Change of Numbers…

In preparation for our move in April, we have got new contact numbers for you all to use;

 Telephone Number – 0870 0429076

 Fax Number – 0870 0429086

These numbers are available now, so please feel free to use them.

Moving…

Thank you for all your suggestions and comments in helping us find a new place to live. Whilst nothing has been finalised yet, we are in discussions with 2 local landlords to secure premises by 31 March 2006

As soon as we have confirmation of where we are moving, we will notify you. In the meantime, we should pre-warn you that Friday 31 March is likely to be our moving date and therefore things could be a little chaotic! We would greatly appreciate your consideration and support at this time.

AKM 'Assist' Services

Some of you are already enjoying the benefits of our AKM ‘assist’ service for both your Sage L50 needs and general IT, whereas others have only one service.

Have you thought about complementing your current assist service with either a Sage L50 or IT one?

Apart from the fact that every little helps in this day and age; this could have significant cost savings if you are currently paying Sage direct for ‘Sage Cover’.

• If you have L50 Accountant, Single User, Single Company you could save £90 +vat

• If you have L50 Accountant Plus, Single User, Single Company you could save £120 + vat

• If you have L50 Financial Controller, Single User, Single Company you could save £65 +vat

• If you have L50 Financial Controller, 2 - 6 Users, Single Company you could save £205 +vat

Call Tammy for more information or if you would like a quotation, alternatively click on the links below and see what AKM ‘assist’ could offer your business.

*This does not apply to renewal of contracts and relates only to IT and Sage contracts – not databases or CareFlex.

The Techie Bit - Wireless Networking and Security (Part 1)

We probably all take the convenience of wireless networks for granted. A broadband connection and a wireless router in your office/study can let you browse the web from the garden, bedroom, living room sofa… or a house two doors down the road.

A wireless access point or wireless router is basically a radio transceiver. It continuously transmits information about your network and how to join it to anyone within range. Unless you secure it.

When you first plug in your wireless router, most devices use default settings which allow any device unrestricted access to your network. They have to work like this otherwise you’d never get them running.

This means that anyone with a wireless enabled computer can access that shared folder with all of your holiday snaps, MP3 music collection or any personal details stored on your machine. They can also use and abuse your home internet connection.

For those of you with a country manor set in acres of garden this probably isn’t an issue as you would notice anyone coming within range, but a typical street in suburbia plays host to 2,3 or even a dozen different wireless networks.

Most modern routers and access points offer several ways to secure your network. These include WEP keys, WPA and access control lists. We will look at each of these in more detail next month.

…to be continued…

Payroll Year End

The time is fast approaching for us all to complete our year end for Payroll. Whilst this process can prove quite demanding and time consuming it is a requirement that we all have to adhere to. So what could make it slightly easier for us all?

Well to start with money back from the Inland Revenue for filing your returns online.

If you are a business with less than 50 employees, you can file your return online and receive money back. This ‘offer’ has been in operation for a year already so the money left to claim has reduced to account for this, none-the-less, getting your letter from the Inland Revenue advising that you can take off £250 from your payments is not only excellent news but worthwhile when you consider it probably only took you ½ hour to do.

Getting your software to do it for you

Sage Payroll V12 is accredited by HMRC and therefore is compliant with all the current legislation for calculation of tax, National Insurance and statutory payments. In addition to this all levels of Sage Payroll V12 offer year end and advanced year end internet submissions; helping you then claim your money back from HMRC for filing online.

Sage Payroll Version 12

Payroll V12 has a number of new features and functions within it, all designed to help you manage your payroll process better and more efficiently.

Having used Sage Payroll myself for our business for over 4 years, I am amazed about how much more there is within the software that I don’t fully know about or use as much as I could. It is so much more than just a piece of software that calculates pay.

It is not imperative that you upgrade this software every year, but it is recommended that you do at least every 2 years. Certainly if you are using V10 or below, your software won’t be able to complete the year end filing online. And if you are using V8, support for this version will be phased out as ‘end of life’ over the next 12 months.

Considering upgrading your version? We are offering a 5% discount off the cost of the software upgrade to V12, and for those V8 customers we are offering (in conjunction with Sage) a massive 30% discount off the cost of the upgrade, if taken before 30 March 2006.

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