Don't tell the joke police

The Colin cartoon strip by Higgins in Accountancy Age today has a good/bad joke (depending upon your point of view). In essence:

So, if you were going to pull a carousel fraud, you'd start a company importing tribal art and keep-fit equipment. Why?

Well tribal art is a growth market and keep-fit ket sells all year round.

And what would you call such a business?

How about "Customs and Exercise"?!


You can access Colin cartoons on the Accountancy Age blog.

3 greatest lies (well, one version of the joke anyway)

The 3 greatest lies:

1. The cheque is in the post;
2. Of course I'll still love you in the morning;
3. I'm an accountant, I'm here to help you.

All too common?

A businessman has been learning to be a balloonist and takes his first solo flight. Unfortunately the wind gets up, he is blown off course and is forced to land. He is in a paddock close to a road but has no idea where he is. He sees a car coming along the road and hails it.

The driver gets out and the balloonist says, "Excuse me but can you tell me where I am?"

"Yes, of course", says the motorist. "You have just landed in your balloon and with this wind you have obviously been blown off course. You are in the top paddock on Steve Pringle's farm, 8 miles from Stonehenge. Steve ploughed the field last week and sowed barley seeds. Also, there's a bull in the paddock. It is behind you and about to attack you."

At that moment the bull reaches the balloonist and tosses him over the fence. Luckily he is unhurt. He gets up, dusts himself off and says to the motorist, "I see you're an accountant".

"Good Grief", says the other man, "you're right. How did you know that?"

"I employ accountants", says the balloonist. "The information you gave me was detailed, precise and accurate. Most of it was useless and it arrived far too late to be of any help."

We don't pay staff the National Minimum Wage (NMW)

HMRC recently published a top 10 of some of the more unusual or outlandish reasons given to its enforcement teams. 

The top ten worst excuses for not paying the minimum wage are: 

10. I only took him on as a favour 

9. The workers can't speak English 

8. He's over 65, so the national minimum wage doesn't apply 

7. She's on benefits - if you add those to her pay, it totals the NMW 

6. They can't cope on their own and it's more than they would get in their own country 

5. He's disabled 

4. I didn't think it applied to small employers 

3. I didn't think the workers were worth NMW 

2. But she only wanted £3 an hour 

1. He doesn't deserve it - he's a total waste of space