A common problem faced by many small companies is to economically produce small quantities of high quality printed material. Here, I mean a quantity of less than 50 with over 16 pages – it could be a technical brochure, training manual, user guide, personnel policies manual, staff manual, etc.
The colour InkJet/Laser printer has helped considerably in achieving this objective. But problems still remain, with the time it takes to physically stack and bind the material in a professional manner and not just putting it into a ring binder of some sort.
Printers normally charge uneconomic prices for doing such work, especially if you are an infrequent customer.
Now a second unrelated problem. It is said ‘everybody has a book in them’. This may be true, but how do you get it published, printed and distributed?
Well in this age of the internet, it has an answer to this last problem – welcome to the age of Personal Publishing websites like www.lulu.com and www.bobsbooks.co.uk (just 2 of the many sites). They will print your book for you, put it on a list of titles and when someone orders will send the printed book to them and what is more you can earn income from it. All very good for all those budding authors.
And here is the answer to our first problem, of how small companies can get professionally printed and bound books at an economic price.
Create an account on your favourite Personal Publishing website, prepare your material and get it into PDF format (that is easy now with free readily available PDF software printers). Then create a project and upload the PDF file and the necessary information, before ordering your copies. No need to worry about distributing it or getting a price mark-up, you will be the only person ordering it.
This method can also help reduce costs, as you only need to order the number of copies you have an immediate requirement for. So in a stroke removing the problem of what to do with out of date printed manuals.
Due to the flexibility of this approach you can easily keep the manual up to date and order the odd copy as and when required.
Is it economic, well compared to the costs of buying top quality paper, ink cartridges/toner, etc. I have found that PP websites come out slightly more expensive. Now add in the cost of labour for time spent minding the printer and binding the material together, then the cost of the PP websites is economic and the finished article quality is much higher.
Two problems solved/resolved by the same solution!
Discusses views from the UK both cultural and political. With a distinct interest in software.
06 May 2007
24 February 2007
HMRC and XBRL Annual Accounts requirement from 2010
HMRC requirement for XBRL Annual Accounts is seen by software houses and accountants as a means of imposing themselves on small businesses!
Many small businesses where very relieved when audit exemption came about. As it meant that they could finally ditch the auditor, who they saw as performing a non-beneficial service. A cost without benefits. This is clearly seen by the number of small businesses that have now dropped the audit.
Many small business people are not accountants, but that does not mean that they don't prepare their own accounts (with or without computers) for their own consumption. A majority of small businesses do just this, without recourse to third parties, in order to minimise costs and retain control of the business. If it works for them, who are we to judge otherwise.
With XBRL Annual Accounts becoming a mandatory requirement in 2010 this independence will go, as the level of complexity in XBRL is way beyond the average person to comprehend and requires a computer with appropriate software. The fact that this software does not exist at the moment, does not seem to concern anyone in a position to halt or slow down this requirement. The fact that computers are becoming an absolute necessity to run a small business due to legislative requirements, also does not seem to concern them. What they fail to realise is that a small but significant proportion of small business owners do not use or wish to use computers in their business. Their reasons do not concern us here, but it is a fact.
Some respondents to earlier comments seem to believe that XBRL will be ‘invisible’ to its users. Let me quote from a HMRC communication I have received:
"... Companies and accountants will require both accounting and tax software systems to be XBRL enabled..."
further on
"... principal benefits of streamlined financial reporting are for customers. Software vendors benefit from being able to supply updated versions of their products that support XBRL ..."
and further on
"... XBRL enables integration of accounts production and tax software and both are required by software vendor’s customers ..."
The above statements give in a nutshell why software companies like XBRL; as invisibility comes at a price.
And, if a business does not have the software or time to devote to mastering XBRL, (and few will, given that it is an annual event) they will be forced to pay a firm of accountants, or a similiar establishment, for a service that provides no real benefit to them. Just like the audit - a cost without benefits.
Being a software developer myself, I have looked in detail at how to produce full XBRL Annual Accounts from an ERP package. It is possible, but not easy given the mixed structure and flexible requirements of annual accounts. Of course the differculty will vary for each package, but overall my feeling at the moment is that most packages will make it a new chargeable module. Time will tell as to whether I'm right on this.
In all the material I have seen on XBRL every one; including HMRC; claims that there will be benefits. But nobody can give one clear example of a real benefit for a small business. Many false benefits are claimed. A real benefit; from the imposition of a new tool/procedure; is one that does not already exist using existing tools/procedures. That is, it must be a NEW benefit. And I repeat, I cannot see one clear new benefit, nor can I see one arising. The imposition of XBRL will replace, what is now a simple exercise (using anything from expensive software, through a simple spreadsheet, to a typewriter and plain paper) with tools and procedures that greatly increase costs and complexity.
Why do I focus on small businesses? It will be small business that produces over 85% of the XBRL annual accounts actually produced in a year. So yet again, it will be small business that bears the cost of the ambitions of big business, government mandarins and claims by people with vested interests. The very same groups, that many believe have in the past shown a complete disregard for the small business.
XBRL in and of itself is a useful vehicle for a limited number of organisations – my estimate is less than 250,000 worldwide. What I am against, is its imposition on businesses (over 50 million worldwide) that will bear the cost, complexity and un-usability of it all, without any form of benefit.
If other people fail to see this and get lost in the hype; as has happened many times before with software that has promised the earth and delivered a pup; so be it. But I for one do not follow the herd on XBRL.
Many small businesses where very relieved when audit exemption came about. As it meant that they could finally ditch the auditor, who they saw as performing a non-beneficial service. A cost without benefits. This is clearly seen by the number of small businesses that have now dropped the audit.
Many small business people are not accountants, but that does not mean that they don't prepare their own accounts (with or without computers) for their own consumption. A majority of small businesses do just this, without recourse to third parties, in order to minimise costs and retain control of the business. If it works for them, who are we to judge otherwise.
With XBRL Annual Accounts becoming a mandatory requirement in 2010 this independence will go, as the level of complexity in XBRL is way beyond the average person to comprehend and requires a computer with appropriate software. The fact that this software does not exist at the moment, does not seem to concern anyone in a position to halt or slow down this requirement. The fact that computers are becoming an absolute necessity to run a small business due to legislative requirements, also does not seem to concern them. What they fail to realise is that a small but significant proportion of small business owners do not use or wish to use computers in their business. Their reasons do not concern us here, but it is a fact.
Some respondents to earlier comments seem to believe that XBRL will be ‘invisible’ to its users. Let me quote from a HMRC communication I have received:
"... Companies and accountants will require both accounting and tax software systems to be XBRL enabled..."
further on
"... principal benefits of streamlined financial reporting are for customers. Software vendors benefit from being able to supply updated versions of their products that support XBRL ..."
and further on
"... XBRL enables integration of accounts production and tax software and both are required by software vendor’s customers ..."
The above statements give in a nutshell why software companies like XBRL; as invisibility comes at a price.
And, if a business does not have the software or time to devote to mastering XBRL, (and few will, given that it is an annual event) they will be forced to pay a firm of accountants, or a similiar establishment, for a service that provides no real benefit to them. Just like the audit - a cost without benefits.
Being a software developer myself, I have looked in detail at how to produce full XBRL Annual Accounts from an ERP package. It is possible, but not easy given the mixed structure and flexible requirements of annual accounts. Of course the differculty will vary for each package, but overall my feeling at the moment is that most packages will make it a new chargeable module. Time will tell as to whether I'm right on this.
In all the material I have seen on XBRL every one; including HMRC; claims that there will be benefits. But nobody can give one clear example of a real benefit for a small business. Many false benefits are claimed. A real benefit; from the imposition of a new tool/procedure; is one that does not already exist using existing tools/procedures. That is, it must be a NEW benefit. And I repeat, I cannot see one clear new benefit, nor can I see one arising. The imposition of XBRL will replace, what is now a simple exercise (using anything from expensive software, through a simple spreadsheet, to a typewriter and plain paper) with tools and procedures that greatly increase costs and complexity.
Why do I focus on small businesses? It will be small business that produces over 85% of the XBRL annual accounts actually produced in a year. So yet again, it will be small business that bears the cost of the ambitions of big business, government mandarins and claims by people with vested interests. The very same groups, that many believe have in the past shown a complete disregard for the small business.
XBRL in and of itself is a useful vehicle for a limited number of organisations – my estimate is less than 250,000 worldwide. What I am against, is its imposition on businesses (over 50 million worldwide) that will bear the cost, complexity and un-usability of it all, without any form of benefit.
If other people fail to see this and get lost in the hype; as has happened many times before with software that has promised the earth and delivered a pup; so be it. But I for one do not follow the herd on XBRL.
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