Economists of all stripes often comment that the mood of people affect their willingness to spend money and generate trade and demand. The 2012 Olympics mandate that the people of Britain play host to the world greatest athletes and those who will visit and watch the games.

Already, a sense of pride appearing to be sweeping the country as the realisation that the Olympics is not just a press conference but a living breathing reality which will soon be upon us.

Terrorist events perhaps marred the announcement that the 2012 Olympics were awarded to London and thus to true gravity and commercial aspects of the event was perhaps not fully appreciated at that time.

Baring any similar actions in 2012 the Olympics will generate an influx of tourists, substantial merchandising opportunities and perhaps more importantly a buzz in the economy. Positive events can create positive feelings and thoughts and those in 2012 could represent an anti recession remedy whose affect is far greater than any of the instruments in the UK Treasury’ arsenal.

Should the relatively mild weather experienced this winter continue, the excitement and start of the feel good factors will take place in the early months of 2012.

Given the extravagance of the 2008 Olympics games, London and Britain as a whole have to at least match and probably exceed those celebrations and breath-taking displays witnessed in Beijing.

Should the 2012 London Olympics not have the affect of steering Britain clear of recession, then it is difficult to see what will; perhaps the American Presidential elections in November of that year will do the trick.

It has been witnessed however that there are many successful businesses which consist of a husband and wife team acting in various capacities within an organisation. Their personal relationship does not seem to adversely affect either the business achievements or their ability to live in relative harmony.

Many would suggest that in such occurrences, the formula is quite unique and that they represent the exception rather than the norm.

For most businesses in the introduction of personal relationships in to the professional regime can manifest inconsistencies and watered down actions which attempt to satisfy both organisational and personal demands.

The extent to which this occurs depends largely on the basis understanding and maturity of the parties involved and their willingness and ability to distinguish between personal and business interactions.

Where the line is defined and maintained the personal and business relationship can exist independently of each other and events affecting one do not then transcend to the other.

The feelings and emotional elements which are often predominant in personal relationships are put aside when business matters are on the table and management tools which are rational are adopted.

Mixing business with pleasure in respect of having in work personal relationships can result in one or both parties being uncomfortably where the personal involvement ends and yet the employment continues.

In such cases work output often suffers and a resolution is required which often leads to one person leaving the business.

In many business cultures personal involvement between staff is not encouraged and in some instances banned (or effectively so). High risk businesses such as banks, casinos and others where the possibility of colluding staff could contradict or weaken the organisations internal controls are some examples.

It is difficult to conclude using absolute terms whether or not mixing business with pleasure will work or lead to complete disaster. Being wary of the potential risks and disadvantages might make any such decision as more informed and calculated one.

This is not to say that being aware of the drawbacks would result in a more favourably outcome than if the person were ignorant.

For example PAYE payments to HMRC are due on the 19th of every month. In November 2011 the 19th falls on a Saturday. If this fact were to go unnoticed and calendar reminder began flashing on the following Monday 21st the business would be defaulting on its statutory obligation to remit the monies on time.

Direct Debits and standard orders are a good mechanism for avoid missed payments but even with these in place the business still has to ensure that sufficient funds exist in their current bank accounts for the amounts to be paid.

Typically businesses will not carry large balances on their current account in order to minimise any losses should their facility be compromised. In the case of large VAT, PAYE or credit card balances a special transfer to a business bank account is often necessary to cover these demands.

HMRC sometimes give businesses two occasions in which payments can be late before imposing penalties and or interest. For a business with the required funds and knowledge and willingness to satisfy the obligation, such measures of enforcement can be inconvenient and seem wasteful.

Ensuring that adequate reminders of both the impending due payments and the time action is required so that they can be paid on time (taking in to account non banking days) is therefore important to all businesses.

Whilst their stories might be both interesting and to a point true (allowing for the rightly deserved exaggerations), regaling a group of potential entrepreneurs might only fuel their desire to set up a similar business and cash in on the same idea.

The resultant increase in competition would almost certainly be unwelcomed, particularly if detailed information on suppliers, processes, customers and so on has been provided.

The thoughts of Keeping Business Ideas Secret might be extended further to maintaining a level of secrecy regarding the actual business once it has started; i.e. cut out the boasting in business.

There are entrepreneurs who are very successful in business but do not display their wealth to the outside world. They are usually unassuming and do not use material items to make a statement of their success.

The reasons for boasting in business probably have something to do with the self-actualisation which accompanies success and might in fact be the defining reason for the achievements themselves. Some entrepreneurs have been motivated solely by the desire to be able to say what they have done.

It this respect, it seems cruel to suggest that after they have worked tirelessly to start their own business and made it in to something viable, that they should keep it all to themselves.

Part of working for yourself means that many of the decisions which are to be made fall on the entrepreneur, in which case, they can boast in business if they so desire.

This article merely highlights the potential pitfalls of boasting and suggests that good businesses should be offer the entrepreneur sufficient financial inducements to keep their boasting to a minimum.

The list of starting business resources below have been used by numerous entrepreneurs to increase the knowledge of the start-up options; including business incorporation services, finance for new ideas and information on small business exhibitions.

UK Starting Business would welcome any further suggestions for entries to this section of the website. The goal is to consistently update and review the resources listed here and to make additions where it is deemed necessary to continue with a comprehensive informational base.

Startups is one of the biggest UK based business start–up sites providing information on both full and part-time opportunities and various checklists designed to assess the viability of the venture and the entrepreneurial skills of the potential business owner.

Barclays provides financially orientated planning advice and of course the services which they can offer to aid in launching and sustaining a small business.

Guardian has produced a useful article on starting a new business in times of a recession. The piece details several stages of the planning process including business plan, raising finance and advertising. Further information is also listed on working from home and carrying out a competitor analysis.

This is Money consists of several guides on starting a business together with tools for assessing capital. There are also sections for buying an existing operation and discussing business ideas with other would-be entrepreneurs.

Complete Business Start up is a practical resource on the various elements of starting a business. The information provided covers internet businesses, plan and finance. There are also useful business zones and dictionary sections which provide real-world experiences of starting up and explain some of the technical terms frequently used in commercial circles.

Entrepreneurs outlines the stages of developing a business idea and bringing it to fruition. There is information on home based business and areas which depict entrepreneurial successes.

Business Services Support has a range of training course designed to aid in starting a small business, information on how to build a website and company formation services in both the UK and USA. There are some downloadable brochures outlining the business start-up services they offer.

Startinbusiness provides a well categorised site covering business opportunities, company formation services and listing of existing operations for sale. Their website also provides information of upcoming business start-up shows and exhibitions and resources and advice on types of business entities and financial.

Bstartup has a number of guides of starting a new business in various industries. The site also provides extensive information on business start-up shows, seminars and workshops. New business might also be interested in the sections designed for exhibitors.

Whilst the phrases are very similar in their presentation they in fact highlight two very distinct duties a business owner must contend with.

The hypothesis surrounding working in a business is concerned with the entrepreneur subsuming themselves within the daily functions of running the business operations. Typically these would include: proving customer support, employee supervision, individual sales conversations, stationery ordering and some of the other numerous tasks necessary for the business perform on an ongoing basis.

Working on a business has the contradictory approach of absolving the day to day running of the enterprise to others and adopting a more strategic perspective of the organisation; one which is designed to further its overall objectives.

Simplistically, working in a business facilitates the sales of this week, whilst working on the business focuses on generating sales for next year.

Both functions have their own importance but it is the latter which is frequently overlooked and is staved of the appropriate amounts of resources.

During a typical commercial life cycle, at the point of starting a business the entrepreneur spends most of their capabilities working on the business; that is, developing contacts with suppliers, looking at aspects of marketing, creating financial budgets and drawing up their grand vision of what the business will become.

When the plan has been implemented and sales and revenues begin to appear, the business owner’s attention is slowly drawn away for the development side of the operations and more towards the vicinity of satisfying these orders.

The balance of attention continues to shift gradually until the business is so much in demand that the entrepreneur is completely immersed in working in the business and on the daily functions of achieving an efficient operating unit.

At this point they spend very little time working on the business and become a mechanism of an event driven and reactionary organisation.

At some point under this regime business growth ceases as no efforts are devoted to generating further commercial development. It is usually at the point of business decline that suddenly the entrepreneur realises that the undertakings which resulted in the initial business growth are no longer be considered or initiated.

The point in the business life cycle this fact is realised will determine the levels of corrective action that are necessary to stem the decline and redress the strategic versus operating balance.

With the growth of larger businesses the ability of smaller local enterprises to compete effectively has diminished as bigger entities are able to undercut the prices, provide nationwide support and offer a more extensive range of good and services.

A potentially potent and free method of advertising within a specific locality is through word of mouth. Neighbours and communities frequently discuss and exchange comments on purchases made and commissions undertaken by businesses and will hold views on whether to recommend a supplier or to steer others away from that establishment.

As part of the business planning process, a sole trader, partnership or limited company can construe a specific local geographical area in which it wishes to concentrate.

Their resources, whether marketing, customer services or networking can then be applied so as to gain advantage and full benefit from the release of these resources.

There is a philosophy in business when viewing a particular industry which states that only a proportion of any particular market can ever be won; that no single business can cater for the needs of all customers.

In this vein, the local business need not attempt to compete with regional or national enterprises as if it was successful, it would simply be replacing income earned in one area with revenue gained in another.

The principles of competitive advantage therefore mandate that the local business should use its strongest advantage, i.e. its locality to achieve its share of the market.

This would ensure that the tax benefits of that expenditure are gained sooner in the current year rather than in the next period. In situations where the business is VAT registered it is often to case that the VAT reporting periods and the financial year end of the business are coterminous.

Therefore as well as achieving tax advantages in terms of corporation tax (for companies) or income tax (for sole traders and partnerships), the business can also benefit from the cash flow improvement gained from the extra element of input VAT.

At one extreme, there are businesses who might purchase substantial quantities of goods and services in their pre year trading period in order to inflate their expenses and thereby reduce their profit chargeable to taxation.

Whilst this might appear to benefit them, the resultant creditor balances and the negative effect on cash negates any short term advantages gained via a lower tax charge and reduced VAT liabilities.

Whilst the principles of lowering tax charges through incurring pre year end expenditure generally holds true, the manner in which it is implemented must be in accordance what the business can afford and whet is deeded to be sensible.

For example, purchasing a years worth of stationery might create additional storage problems which removes any taxation gains. There might also be the issue of year end stock which of course is added to profit.

Significant amounts of unused materials or prepayments for services would normally be removed from the profit and loss account as expenses to be allotted to the period in which they are actually utilised.

Where nominees are used, they are then removed once the company formation process has been completed and the new director appointments and shareholder transfers are initiated.

This method of registering a company is largely extinct and should usually be avoided as it can present problems verifying the actual directors and ownership of the company.

It should be pointed out that the use of nominees to set-up the company is different from situations where it is envisaged that nominees will be a medium to long term feature of the new incorporated business; where the facility is used to protect the identity of the directors and shareholders.

It is far more common and practical to provide a company formation system where the actually directors and shareholders (and company secretary if required) are the initial appointees at the time of the business set-up.

Thus for example, when a bank account is required, the statutory filing history viewed by an account manager would not include any nominees and thus would avoid any confusion as to who currently owns and runs the company.

These types of problems were in fact widespread in the period where all company formations used the registration agents’ nominees for the incorporation and then made the necessary transfers.

Particularly where the company started business soon after it was set-up, it was sometimes the case that the transfers had not had sufficient time to be processed by Companies House and the company filing records displayed the nominee’s information and not that of the new appointees.

It is always preferred that a company keep its filing history clean and avoid any unnecessary entries which do not really service a purpose. To that end, it would be recommended that when viewing different company formation options that enquires should include questions concerning whether nominees are used for the initially company officers or whether the actual incumbents can be elected from the outset.

This rule not only applies to trading entities but also dormant companies where the use of nominees can be used sometimes to prevent the purchaser from gaining actual ownership. The company, under such circumstances, is usually only transferred upon payment of an additional fee.

The law requires that every company maintain a set of statutory books and a company register is by far the commonest means of meeting this obligation. They are relatively simple to complete and store and most company registers are capable of housing the statutory transactions of for numerous years.

From a practical point of view, the requirement to maintain a set of company registers and statutory books is in most cases obsolete. The idea behind the legal obligations is that the public have a right to be able to inspect a company’s documents on demand.

In reality, only in exceptional circumstances would a request for an inspection of a company registers be made. Those usually occur when a commercially trading company is in the process of being purchased and as part of an Accountant’s due diligence work, the statutory books are audited.

Most other compulsions to view information about a UK company are usually satisfied by downloading statutory filing documents from Companies House for a nominal charge.

This is frequently more convenient than arranging an appointment at a company’ registered office or sail address and then not have the facility to take copies for future analysis.

Given that random requests to view a company’s register are rarely initiated, it could be concluded that it is unnecessary to obtain and keep a company statutory register. Whilst it might be tempting to follow this path it would plainly contravene the current laws as they stand and therefore would be ill-advised.

Company registers are relatively inexpensive and need not present a cumbersome task for the company secretary to maintain. If course it is always the preferred option to comply with the law and avoid any resultant fees levied thought non-compliance.