If you were using QuickBooks prior to December 2008 and you edited your existing VAT code then you can change your Standard Rate VAT back to 17.5%. by following the steps in this pdf (courtesy of Intuit). The pdf covers the steps required for QuickBooks Pro / Premier and SimpleStart. Simply click the link below to open the pdf.

IMPORTANT: Make a back-up of your data before you start any of these processes.

How to change your exisiting VAT rate in QuickBooks

If you were using QuickBooks prior to December 2008 and you created a new Standard VAT code, follow these instructions.

If you started using QuickBooks Pro or Premier after December 2008 then you can use either option mentioned above. There is a summary of the pros and cons of each method on the QuickBooks website. Instructions on how to create a new VAT code can be found here.

If you started using QuickBooks SimpleStart after December 2008 then you can only change your existing VAT code, so use the instructions in the pdf.

And don’t forget to update your memorised transactions! How to do this can be found here. For further support contact bright angels.

According to a Wall Street Journal article by Dana Mattioli, small businesses are increasingly using the social messaging utility as an online marketing tool.

She cited the example of website building firm Moonfruit, which until recently had around 400 followers on Twitter.

Bosses at the firm, which is based in London, launched a contest on the micro-blogging site and, a few days later, it had 47,000 Twitter followers and traffic to its homepage had risen by 1,300 per cent.

The competition saw the business give away ten Apple MacBook Pros over the course of a week to people who posted creative 'tweets' that included the word Moonfruit.

Social media consultant Dan Zarrella said: "People like free stuff and you can often motivate them to do a lot for it."

If you want to make the most of the online advertising opportunities that come with social media, you should let go of your inhibitions and get involved, Olivier Blanchard of brand-building firm Greenville recently said in the Spartanburg Herald Journal.

You can follow bright angels on Twitter at twitter.com/brightangels

Source: Business Womens Cafe

Here are four key tips that should be followed to keep your cash flow flowing.

Choosing a bookkeeper is a personal decision. As well as making sure your bookkeeper has the necessary skill and expertise you need to consider if you, and your team, can get along with the bookkeeper. Always meet your potential bookkeeper in person before engaging them to do any work and use our QUICK guide to help you.

It is estimated that 9 million people this year will have their identity stolen. There are several ways to protect your identity. One simple way is by maintaining secure or strong passwords.

A strong password:

• should appear to be a random string of characters
• should be 14 characters or longer, (eight characters or longer at a minimum)
• should include a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols

To check the strength of your password, you can visit Microsoft's password checker.