Budget will give business plenty to chew over

A regional accountancy firm is expecting plenty to chew over at two Budget events next Thursday (March 21).

Burgis & Bullock, in conjunction with the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, is holding breakfast and lunch events the day after chancellor George Osborne’s Budget to help local firms digest the announcements affecting business.

The breakfast event will go through the key announcements by the chancellor at the Trident Technology and Business Centre, followed by a buffet lunch event at the Belgrade Theatre.

Sean Farnell, partner at Burgis & Bullock, said the idea was to look at those announcements that may have gone unnoticed on the day but would have a bearing on business.

He said: “As a mid-term Budget, we can expect that the chancellor will already have one eye on the next election but the recent loss of the UK’s AAA credit rating means that he can’t be frivolous in handing out give-aways.

“There have already been a number of announcements aimed at stimulating business including increasing reliefs for research and development, tax breaks on capital equipment and machinery as well as a new tax effective method for investing in smaller and start-up companies.

“However, as these don’t seem to have made much of an impact, we would hope for some additional stimulus towards business especially the further incentivisation for banks to lend to smaller firms.

“There is little doubt that there will be further tweaking of the taxation system towards a £10,000 annual tax free allowance and it will be interesting to see if the new 45p highest rate of income tax is maintained or if there is a further nod towards traditional Conservative voters with a small reduction.

“The devil, however, is always in the detail and it’s these nuggets of information that are frequently missed on the day of the Budget that we will be looking for and sharing at the budget events.”

Angela Tellyn, of the Chamber, said: “We are delighted to be partnering with Burgis & Bullock to offer businesses an insight into what the Budget actually means for them.”

For more information or to attend the events, contact the Chamber on 024 7665 4321.

Alternatively contact Jenny Frost on 01926 468702 or [email protected]