37BHANOT & CO |
BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE 2019
Innovation through technology
Technology has enormously helped the
way any accountancy practice works
in the current market, and at Bhanot
& Co we’ve always had the benefit
of an IT consultant. We are excited
by HMRC’s drive toward real-time
information reporting and we are
looking forward to the VAT returns
RTI regime that will be introduced this
April. We will be informing all of our
clients this year of the VAT returns
RTI filing change and work with them
so that their systems are in place in
preparation. Making Tax Digital is
the right way forward. Technology
is bringing great benefits; we have
already seen this with auto-enrolment
on pensions for all employees.
Social media has become a great
means of sharing financial news
directly with the public, which should
help them to make well-informed
decisions. With the current era of
information overload, we believe it
is important to continue to add the
correct data and legislative information
for people to sift through and to
remember what is relevant to them.
Ethics in public practice are very
important to us, as we are advising
and dealing with clients’ financial
affairs, something that sits at the core
of many of our clients’ wellbeing. Our
advice is better tailored to develop
their businesses in the long term even
if there is a hardship in the short
term. We’ve found that clients, even
if they leave due to some changes
in circumstance, come back to us
citing our advice as being beneficial in
thepast.
Our practice work from 1990 allowed
me the flexibility to provide some free
service where necessary, culminating
in the last decade with my voluntary
role as the general secretary of Hindu
Council UK, a faith-based national
umbrella body. I was humbled at
the end of the decade in 2010 to
be awarded an OBE. I then moved
on to chair various social enterprise
charities, including the Ethnic Minority
Foundation for social justice and the
Peepul Centre in Leicester, which
works to empower local communities
through its theatre for performing arts.
The Peepul Centre is supported by
two bars and a restaurant, conference
rooms for local businesses, both a
ladies’ and mixed gym, a sports hall,
a dance studio and children’s nursery
facilities, all at an affordable cost.
This charitable work added a different
dimension to the traditional practice
work, not least through my experience
of consulting on draft EU directives
and UK legislation that impacted
all communities. As a result of this
experience, we can provide some
additional services free of charge, for
instance, advising on the governance
of charities.
In our opinion, the future looks
bright. Although the high street may
be undergoing online sales pressure,
British businesses will find a way to
adapt. We have seen the benefits of
the IT revolution relieve accountants of
tedious number-crunching tasks, and
we look forward to the AI revolution to
help bring more of a “substance over
form” audit approach.
The Bhanot & Co
team
Although the
high street may
be undergoing
online sales
pressure, British
businesses will
find a way to
adapt
“
“
Rt Hon The Lord David Blunkett
Rt Hon The Lord Eric Pickles
