BRC are short, face-to-face, real time interventions which aim to encourage greater voluntary compliance in record keeping among small and medium business enterprises (SMEs). They aim to put the customer on the right record-keeping footing and so save costs the business might incur as a result of inadequate record keeping.
HMRC were carrying out Business Record Checks under their existing powers in Schedule 36, FA 2008. They had set a target to make 50,000 visits, this then dropped to 20,000 visits and after just 2,437 record checks, on the 3rd February HMRC announced that it was to postpone making any new business record check appointments until a revamped approach is launched early in the 2012/13 financial year.
So how did the checks go:
Total number of visits 2,437
61% (1,495) of businesses received a “green” rating – which in HMRC terms means they were satisfactory or better
28% (681) got an “amber” rating – meaning there were some issues
11% (261) got “red” – meaning they get follow up and if they don’t improve face fines of up to £3,000
Number of follow up visits 61 percentage improved to Green assessment 80 per cent
percentage improved to Amber assessment16 per cent percentage with no improvement 3 per cent
A key problem has been agreeing what constitutes poor record keeping
steve@bicknells.net