HM Revenue & Customs, coming to a television near you soon...

I cannot resist bringing this news to the masses. Wild horses wouldn't drag a comment from me though...

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is sponsoring a new TV series looking at turning around the fortunes of struggling small businesses.

The Business Inspector sees entrepreneur presenter Hilary Devey showing companies how to avoid the consequences of not taking reasonable care of their tax affairs.

A mini-advert for HMRC, which is co-producing the series, will appear at the start and end of the show as well as during the commercial break. This will display a link to the Business Link website (web), where advice on tax issues for small businesses can be found.

The hour-long documentary will appear on Five at 8pm on 10 March 2010 and runs for four weeks.

Business Customer Unit director Stephen Banyard said: “We know that most small businesses want to get their tax right. But we also know too that failure to take reasonable care costs the Exchequer more than £6 billion a year, with a major cause being poor record keeping.

“We hope this series will raise awareness of the need for good record keeping. We also want small businesses to realise the benefits to them – such as improved cash flow – of taking better care of their records and paperwork.”

Hilary, who appeared in the Channel 4 show The Secret Millionaire in 2008, added: “Britain’s brimming with creativity but a terrifying number of businesses go bust each year and this shouldn’t be happening.

“I’m going to teach businesses how to improve their all-round business knowledge and direction, cash flow, marketing strategy and in some cases even their enthusiasm.”