John’s Autumn Blog 2023

Dear All

Again, it has been a long time since I put pen to paper, and change continues to rule our lives. Life seems so much different from pre-covid and is so much busier, frantic, and complicated. I have always found that God is an unchanging God, He is the same yesterday, today and forever, as quoted from Hebrews. Find rest, strength and peace in Him. As I always say to people Grace is sufficient for the day.

Whatever our tasks or worries may be at the beginning of the day, pray for grace to get us through that day and do the best we can and then put it to bed.

The business and Charity world remains a challenge. We find that response from the HMRC/Charity Commission remains slow. It is not unusual to find ourselves waiting over an hour before someone answers the phone or many many months if it is a letter.  It is not good enough but little we can do.  We live in a time of high taxations as well as inflation, making it difficult for everyone to find sufficient cash to pay their bills.  Do keep in touch if you need help, that is what we are here for.

The firm continues to grow so much more since covid, which is good, but like so many other businesses, getting the right staff with the right experience, quality and attitudes remains a challenge.

God has been faithful to us and joining our firm in recent weeks has been Rob, our new Charity Accounting Senior with extensive experience in the Charity and Church accounting world and he will prove to be a very good addition to the team.

Likewise, we have had a new PA joining us, Emma, as Rebekah who has been a particular help to Vanessa over the last 12 months is going back to university to complete her PHD in legal studies. However, we are pleased to say she will remain one day a week giving Vanessa support and showing Emma “the ropes” as she takes on her role.

The two new trainees, Rachel and Jason are progressing. They hope to begin accounting studies in due course.

Dominic is progressing with his Chartered Accountancy studies and advancing with his examinations and is a right hand man on audit matters with Jacob, our Audit Manager.

On the family front one of our staff has recently become engaged and we are delighted to say that Jacob, who has been with the firm 13 years, married to Hannah, are expecting their first child in January. Wonderful news for them and their respective families.  You may recall Lydia who used to work for us and trained as a Chartered Accountant who moved onto bigger fields, Hannah is her Sister.  

You may be interested to know that I went to the wedding of Gemma’s (our Charity Manager) parents many years ago, and I played football at school with Liam’s (our payroll manager) Father! Liam has been with us for some 20 years and my PA Karin now 9 years! She certainly needs a reward for staying with me for so long. Others apart from Vanessa have not lasted the pace!

So, in God’s ways and goodness all things work out together for good, to them that love Him and follow Him.

I am grateful for the loyalty of many clients over the years, and we try to continue to give first rate service in dealing with queries and matters in the accounting and tax affairs of our clients as well as many new clients, which have come our way over the last 12-18 months.  In order to cope with this, we have had to change our systems to cope with the larger workload, and above all I have to learn the art of delegation and handing over certain aspects of work.

As I always tell you I am not going away and it is still my intention to be at the helm of the firm for a few more years, albeit I have tried to reduce my working week down to 4 days. It does not always work, but I am generally not available on a Friday. Colin or Vanessa, my co-Directors support me in the running of the firm and are always available if I am not around.

If you have any particular concerns, do not be afraid to contact one of the staff by typing in their name followed by @caladine.co.uk and hopefully Vanessa, Colin, Gemma, Antonina, Jacob, Liam, Rob, Anastassia or others will be able to help.

We are now entering into the Autumn season and the warm weather is beginning to go and the dark winter months lie ahead but our trust is always in our God who is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.

John