Seniority payments will be reduced by 15% a year until they are completely abolished in 2020, under the new GP contract deal for 2014/15.

The payments – worth an extra £8,000 per year for senior GPs – will be continued for those getting them on 31 March 2014, and will then not be given to any new entrants to the scheme from that date. Read more

This month’s column covers two areas for potential savings – changes to abatement rules, and a way to avoid a VAT liability.

After the new Premises Cost Directives emerged earlier this year, it seemed there was no limit to the amount of private work a practice could undertake. However, the Department of Health pointed out that significant private use might still lead to clawbacks. Read more

My starting point for this article is our own accountancy practice. While the services we provide are very different to a GP practice the cost structure is similar, with people being the major cost. Like us, GP practice managers looking to reduce expenditure can really divide their efforts into two distinct camps; staff costs and the rest. Francis Whitbread suggests how practices can reduce their annual expenditure

Making sure you’re paying a fair share of service charges and taking on responsibility for the routine maintenance can keep costs down, advises Bob Senior

The transfer of PCT-owned surgeries to NHS Property Services (PropCo) revealed many practices lacked formal paperwork for their NHS premises. In sorting out leases, service charges are one of the primary concerns for GP partners, particularly where a practice is not the sole occupant. Read more

One partner wants to ‘downsize’ – to stop being a partner but stay on as a salaried doctor, covering about 50% of his/her previous clinical sessions. How do you cope with the situation? AISMA member Barry Rigby joins the debate. Read more

AISMA accountant Melanie Thomas has some tips for GP partners on how to reduce the risk of fraud in the practice

Low staff morale, high workload, distracted and overstretched partners together make for a stressful environment in general practice and create the ideal conditions for a dishonest employee to defraud the practice. Anyone with access to resources can defraud the practice – from receptionists stealing petty cash to GP partners accessing the practice bank account – several instances of fraud committed by practice managers have hit the headlines recently. Read more

The dramatic rise in GP workload, brought about by the latest round of changes to the GP contract, has led to a huge number of GPs at risk of burnout. Many are heading for the exit and retiring early. Bearing in mind that a  significant number of GPs are now within a few years of their normal retirement age, the exodus in the next few years is likely to be significant. And whereas in previous years GPs may have reduced their sessions gradually over a period of time, allowing the practice to retain valuable knowledge and management experience, today more GPs are choosing to retire completely. Barry Rigby has tips on how to present your practice to job seekers.

GP practices hit by cash flow problems must avoid expensive overdrafts and instead try to build up a financial reserve, writes Bob Senior

We may be six months into the NHS organisational changes but September is unlikely to see the disarray over payments to GP practices fully resolved.

Practices that were unable to save before 1 April, perhaps because of pressure from falling profits, may find themselves in a tight spot. Read more

With the first few months of the new payroll regime behind us, now is a good time to assess the issues that have arisen and predict what lies ahead. Alan Smith provides an update on the new Real Time Information payroll regime

August heralds time away from the practice for many GPs but it also brings extra workload, CQC administration and accounts meetings, writes Bob Senior, so leave some time to get your accounts sorted. Read more