job? Try Gaapweb, Accounting jobs on the net

Or if you prefer, try Accountants Executive search careers with an online search.

 

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JOURNALS & BULLETINS ------------------------------------------------------------

Some sites feature online search facilities to locate a specific document, others are single page sites with current relevance.

Accountancy
(0% online at present) The best thing on the Accountancy site (which has somewhat of a separate identity within the overall ICAEW site) is the
technical standards update, which gives you a run down of recent standards proposed or under discussion. Finally, using their link to NetBanx you can actually subscribe to the physical magazine.

Accountancy Age
(90% online) Accountancy Age is part of the VNU stable, which includes titles such as Financial Director, Business Computer World, Internet World and Management Consultancy. Most of the articles from the magazine are included in the Accountancy Age area of the main site. The real reason to use the VNU site is to gain access to the back articles of the whole VNU stable using their search facility.

Accounting & Business
(5% online) Fledgling site for ACCA's new magazine, which was relaunched in January 1998. At the moment it contains just one good article a month from the magazine.

Accounting & Finance Abstracts
(100% online but subscription based) The service provides an international library of easy to scan journal article summaries (abstracts), with an archive of more than 16,000 articles going back to 1989

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability
(100% online but subscription based). Registered users gain access via the
Emerald library

Accounting, Management and Information Technologies
(0% online at present) Accounting, Management and Information Technologies is a forum for research and debate on the interrelations of information technologies with practices of accounting and managing.

Accounting, Organizations & Society
(0% online at present) International journal concerned with all aspects of the relationship between accounting and human behaviour, organizational structures and processes, and the changing social and political environment of the enterprise.

Grant Thornton
The
Grant Thornton website has improved a lot over the past year. They now update it with new articles on a regular basis and the new material is easily accessible in a What's New section. There is also a page of Businesses for sale.
 

Management Accounting
(20% online) Unlike the other Institutes CIMA make many of their more interesting articles from Management Accounting available on their web site. But rather than include it as an online version of the magazine, they position content from the magazine together with content from many other sources and include it within a single searchable database - a far more useful resource for users of their site. The link above is therefore to the 'articles database' top page within
the CIMA web site.

Trust & Trustees
(10% online) Online version of this tax newsletter, with access to many full text articles on. Trusts & Trustees is the leading publication on international trusts: their uses and formation. The journal has about thirty pages per issue and is published ten times per year.


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LATEST LINKS--------------------------------------------

Inland Revenue issue a guide on rents now online at http://www.inlandrevenue/pdfs/ir150.pdf

Financial Training Co.

Accountancy Tutors. E-mail Katie Vallance to subscribe to Accounting and Business (Students £25)

London Vocational Management Training Co

BPP homepage