Author: Practicenet

BANKS in this country have become more profitable since the financial crash. At the same time, other EU banks have seen their level of profits decline, a new paper from an economist based in the Central Bank has found. Banks here are gaining from the low cost of funds, and from the fact they have […]

Q: I am at an advanced stage of business planning for a new food product and all the indicators are that it will be successful. My projections show I will be doing several million in turnover in the third year, however my bank has been highly critical saying my projections are over-ambitious and not based […]

Ecommerce has exploded in China – on current trends half of all of the world’s online transactions will take place in the economic power house this year. Local Chinese tech champions such as Alibaba, Tencent and JD.com dominate a rapidly-growing ecommerce ecosystem, mostly within China, according to a paper from the World Economic Forum (WEF). […]

In five days, ‘Black Friday’ will occur. You’ll see and hear lots of ads appearing about this. Sadly, it’s a time of the year when retailers spoof a lot about price cuts with no consequence from any regulatory body. Discounts are exaggerated and recommended retail prices – ‘RRP’ – are quoted that have not been […]

Irish consumer spending is set to reach a record €105bn this year, surpassing the boomtime peak set in 2007, according to a new report. The Home Renovation Incentive (HRI), a tax relief for home improvements, is fuelling strong growth in people’s spending on their homes, according to the latest Consumer Market Monitor from the Marketing […]

One of Ireland’s top accounting representative groups has lashed out at Revenue’s review of the flat-rate expenses scheme, saying 500,000 could ultimately be affected and that some individuals could lose out on gains from the Budget. Brian Keegan, director of public policy and taxation at Chartered Accountants Ireland (CAI), said changes to the scheme coming […]

A growing cryptocurrency ecosystem and availability of tech talent is attracting blockchain leaders, and their companies, to Ireland. Digital currency exchange Coinbase has most recently helped to expand the crypto economy here, opening an office in Dublin just last month. At the time, the firm’s UK CEO Zeeshan Feroz said that Dublin, with its diverse […]

Once you have users for your online product, how do you sell to them? This an important question. I often speak to aspiring founders about their ideas and the first question I always end up asking is: “Who will give you money and why?” The need to ask this question is a remarkably frequent occurrence. […]

One in five employers are considering moving outside of Dublin due to rising costs, according to the latest ‘Quarterly Employment Market Monitor’ from Cpl Resources. This comes on the back of new figures from the Central Statistics Office showing that property prices continue to rise. While the median, or middle, price for a property nationwide […]