Here’s what you need to know:

What is Making Tax Digital?

Making Tax Digital is all about making tax administration more effective, more efficient and easier for taxpayers, through the implementation of a fully digital tax system.

The roll-out of the initiative has already begun. Every small business owner and individual taxpayer now has access to a digital account that they can use to check their records and manage their details with HMRC.¹

Further changes are planned in the coming months and years; you can see a breakdown of the roll-out and timescales below. Software providers are actively engaging with HMRC to help shape this process and simplify the shift for small businesses.

Making Tax Digital is expected to be fully implemented by 2020. By this time you should see the following major changes to the way you manage and report your business taxes:

• Through your digital account you’ll be presented with a complete picture of your business’s tax affairs and you’ll be able to manage all of your liabilities at the same time, in the same place.
• HMRC will collect and process information affecting tax in as close to real time as possible. This should prevent any tax due or repayments owed from building up.
• You’ll no longer have to wait until the end of the tax year to know how much tax you have to pay.

Who does Making Tax Digital apply to?

The changes outlined in the Making Tax Digital initiative will apply to a wide range of taxpayers, including most businesses, self-employed people and landlords, as well as individual taxpayers. However, HMRC has suggested that the initiative won’t apply to “the small minority who genuinely cannot use digital tools”, or to small businesses with an annual income below a proposed threshold of £10,000.²

This threshold would be based on the firm’s income from the previous year.

The benefits of Making Tax Digital

• Know where you stand – with a full picture of your business’s tax affairs in your digital account.
• Save time – by having access to all your business’s tax info in a single place.
• Save hassle – by managing all your business tax affairs online.
• Plan and budget more effectively – with a real-time calculation of how much tax you owe.

What does Making Tax Digital mean for you?

A new way of reporting information to HMRC

The move to a more digital tax system should come as welcome news to the many taxpayers who already choose to report much of their information to HMRC online.

… are currently submitted online

Source: ‘Making Tax Digital’, HM Revenue and Customs 2015 (accessed 11 May 2016).

The shift to digital should also help to iron out some of the issues that can make the current method of reporting information to HMRC frustrating for business owners.
Specifically, Making Tax Digital promises to end ‘bureaucratic form-filling’ and to ‘remove the risk of missed deadlines and unnecessary penalties’.

The end of the tax return

One of the biggest implications for small business owners is the eradication of the annual tax return. By 2020 most businesses, self-employed people and landlords will instead be required to keep track of their tax affairs digitally and to update HMRC at least quarterly via their digital tax accounts, or more often if they’d prefer. HMRC has said that this doesn’t mean you’ll have to complete a full tax return four times a year; you’ll simply need to provide more regular updates online.³

The introduction of a ‘real time’ tax system means that instead of reporting information on tax returns and paying liabilities long after the end of the tax year, you will be able to see a real-time view of your business tax affairs and liabilities through your digital accounts. This should make it easier to understand how much tax you owe and to budget accordingly.

What next?

The upshot of all these changes is that, if Making Tax Digital applies to you, you’ll be required to use digital tools, such as software or apps, to keep records of your income and expenditure.

HMRC has stated that it won’t provide its own software, but will ensure that basic apps and software products are available. However, many businesses and their accountants will choose to use more comprehensive commercial online software.

These tools use the data from your day-to-day business activity to build an accurate picture of your business’s tax data, highlighting any possible errors and offering prompts for information that might otherwise be overlooked. Once your software has compiled the relevant data, you or your accountant will then submit it directly to HMRC, either via a computer or a smartphone.

We will be happy to talk through the options with you and explain how they plan to work with you as Making Tax Digital is rolled out.

¹ (More information is available at https://www.gov.uk/personal-tax-account.)

² Making Tax Digital – Bringing business tax into the digital age, HM Revenue and Customs accessed 15 August 2016)

³ ‘Making Tax Digital: Myth-Buster’, HM Revenue and Customs (accessed 12 July 2016)

This warning is not intended to cause you panic but we cannot over-stress the importance of taking these steps immediately. This is because the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) has taken temporary control of the communications used to connect with infected computers, but expects only a very limited window of opportunity to ensure you are protected.
There is a set of links at the bottom of this page to tools that will check your computer for the presence of this malware. If you do nothing else. please use one of these tools immediately.

The threat
Cyber criminals are constantly devising new types of malware to commit financial theft, fraud, identity theft and other crimes against ordinary people. The proceeds of their crime are also used to fund further organised crime. This latest threat is particularly insidious as it uses two different types of malware to infect your computer in order to commit these crimes:

1. A virus known as Gameover Zeus, GOZeus, or P2PZeus
This is a type of aggressive malware which infects your computer so that it can effectively be ‘taken over’ by the criminals. It can be used for a number of different criminal activities such as viewing your files, monitoring your bank accounts, sending emails in your name and even using your webcam to physically spy on you.

2. Ransomware known as CryptoLocker
CryptoLocker is a virus which criminals use to prevent you opening any files – effectively locking down your PC – before issuing you with a ransom demand. If you pay the ransom, there is no guarantee that it will be unlocked. Once your computer is locked, it is effectively rendered useless as you cannot access your email, files, photos, music or bookmarks.

How computers get infected
You probably receive many emails claiming to be from your or another bank, a government body or other official source, urging you to check your account, claim a refund or other action. Many of these are phishing emails containing links to bogus websites, or attachments which you are told to open, which actually contain malware hidden in what is known as a Trojan. In this case, the criminals have also stolen or hacked email lists and can make it make it appear as if these are spam emails coming from a friend’s email account.
In this particular attack, the act of opening the attachment in such an email automatically ‘tells’ the Trojan to download the Gameover Zeus and CryptoLocker from a server normally located abroad, of which there are thousands which exist purely for criminal purposes.

How does the attack work?
If Gameover Zeus cannot ‘find’ enough on your computer to make a profit for the criminals, CryptoLocker will take over, effectively lock down your machine and demand a ransom.

What you need to do NOW
Your internet service provider (ISP) may have sent you a letter or email warning you about this threat. They will know that your computer is infected because the NCA, working with other law enforcement bodies around the world – has taken over thousands of the criminal servers and examined the records. You must follow the advice on this page straight away. Even then, if your computer has been locked down by CryptoLocker, it is too late.
Remember that making sure that updating your operating system and software are good habits to get into so you should be doing this on a regular basis.

Important warning about emails
Cyber criminals will also exploit this situation by sending out further phishing emails claiming to be from your ISP or a law enforcement agency, urging you to click on a link or open an attachment for the remedy. You could also receive a similar email which appears to have been sent by a friend, family member or colleague, but which has actually been sent automatically by a computer infected with the malware and ransomware. Read some advice on spam and scam emails at www.getsafeonline.org/protecting-your-computer/spam-and-scam-email

Scan for and remove Gameover Zeus malware and CryptoLocker software
Free tools have been specially developed and made available to you by a number of internet security software companies. You can use any of these tools regardless of the make of internet security software you normally use.

Symantec
https://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/international-takedown-wounds-gameover-zeus-cybercrime-network
F-Secure
F-Secure Online scanner (Windows Vista, 7 and 8)
https://www.f-secure.com/en/web/home_global/online-scanner
F-Secure Rescue CD (Windows XP systems)
https://www.f-secure.com/en/web/labs_global/removal-tools/-/carousel/view/142
Kaspersky
https://support.kaspersky.com/viruses/utility#kasperskyvirusremovaltool (if you think your computer is infected with malware)
https://support.kaspersky.com/8005 (WindowsUnlocker utility for if your computer is infected with CryptoLocker)
Sophos
https://www.sophos.com/VirusRemoval (Windows XP (SP2) and above)
Heimdal Security
https://goz.heimdalsecurity.com/ (Microsoft Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 and 8.1.)
Microsoft
https://www.microsoft.com/security/scanner/en-us/default.aspx Microsoft Safety Scanner (Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP)
McAfee
www.mcafee.com/stinger

Trend Micro
www.trendmicro.com/threatdetector
(Windows XP, Vista, Windows, Windows 8/8.1, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2008 R2).

Report a loss
If you think you have lost money through malware such as Gameover Zeus and CryptoLocker, you should report it to Action Fraud at www.actionfraud.police.uk or by calling 0300 123 2040.

AUTUMN STATEMENT 2013: MEASURES FOR A ‘RESPONSIBLE RECOVERY’

Delivering the Autumn Statement 2013, Chancellor George Osborne said the latest economic data showed that the ‘plan is working’. He said the biggest threat to securing the economy for the long term would be abandoning the plan, before setting out measures aimed at providing a ‘responsible recovery’.

In stark contrast to the March 2013 Budget, the Office for Budget Responsibility upgraded its forecast for growth in 2013. It expects GDP to grow by 1.4 per cent this year, more than double its March estimate of 0.6 per cent. It also expects an additional 400,000 new jobs to be created this year and for unemployment to fall to seven per cent in 2015.

Read our Autumn Statement 2013 report

FOR BUSINESSES
A two per cent cap on next year’s increase in business rates was confirmed. The doubling of the Small Business Rate Relief, to 100 per cent for qualifying businesses, was also extended by a year until April 2015. From 1 April 2014, businesses will be able to pay their rates over 12 months. And employer national insurance contributions for employees under the age of 21 will be abolished from April 2015.

Read our business announcements summary 

PERSONAL FINANCES
The planned fuel duty increase for September 2014 has been scrapped. Train fares will increase in January in line with RPI inflation only – not by the usual RPI plus one per cent. And basic rate taxpayers will be able to transfer GBP 1,000 of their personal allowance to a spouse or civil partner from 2015/16.

Read the personal finance measures overview

OTHER ANNOUNCMENTS
From September 2014, all schoolchildren in reception, year one and year two – as well as disadvantaged students in sixth form colleges – will be eligible for free school meals. And the paper tax disc will be replaced by a new digital system from October 2014.

Read a round-up of other headline announcements 

This video and infographic was produced by Sage

Digital wallets usually take the form of a smartphone app. They’re always on hand, connected to the internet and make it easy for coupons, deals and more to show up on the user’s device, sometimes based solely on current location.

Is it time for more small businesses to start accepting payments via digital wallet? “Yes, but thoughtfully,” says Aditya Khurjekar, a mobile-commerce expert who co-founded Money2020, a conference on emerging payments and financial services.

He points out that the question of whether to work with digital wallets is akin to the decision businesses had to make 40 years ago about whether to accept credit cards. Because consumers wanted the convenience of cards, businesses had to determine if they wanted to pay the associated costs and, if so, which cards they would accept.

Similarly, businesses today need to determine which digital wallet supplier is best for their bottom line. Khurjekar recommends starting with the payments and financial service providers with whom you already have relationships. But keep in mind that consumers will be the ultimate judge of which digital wallet providers win in the long term and which fall out of favour.

Part of your decision will hinge on your customers’ preferences, especially in terms of security. The best way to find out is to ask them: “Are you comfortable with your payment information being stored on your phone (like it is on your credit or debit card)? Or would you rather use a system that stores your data in a cloud-based secure server, where your smartphone is just a conduit to access the account?”

Secure wallets like the one offered by Isis, for instance, store payment information directly on the smartphone, unlike cloud-based wallets from PayPal and Square.

Khurjekar admits that whichever digital wallet solution you pick has a real possibility of leaving some customers on the outside looking in. Right now the burgeoning scene is like the Wild West. But going back to the example of the nascent credit card industry, he expects that consumers will likely encounter rebranding of their digital wallets as the first wave of providers merge, get acquired or fall by the wayside.

As predicted, the prevailing economic conditions constrained the chancellor in what he could realistically deliver in this budget, but there were a couple of headlines for Thursday’s papers as expected. Interesting that the Evening Standard stole a march and their budget day front page appeared on the Internet an hour before the chancellor’s speech to the house!

Global players

As anticipated, the final steps were taken in the governments long term goals of a 20% corporation tax rate for large businesses and a £10,000 personal allowance.

With a corporation tax rate of 20% from April 2015 (based on current rates) we will have the lowest tax rate in the G7 and the lowest rate in the G20 along with Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Russia. This gives us a good position against our key global competitors, and reinforces the government’s long term goal of making the UK a key player in the global economy. Britain is open for business.

Fuel duty

The chancellor also didn’t disappoint on fuel duty, his favourite area of taxation it would appear, having featured positively in all of his budgets. With the scrapping of the proposed increase due in September, fuel duty has been frozen for three and a half years, the longest duty freeze for over 20 years. This is a relief for many small businesses around the country.

National Insurance

George surprised many with his announcement of a £2,000 Employment Allowance on employer’s NIC, which will benefit small business the most and I believe encourage jobs growth. Although no one foresaw this new policy, I’m glad that he has taken steps to tackle this tax on jobs with much more boldness than expected.

I thought maybe a small decrease or payment holiday would be announced. This was highest on my wish list for small businesses, so I’m pleased as I think many small businesses will be too.

VAT rate

VAT didn’t feature much in this budget, with just technical tweaks and increases to thresholds, which isn’t too surprising after the “omnishambles” of 2012 with the likes of the U-turn pasty tax! The VAT measures in the budget report all appear to relate to the 2012 budget. Looks like he sensibly stayed away from the VAT minefield, where a biscuit is not a biscuit when it’s a cake!

Anti-avoidance measures

Anti-avoidance measures feature in this budget as widely expected, and as I predicted it is sufficiently balanced to show that the government is focused on dealing with this firmly without scaring away foreign investment.

I read five pages of measures in the ninety-four page Budget 2013 report, which when you consider that most other measures receive a few paragraphs, this demonstrates the resolve backing up the government rhetoric.

Capital Gains Tax

Capital Gains Tax (CGT) didn’t feature as expected, which I feel is a missed opportunity, as an increase in the higher band rate could be argued to be a fairer alternative to the mansion tax, only coming into force when a high value asset is sold. Maybe next time George.

Employee Share Schemes

Although, along with £50 million annual funding from 2014-15 to support employee ownership, a CGT exemption on qualifying disposals of a controlling interest in a business into an employee-owned structure from April 2014 does go some way to incentivise business owners with Employee Share Schemes.

Green issues

It’s interesting that green technologies merely received a nod with Carbon Capture and Storage projects being taken forward to the detailed planning and design stage.

This may be because George is focused on the country’s uncomfortable exposure to the volatile global gas and oil markets, as he announces The Office for Unconventional Gas and Oil. Shale gas appears to be George’s shining knight in the battle against the gas breathing dragon pushing up gas prices.

Little room for manoeuvre

In conclusion, although there was very little room for manoeuvre, the chancellor had enough wiggle room to make some useful changes that should really benefit small businesses, particularly the scrapping of September’s fuel duty rise and the introduction of the Employment Allowance.

Some opportunities were not taken, but there’s the Autumn Statement 2013 to look forward to.

We’ll have to wait and see whether the supported lending for house buyers and SME loans actually make it to the coal face, banks have not been forthcoming to date, choosing to recapitalise or fund their debts with cheap Bank of England loans and bonds rather than pass them on through SME lending as was the intention.

All things considered it’s a fairly neutral budget, but may have reallocated enough elements to give small businesses a bit more of a chance of growth.

Mark Barrett, Cannon Moorcroft

Find out what the Budget 2013 means for your business with your Free Budget 2013 Report (downloadable PDF)

Share your comments on the Budget below.

Mark Barrett, Accountant at Cannon Moorcroft and a Sage Business Expert,
offers his thoughts and predictions for next week’s budget. 

With the economy casting a gloomy shadow and the loss of the coveted AAA rating it’s unlikely we’ll see any big changes in the 2013 budget. The Chancellor has found himself on the points of a two pronged dilemma: trying to cut spending but encourage growth. As there’s little wiggle room within the budget due to constrained economic conditions, we shouldn’t expect to see any real cuts without corresponding increases to balance the books.

Anti-avoidance measures

I predict the main focus of this budget will be anti-avoidance measures for those who the government see as aggressive tax avoiders. It’ll be a delicate balancing act though as we trade in a global economy and the Chancellor will not want to discourage foreign investment.

Company-wise, the focus of the budget will probably be at the larger end of the scale. I predict a further reduction in Corporation Tax by 1%, bringing the large company tax rate in line with small company at 20%. The aim being to discourage avoiders transferring “management fees” to other companies within the group based in lower tax countries. Although the tax rate would be lower as a percentage, the tax paid should be higher as an amount.

The disappointing results of the 4G auction, (which fell £1.2 billion short of the sum estimated in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement), will have left a hole that needs to be filled. With no impending sell-offs due, anti-avoidance measures are likely to be the salve for this wound.

Personal allowance

There is likely to be a further move towards the target of a £10k personal allowance starting in the 2014/15 tax year, although this may be held off until the 2013 autumn statement as a political ace to keep up his sleeve.

Fuel duty

Fuel duty may feature, although as each 3p cut in duty costs £1.6 billion, it may be that any increase is postponed for 6 months or reduced to a lower-than-inflation rate. Reductions in this area are important to small business as fuel costs can account for a disproportionately high amount of their spending.

National Insurance

The Conservatives have historically criticised increases in employers’ National Insurance Contributions as a tax on jobs, but have done little to tackle this. The cost to a business of employing staff is one of the most significant, so any reduction here will have a direct benefit on all companies, and could encourage jobs growth.

VAT rate

Growth could be achieved with a reduction of the current rate of VAT rate. If prices on the shelves were lowered by 2.5% to 5% a larger volume of goods would be sold, generating increased revenue which would mitigate against the reduced rate. This would also help towards lowering costs of those small businesses not VAT registered.

Annual Investment Allowance

With the Annual Investment Allowance already having been increased to £250k for two years in the Autumn Statement, it’s unlikely we’ll see movement on this. The Chancellor will probably wait to see if, over its two years, it has achieved its goals of increasing investment in plant and machinery to help support engineering and manufacturing. If it has worked, it will likely be announced in future budgets as there is no benefit to making changes now.

Green issues

With the government continuing to champion green issues, albeit mostly in word rather than in deed, it may use further investment allowances for companies investing in the research and/or production of green technologies to encourage development in what is widely seen as an important future growth area.

Employee Share Schemes

With the EU vote on banker’s bonuses going against the Chancellor, we may see further amendments to the taxation arrangements of employee share schemes to create a workaround to EU legislation. This already allows companies to pay out bonuses as shares, but we may see a more incentivised way of delivery that reduces the tax burden on the employees. It would be useful to see these schemes improved to benefit smaller PLCs, as it has been shown that when employees become shareholders it increases productivity. Just look at John Lewis’s figures last year, and the 17% bonus being paid out to its staff.

Real Time Information

Real Time Information (RTI) comes into effect in April, which should achieve savings within the tax credit system as the aim is to make changes more quickly based upon employees’ actual situation. We may hear about further consultation on how this model can be utilised further, particularly for sole traders who currently have a large grace period between tax incurred and tax paid, although the payments on account system is meant to iron this out.

A monthly RTI style system for small companies and non-incorporated traders, based on cash based accounts, looks highly likely to be approved (maybe even in this budget), so payments on account may become more frequent and more accurate. This would smooth out the cashflow from taxes that the government receives; so that instead of a large inflow of corporation tax in December and personal tax in January the inflow would be spread across the year. This would mean more administration for small businesses, which is unwelcome and generally viewed as unhelpful, but may help reduce the month to month borrowing needs of the government which are in some part a result of inconsistent cashflow.

Capital Gains Tax

Capital Gains Tax rarely features in budgets, with it being limited to slight annual increases or freezes. It may be that with Lib Dem pressure the current 28% top rate may be increased to 30% to 35%. This type of tax affects more top earners than middle earners typically, particularly with the sale of valuable assets such as second homes or works of art. An increase here could be seen as a Conservative answer to the Mansion Tax, and is certainly fairer than retrospectively taxing an asset currently held, especially as those assets are, usually, paid for out of taxed income. Any increase wouldn’t attract too much criticism either as it would affect relatively few tax payers, but would be seen as asking the rich to pay a bit more, which seems to be a constant argument from the opposition.

Little room for maneuver

In conclusion, we can’t expect to see too much change as there’s little room for maneuver. There will be a couple of headliners for the next day’s newspapers, but even they won’t be earth-shattering. Anti-avoidance is likely to be the biggest focus, especially as it will be popular with the media. Realistically, it is unlikely that the VAT rate will change, even though some are calling for an increase, but it may be that more types of purchases are brought under the VAT umbrella. Fuel Duty has been a popular area in previous budgets, so we can expect to hear something, even if it’s just a freeze. And finally it’s likely that green technologies will feature, particularly as the UK is struggling to meet its legally-binding commitments to renewable energy and carbon emissions.

Mark Barrett, Cannon Moorcroft

Find out what the Budget 2013 means for your business and sign up for Sage’s free Budget 2013 guide today.

Share your comments and hopes for the Budget in the comments below.

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer recently insisted that Yahoo employees come into the office rather than work from home in order to increase “communication and collaboration.”

Apparently, Mayer believes that innovation will emerge from more meetings, including those that take place in hallways and lunchrooms.

One of the HUGE advantages of telecommuting is that it decreases the pointless socialisation and personal interaction that can consume hours of a workday.

More importantly, telecommuting isolates people from co-workers whose social behaviour makes everyone around them less productive.

Here are some very common types of workers who are harmless when working remotely, but toxic when you work with them in person:

1. Leeches

Workplace Leeches don’t suck blood; they suck all the energy out of the room. The moment they come through the door, they have a reason why something won’t work, a story that illustrates the futility of trying, and a list of unsolvable problem that need your immediate attention.

Telecommuting doesn’t stop leeches from being pessimistic, but the fact that they must communicate their pessimism by a diffuse medium like email limits their ability to impinge their mood upon other people.

2. Volcanoes

Volcanoes show an impassive face to the world while they silently collect a long list of the times they’ve been “disrespected” by the people around them. Rather than clearing the air, they let the pressure build, and then build some more, and then they explode into a tantrum that leaves everyone thinking: “Where did THAT come from?”

Telecommuting doesn’t prevent volcanoes from exploding, but it does prevent them from exploding more than once. While temper tantrums can be indulged (and thus repeated) few volcanoes ever send out more than one nuclear SLAM-O-GRAM.

3. Frenemies

A frenemy claims to be your biggest cheerleader and the only person who’s really “on your side.” Meanwhile, the frenemy is subtly sabotaging everything that you do. Under the guise of advice, they sap your confidence. Or they promise to help you out, but then fail to deliver, always for a good reason, of course.

Frenemies don’t exist in telecommuting environments because frenemies use physical presence and facial expressions to communicate their “friendliness” and hide their sabotage. Their true intentions are trivially easy to spot when you’re online.

4. Parasites

Parasites wait to see what ideas become popular inside a firm and then, when it’s clear an idea has support and “traction,” position themselves as the idea’s sponsor and (by implication) the brains behind it. This is also known as “finding a parade and getting out it front of it.”

Parasites don’t thrive with telecommuting because working remotely leaves an automatic “audit trail” of who did what. Because there are fewer meetings, parasites have fewer opportunities to grandstand and claim credit.

5. Basket Cases

Basket cases bring the drama of their private lives into the office and use the resulting chaos as an excuse for failing. At first, you feel sympathetic about their life challenges and respect them for soldiering on. After a while, though, you realise that the drama is who they are rather than a temporary handicap.

Telecommuting allows basket cases to deal with their drama at home, rather than transferring it to everyone else. Without enablers focusing on the distraction, only the work of the basket case suffers.

Social network game development, People are spending more time on social networks like Facebook and they are also spending an ever increasing number of hours online, thanks to the rapid adoption of mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. Consumers are spending more time playing games that are embedded into their social network: The industry has grown by an astonishing 184 percent per year on average for the past five years, IBIS reports. By the end of 2013, sales in the industry are expected to grow another 32 percent and hit 6 billion.

Online shoe sales, What woman can’t find an excuse for why she absolutely needs another pair of shoes? Couple that with a surge in ecommerce, and online shoe sales have grown by more than 16 percent per year on average over the past five years and the industry is predicted to near 9 billion in revenue in 2013. While there are already some big players in the market, Amazon.com which owns Zappos.com and FootLocker.com make up only 16 percent of the industry. Without a juggernaut in the industry, there is room for start-ups, IBISWorld says, but make sure to have your own special spin on shoes.

TV and home theatre installation services, we spend a lot of time in front of the tube. Approximately 98 percent of households have a TV and 25 percent have a home theatre system. At the same time, there is no market leader in the installation services industry, leaving ample space for start-ups to come in and make room for themselves. Revenue in the industry has been climbing by more than 4 percent per year on average in the past five years and by the end of this year should exceed 12 billion, the report says. If you are going to break into the market, you are going to have to stay on top of ever-changing technology in the space.

Virtual data rooms, Where there once were rooms stuffed to the brim with filing cabinets, there are now virtual data rooms, online holding chambers for documents that a select group of parties can access. Since 2008, the virtual data room industry has been growing by almost 16 percent per year on average, IBISWorld reports, and is expected to reach almost 730 million in 2013. A side benefit of running a virtual data room company is that you won’t need a physical space to share your documents with investors and overall, the costs of entering the market are relatively low, IBISWorld says. Over the next five years, sales in the industry are forecast to grow at an annual rate of more than 14 percent.

Online travel agencies, In 2009, the travel agency industry took a hard hit as consumers pinched pennies and took “staycations” in their time off from work. But since 2010, the industry has been on the rebound and revenues are expected to jump by 6.1 percent to 20.7 billion in 2013. The era of storefront travel agencies is largely over and being gradually replaced by the online marketplace. From 2013 to 2018, IBISWorld predicts online travel agencies will see an increase in sales of 2.2 percent to 23 billion.

Translation services, In an increasingly global business environment with more and more non English speaking people emigrating, the demand for translation services has been on the rise. Also, as online businesses look to gain customers in other countries, they need translators to help make marketing materials and websites accessible in another language. While automated translation services offer some competition, a computer program will never be able to translate nuance and cultural expectations. In the past five years, sales in the industry grew at an annual average rate of 2.4 percent to top 3 billion. In 2013, IBISWorld expects sales to grow by 3.4 percent.

IT security consulting, When places like the The New York Times Co. get hacked, the IT security industry gets a bit of a boost. Coupled with the increasing popularity of ecommerce and the need to protect online shoppers, the IT security consulting industry has been growing by almost 10 percent per year on average over the past five years, during which time Sony, Zappos and LinkedIn have all been victims of cyber attacks. In 2013, sales should grow 8.8 percent and surpass 5 billion, IBISWorld estimates.

Digital forensic services, Digital forensic services sounds like it could be the newest iteration of the “CSI” TV series. In reality, it involves the verifying and recovering of lost, deleted or corrupted content. As more and more consumers spend time online, they are also storing more information online. Unfortunately, that translates into more information getting lost online. In the past five years, the digital forensic industry has increased at almost 12 percent per year on average to just shy of 1 billion in revenue. In 2013, IBISWorld predicts the industry will grow another 11 percent. One positive to starting up a digital forensic services business is that there are relatively few governmental regulatory barriers, according to IBISWorld. At the same time, it takes a significant outlay of capital to get into the industry and you will have to constantly keep on top of the rapidly changing technology market. In the coming five years, the industry should maintain growth of 9 percent per year on average.

What industries do you think are especially hot for starting up right now? Leave a note below and let us know.

Adverse weather has affected most of the UK recently – there’s some advice for businesses on dealing with the effects.

In marketing, industry experts outline the keys to marketing success in 2013. And we look at Government plans for a shake-up of the state pension; what will it mean for you in retirement?

Also in this issue we are giving away our ‘How to measuring business performance‘ guide for free.

While the profit and loss account shows important evidence of your financial results, there are other measurements that can provide alternative assessments of the business.

Using key performance indicators (KPIs) can give you greater insight into how your business is performing and help you in making better and more informed decisions. But you need to select indicators that are key to attaining your business objectives.
Download our free guide to learn the best ways to measure the performance of your business.