Need to know ...: the DTI has heaps of clever ideas that'll make you more money, but the Inland Revenue plans to charge 60 [pounds sterling] for every day your tax return is overdue while putting a lifetime cap on how much you can stash in your pension.(On the grapevine)

NO HELP FROM EUROPE

SMEs are not reaping the rewards promised by the European single market, according to a European Commission report. Although SMEs make up 70 per cent of Europe's business community, they are thwarted in efforts to expand through competing legal and administrative systems in each country. Customers are losing out as smaller firms, frustrated by the lack of integrated frameworks, give up on the idea of exporting. Paperwork technicalities are made worse by the mutual mistrust of member states' trading laws. To get you through the maze of information on trading in Europe you may like to try the following websites:

ONE STOP SHOP FOR BUSINESS IN EUROPE: www.europa.eu.int/business/cn/ index.html

TRADE FAIRS: www.auma-messen.de/ (English, French and German used)

EUROPEAN BUSINESS REGISTER: www.ebr.org/

UNICE BUSINESS REPRESENTATION: www.unice.org/

NO IT POLICY

Half of British companies have a piecemeal approach to Information Technology. A report by Siemens Financial Services finds a worrying lack of planning in IT strategies even though most firms recognise the importance of computerisation. Most equipment appears to be purchased on an 'as and when' basis rather than as part of a coherent long-term plan. Feeding this policy are unsophisticated financial systems, which tend to respond to immediate problems.

MODERNISING COMPANY LAW

A government White Paper issued in the summer, Modernising Company Law, may create unintended problems for small businesses. The intention to raise the audit exemption threshold to the EU …