What Is Kaizen? Kaizen is a Japanese term meaning "change for the better" or "continuous improvement." It is a concept referring to business activities that continuously improve all functions and involve all employees from the CEO to the assembly line workers.  Kai (Change) Zen (Good) A  H istory of Kaizen The history of Kaizen begins after World War II when Toyota first implemented quality circles in its production process. This was influenced in part by American business and quality management teachers who visited the country. The term Kaizen actually became famous around the world through the works of Masaaki Imai. In the book Kaizen: The Key to Japan’s Competitive Success , Imai noted how Japan’s companies were process-oriented, and so fundamentally opposed to America’s results-oriented culture. Breaking down Japan’s success in quality control and improvement, he found that process-oriented thinking promotes transparency and a holistic systems view that is not b...

Practical Time Saving Tips Last week I shared with you some tips on how to free up time. Following on from that I thought you might find this list of tips useful. After all, lost time is never found again....... LEADERSHIP SYSTEMS Practical time saving tips Responsibility of: Managing Director Ten time saving strategies Relevant? ü The most important way you can ever use your time is to decide what is most important, and then do it. In other words, you must always put first things first .   Look at each task and ask ‘will this move me closer towards achieving my goals?’ If the answer is ‘no’, only do that task after you have done the other tasks that will.   Remember the 80:20 rule… ie that 20% of the effort usually generates 80% of the results. Make sure you identify (and do) everything in that 20% group.   Use the abo...

     I hope you all had an enjoyable Bank Holiday weekend.   Since then, there has been some further announcements regarding both the Self Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) and the Employee Job Retention Scheme (EJRS) that you may or may not be aware of, which I thought I would share with you, if only to play safe rather than assume you already know.   Self Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS)   1.       During the application process the individual should be presented with a calculation of the grant amount. 2.       There is no option to claim a reduced or increased amount. 3.       If the individual disagrees with the amount shown there will be a ‘review’ link to request that HMRC should review the figure to see if it should be higher or lower. 4.       The SIESS helpline number will be 0800 024 1222. This can be used for SEISS queries or with issues of not being able t...

So,  thinking about 2020 after Coronavirus lockdown  -  business need to get back to ‘normal’. But ‘normal’ with be much different from before. It will be the ‘new normal’ . It’s time to consider what ‘new’ looks like and be prepared for it. You may not be able to simply reopen– there are lots of things that need to be considered and this will take time and care. I hope the information provided here will help you with your preparations. Payments- Alternatives  to cash Questions to you:           How do you collect money?           How are you going to move to non-cash handling?           Can you take payments in advance?           How are you going to communicate this to your clients? Things to consider:           Would setting up card payment options be a good idea?           There are Apps tha...

The Future Fund Scheme (FFS) What is this FFS? It is a Government convertible loan scheme. Initially, the Government will make available £250 million in total through the British Business Bank. The convertible loans will range from £125,000 to £5 million in total. Who is this loan offering aimed at? High- growth tech start-ups who are struggling under the current crisis, who rely on equity investment and cannot access the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme. When is it to be rolled out? Exact dates are unknown, but the intention is to roll it out from May through to September 2020. What are the eligibility requirements? a) The company must be an unlisted UK registered company. b) It must have raised at least £250,000 in private funding within the last 5 years. c) It must have a sustained economic presence in the UK. What are the FFS terms and conditions? a) The loan shall mature after a maximum period of 3 years. b) The loan must be used only...

Dear All, The link to apply for the Bounce Back Loan Scheme through the British Business Bank is shown below: https://www.british-business-bank.co.uk/…/bounce-back-loans/ My only concern is that at present I have found it hard to get on to the site to access the application form through that link. Been successful once, failed numerous times (story of my life!!).  The quickest route I have found is going direct to the lenders website to make an application. At present there are 8 accredited lenders, presumably more to follow. These are some of the links below which might help: Santander: https://www.santander.co.uk/…/borrowing-a…/bounce-back-loans Barclays https://www.barclays.co.uk/…/borrow/bounce-back-loan-scheme/ Natwest https://www.business.natwest.com/…/co…/bounce-back-loan.html RBS https://www.business.rbs.co.uk/…/coro…/bounce-back-loan.html Ulster Bank https://digital.ulsterbank.co.uk/…/co…/bounce-back-loan.html STAY SAFE Best of ...

Self Employed Income Support Scheme (SEIS) update: The SEIS HMRC gateway is now open. In order to make a SEIS claim you must have a Government Gateway ID and password . If you do not create a HMRC gateway account, you will not be able to make a claim. If you do not have a Government Gateway ID then you can obtain one through the Eligibility tool which HMRC have set up. Here is the link: https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/…/enter-unique-taxpayer-refe… When you click on the link it will ask for your UTR and then National Insurance number (this information can be obtained from looking at past tax returns which will be on an email, or you can log into  https://www.accountancymanager.co.uk/  to view previously signed tax returns). Once that is put in, the online tool should advise whether or not HMRC think you are eligible for the scheme. If you are, HMRC will ask you to add your contact details as they will use this to tell you when to claim and what you need to do bef...