Business and consultancy

My contacts

Interprise Consortium (general business consultancy)
ASB recruitment consultancy
I am registered with http://www.servicewanted.com/
Andersons The Accountants   
Simon Fanshaw   http://www.gannet.co.uk/

General business links

(See General Links for investment and family finance)

UK government home page - everything is linked to here, DTI, Customs, Inland Revenue etc etc but don't try and find customs and excise its VASTLY faster to go to http://www.hmce.gov.uk/

Bank of Scotland - Previous Interest Rates page

Low value contract opportunities - Public Contract Bidding - Low Value Contract Opportunities - Tender Opportunity Portal

current local time from WorldTimeServer.com

Look at www.bba.org.uk to see  info on different banking offers for SMEs

try http://www.societe.com/ for basic FRENCH company information, although it will only really tell you capital information, and whether the company is in  administration.

International payment and exporting
Cheap and easy
international payments, money transfer, sales and purchases?
Government site covers the basics of going global
European Telework Online   
www.startups.co.uk Useful site for starters and, perhaps, for those established but up-dating: 

See  

The Small Business Start-up Service  has a good selection of well-organised info useful for start-ups
UK small business service
also try http://www.businessadvicedirect.org/
Chamber of Commerce export zone

New Banking Service Shout99, with partners Coulson Pritchard, has launched a banking service for freelancers and small businesses. It offers up to 3.25 per cent interest (gross) and provides up to 30 transactions free of charge per month. An account can be opened with £500 and is available to all freelancers operating as limited companies, partnerships or sole traders.

Late payment and debt collection links
This debt collection site may be useful  http://www.credit-to-cash.com/dr_index.htm
This one is about debt factoring: http://www.business-cashflow.co.uk/factoring_services.htm 
The Better Payment Practice Group has a series of pro-forma credit management letters
www.debtlinedirect.com

The forum of Private Business lobbied for the right to charge interest on late payments
User's guide for the Late Payment of Commercial Debts Act
Information about the small claims process

The first European Business Portal, designed to help European SME's develop and succeed through Internet.  On 1 site and in 3 clicks, www.euronline.com provides the best of business information and services in Europe.

HelloBrain posts engineering projects that need solutions.  Finders fees paid.

Investigate the Electronics Design DTI surgery at Electronics Weekly for the TCA FPGA re-design

A new website for consultants to promote their activities is now available at : http://www.links-web.com "

C&E specified exchange rates rates are on the C&E web site
The Next Big Thing news, information, and resources for those struggling to figure out how to do business in the New Economy
consultants-market.com brings together consultants with companies and organisations that use consultants
On the subject of consultants,  you may, or may not, find the following page amusing.
AccountingWEB - The everyday resource for UK accountants and accountancy professionals.
http://www.namesfacesplaces.com/ for IT professionals -  events, advice, special offers and social information
Contractor UK - for UK IT Contractors - Computer Contractors
Shout99 - News for Contractors
Alodis - for Self-employed Professionals
Postcode Finder (UK)
Thomas register of European manufacturers
Marquis Who's Who
The IEE Consultants Directory
UK Business Park - trace companies who get bought up and change name
UK foresight programme (spend 5 minutes thinking about your future)
Late payments DTI guide and your general rights
Transcript of a talk by David Smith on IR35 and how to avoid it
Contract, forum, resources, tax, vat, paye, inland revenue
Public info index (Customs and Excise - check for latest exchange rate standards etc)
British Exports Interactive
BT Business Connections
Business Week Online
DTI
Financial Times
Interactive Investor
MSU-Ciber
The Biz
TheStreet
http--nthost.nildram.co.uk10216-
! Source Research, Inc. (SRI) is an franchise electronics distributor. !
Welcome to Contracts 365

Publicity and possible web-site hosts

Network Solutions - Domain Name Registration Services from the dot com people(TM)

Mydomain web site redirection and Member area

Camfield Consultants Ltd - Changes to the open consultants list. Just submit a new version to the new list page and let me know when you've done it than I can delete the old one when I next review and organise the pages.  The same is true if you make a mistake or post a duff message.  For the consultants list  http://go.to/Pg_m9  (don't forget the capital letter and the underscore if you are typing this)

IEE Consultants directory, for more information or to register, visit the site at: http://consultants.iee.org

Oxfordshire virtual business centre - 01865-815103

Internet phones and domain hosting

I have moved all my domains to www.123-reg.co.uk and find that they provide an excellent and very cost-effective service.   ".com" domains are only £8.99 per year all in (including VAT, so even cheaper if you're VAT registered). Also the service allows full control of email forwarding, nameservers, etc., etc. through a detailed control panel. Also there is no fee to transfer a domain away from the registrar -- recently I got "stung" by small print and was forced to pay £50 to transfer  a (more expensive) domain away from another registrar. 

I have some 0870 and 0800 numbers from Tiscali and they were free. I have to pay for 0800 traffic, of course, but I get a small rake off if anyone uses the 0870 numbers. See: http://www.tiscali-business.co.uk/ngn/ngn_faq.htm

Alternatively, take a look at Flextel http://www.flextel.ltd.uk/ which offers call diversion control via the web.

Fax and mail preference service (also on this link) The worst thing was the fax / phone / answer machine ringing in the middle of the night then there is the "Direct Marketing Association" which provides a service for opting out of sales e mails, see http://www.dmaconsumers.org/emps.html. It is part of the Mail Preference Service organisation. 

ISPs for international travel GRIC, which can be obtained in the UK from Via Networks UUNet (Worldcom) also have their own product Multi-Dial SE which works rather well. The popular ISPs with worldwide access are Compuserve and AT&T ( they bought the IBM network). There is also GRIC (http://www.gric.com/) which arranges deals between ISPs for mutual access.

I use WestHost for TOURBUS.COM and several other domains, and have
been impressed with their excellent service for several years.
WestHost costs only $9/month and includes 25MB of storage, unlimited
email addresses, CGI access, autoresponders, graphical statistics and
shopping cart software.  (Finally, I can be bob@tourbus.com!) Westhost
will even register your domain for you, which is convenient      WestHost - http://www.westhost.com  25MB for $8.95/m +$19 set-up fee incl 1 POP3 a/c + extra a/cs for a 1 time $10 fee unlimited E mail forwarding, hits, mailing lists, CGI/Front page ext, secure server and shop 0.1% down-time.

You can now register a domain for under $15, as opposed to the $35 price still charged by Network Solutions.  Here's a list of the accredited registrars:

Freeserve users will also now have access to the widest selection of discounted office products available online in the UK. For further information on Business Centre visit http://wwww.freeserve.net/businesscentre/

Freecom - Oxford's E-commerce people - 5 web pages and 10 products free!

DomainNameBuyersGuide.Com provides reviews and rankings of the wide array of Internet domain registrars including the small print about domain ownership

5) Save a Bundle on Your Own Domain Name
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Get your own .com for your free XOOM page! Go to NameSecure.com
and you can get your own Domain Name, get it forwarded to your
XOOM page, and have all the email from that Domain forward to any
email you want. It costs just a $25 one-time setup fee and $24.95 a
year for all that. That's a whole lot cheaper than $20 a month for
web hosting and you still get all the benefits. Plus, you can also
use the URL Gripper for free. It lets your domain stay in the
browser, even after they have been redirected to your site!

http://orders.xoom.com/redirects/afnas0513


If you own a domain or want to get one in the future, but don't want to pay a company to host it. You can 'park' you can 'forward' your domain(s) to any other Web address. DNSCentral.com

Own domain name with mydomain.com

Or try www.getonline.com.co.uk (tel 0161-486-1110) (£45 for a domain name and £95 (for 2 years) for a web server

Tax

TaxationWeb is a free database of UK tax information for accountants and the general public.

Taxation Web Tax Tips Forum - The purpose of the Tax Tips Forum is NOT to give you free tax advice, but to offer initial guidance.

Inland Revenue leaflets

VAT information

Site that claims to validate EU VAT registration numbers  

Tools & Training

www.learndirect.co.uk   
http://www.tpgacademy.com/  extensive portfolio of project and programme management courses

Yorkshire Accountancy has developed a range of basic Bookkeeping Spreadsheet Templates. These are for use with Microsoft Excel and compatible spreadsheets and are priced at just £9.99!

Feedback Journal 360 v3.1 [1.9M] W9x/NT FREE

Legalese
The Data Protection Agency site has a helpful compliance advice section
Government copyright site   
Copyright rules   
Alternative Dispute Resolution IEE PG on Law and Engineering

"Data Protection Agency Services Ltd" threaten various stuff & offering to register you for £117.25.  There seems currently a surge in these get rich quick concerns trying to convince you you need to register and charging ludicrous prices.  In fact to register, if you have to, costs only 35 pounds.  You can download a pdf document 'Notification Exemptions' from http://www.dpr.gov.uk/downloads/selfassess.pdf, the official Government site.  In summary, businesses only need to register under the act if they deal with certain types of personal information - in many cases there is no need to register. Businesses are allowed to keep names, addresses, phone numbers, and even credit card details without needing to register, and it is only items of a more personal nature that require registration.  Read and digest this, and it will put your mind at rest and do not be conned by these hot callers trying to tell you otherwise.  

It is now possible to query the Companies House database online:
try the "free information" icon at www.companieshouse.co.uk

E-commerce, E-mail legalities and data protection

Field Fisher Waterhouse 

European Union and programmes that could be an opening for consultancy

Expressions of interest are being sought for Framework 6. The starting points for all EC prospects are:
http://www.cordis.lu
http://www.europa.eu.int 

ESA site - (You will need to register to get access to some of this site's features.) It also provides access to ITTs from Alenia, Alcatel and Astrium. The OJEC IT site has the slight disadvantage in that only relatively high value ITTs get placed here.

Lots of UK government departments and have their current ITTs on various web sites. Try seaching on Google/Alta Vista, etc., but beware of the very many sites which require you to pay good money to get at ITTs which are accessible for free - if you look long and hard enough! 

EU Internal Market DG  
Consumer Affairs
Telecoms Data Protection Directive (97/66/EC) (as a .pdf)
Proposal (12/7/2000) for a Directive to replace the above (as a .pdf)
A Beginners Guide 

UK Government 

HSE 
DTI
 
DTI Communications and Information Directorate (CII)
The Electronic Communications Act 
HMSO site
Office of Fair Trading 
Home Office
www.dataprotection.gov.uk/
OECD Guidelines for Consumer Protection in the Context of Electronic Commerce 

Consultancy

A good website for information and updates on IR35 see:-  www.contractoruk.com There is useful information on contract clauses and opinions of employment (or not) using sample IR cases. 

The PCG site (www.pcgroup.org.uk) remains the pre-eminent site for information about all aspects of IR35.

You can now register free on-line for a free publication called "Management Consultancy" from VNU Business Publications

Management Consultancy Magazine

Institute of Management Consultancy

A summary of the outcomes of the first 3 presentations of PC has at last been placed on the CMG Web Page.  Have a look at http://www.iee.org.uk/Management/CMG/profit.htm. (stored in business folder somewhere

Society and the environment

Engineering Council Engineering 2005 pre register now

Sustainability 2000 Virtual Conference from August 1999

 

Copyright Bob Anderson
24 October 2006