Adrian's Blog

No Desks. No Script. No Idea What Was Coming.

We took the tables out of the room. That was the first clue our latest CBSL Onyx morning wasn’t going to be a normal one. No desks. No slides. No rows to hide behind - just a circle of chairs and a room full of company directors wondering what they’d signed up for.

Leadership Through Values

One Dilemma. Four Sets of Values. Four Very Different Businesses.

By Adrian Barker, Chair of CBSL Onyx

Who’s Your Money on for the Next Chancellor? And Why It Barely Matters.

Technically, as a Chartered Accountant rather than a Turf Accountant, I may not be qualified to ask the following questions, but let’s run with it anyway!

What Are You Really Charging For?

I do a lot of work with professional firms who charge by the hour. Solicitors, Architects and even the occasional Accountancy firm. A lot of my thinking comes from that experience, but also David Maister who wrote about managing the professional service firm, and Ron Baker, who wrote about Value Pricing.

My copies are over 20 years old, well thumbed, yellowed with age.

Potential changes taking place for landlords in the 2026/27 tax year

From 6 April 2026 Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax has been introduced, if you receive rental income, you may be impacted by this and have to change the ways that you declare your income to HMRC.
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What are the changes?

Approved mileage rates increase

On 21^st May the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, announced an increase in the approved mileage rates.

The Country Doesn’t Have a Plan. Does Your Business?

What Tony Blair’s intervention tells us about leadership, strategy, and why both matter more than ever.
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About 25 years ago, in reference to strategic planning for businesses, I heard the phrase “Structure follows Strategy.”

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Previous Blogs

Adrian's Blog

No Desks. No Script. No Idea What Was Coming.

Leadership Through Values

Who’s Your Money on for the Next Chancellor? And Why It Barely Matters.

What Are You Really Charging For?

Potential changes taking place for landlords in the 2026/27 tax year

Approved mileage rates increase

The Country Doesn’t Have a Plan. Does Your Business?

Three Hours, Brown Paper, and some Sharpies

What it actually takes to build a ten-year strategic plan