IT News in Brief - 5 February

Thomson launches CD-ROM tax guide

Thomson Tax has introduced a CD-ROM guide to help accountants identify whether their clients’ self-assessment returns are likely to be singled out for investigation by the Inland Revenue. The software draws information from the client’s accounts and measures it against trade norms used by the Revenue to identify suspicious returns. The Thomson Tax Investigations annual licence costs from #500. Sainsbury’s chooses Oracle

Sainsbury’s has emulated rival supermarket retailer Tesco in selecting the mainframe implementation of Oracle Financials to host its central accounting databases. The system will eventually rolled out to over 1,000 users in the Sainsbury’s, Savacentre and Homebase chains. Oracle was selected ahead of bids from PeopleSoft, Geac and QSP. E-mail users ambivalent

A survey by Hays Accountancy Personnel last month revealed that although 94% of accountants overwhelmingly believe that e-mail improves communications between colleagues, nearly 60% felt that it is used unnecessarily when it would be simpler to have a conversation. A similar percentage also thought that e-mail was used to avoid direct confrontations. CIMA’s new address

The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants has overhauled its Web site with the assistance of Bristol-based on line specialists Sift. The site can be found at http://www.cima.org.uk. Internet tax information

The annual tx and National Insurance information pack for employers will be published on the Internet from next month, the government revealed this week. The Inland Revenue and Contributions Agency produce the guidance jointly and will operate a telephone Orderline service for forms and advice on 0345 646 646 between 2 February and 25 July. The Web address is http://www.open.gov.uk/jw/jw.htm