Families' back to school purchases ‘could end up in lost property within weeks'
Some 43% of parents surveyed said their child tends to lose an item within six weeks of a new school year, according to cashback and rewards website Rakuten.
Tech items (average cost £47.68), school shoes (£43.44), and school blazers (£38.50) topped the list of items that parents said are the most costly to replace.
PE kits, dresses, skirts, trousers, jumpers, shirts, shorts and ties were also among the list of items that parents said had vanished.
Lunchboxes, pencil cases, stationary and water bottles were also among the items to disappear.
On average, parents estimated they spend £131 per child on back-to-school shopping at the start of the academic year.
Lost items are not the only reason for additional spending, as nearly two-thirds (63%) of parents have faced replacing ruined or damaged items.
More than half (53%) of parents have replaced school shoes within the school year because their child outgrew them.
More than a third (37%) of parents have even had to replace school shoes more than once within a single school year.
Nearly two-fifths (39%) of parents said they have felt frustrated at replacing school items.
Nearly half (48%) of parents label school essentials and the same percentage (48%) said they remind their child almost daily to look after their belongings.
Rakuten commissioned Opinium to survey 2,000 people across the UK in July for the research.
Bola Sol, a savings expert at Rakuten said: 'Back to school season can feel like deja vu for parents, buying new shoes, jumpers or water bottles only for them to vanish in the first few weeks of the new term. It adds up fast.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
25 minutes ago
- New York Times
Independent English football regulator fast-tracked for November start by UK government
The Labour Party is fast-tracking secondary legislation to ensure the powers of the new independent football regulator (IFR) will be switched on by November 1. The move, led by Lisa Nandy — the UK's Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport — will increase pressure on under-fire owners such as Sheffield Wednesday's Dejphon Chansiri to sell the club before the regulator becomes legally established. Advertisement Under a new bill, owners can be stripped of their right to run clubs and the IFR can sanction takeovers at a price of their choice. Though the authority is yet to form a board to work with chair David Kogan and has distance to cover before it becomes fully operational and able to work with clubs so they can understand new requirements, progress has been made with the recruitment of a CEO. Richard Monks, who spent 18 years at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), is close to being announced and will begin in the role shortly. A spokesperson for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) would not confirm Monks' hire but explained that economic distress at Wednesday, as well as Morecambe, who are suspended from the fifth-tier National League following their relegation from League Two last season, has increased the pace at which the government has been working through the law since July 21, when the Football Governance Act was passed. 'The ongoing challenges at Morecambe, Sheffield Wednesday and many other clubs before them show exactly why the Football Governance Act was needed and why we acted to push the legislation forward in the face of opposition,' the spokesperson said. 'The launch of the IFR is a priority. We recognise the need to move forward as quickly as possible whether that be implementing the required secondary legislation or appointing the regulator's board.' Labour's sports minister, Stephanie Peacock met with Morecambe fans last week and is in touch with Wednesday supporters to set up a discussion. Meanwhile, DCMS suggests engagement with Morecambe and Sheffield members of parliament is ongoing. () Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
Forbes
25 minutes ago
- Forbes
How CFOs Can Navigate Stricter Transfer Pricing Tax Enforcement
CFOs are all in on AI. According to new research from Salesforce, only 4% of CFOs surveyed say they have a conservative approach to the technology—a precipitous drop from the 70% who were careful about it in 2020, and the 34% who were slowly approaching it in 2023. According to Salesforce, nearly four out of five CFOs are leveraging AI to inform business decisions. Across industries and throughout enterprises, CFOs are realizing the power AI can give them to more quickly and efficiently analyze, prepare and streamline work tasks. In a discussion of the survey results last week, Salesforce Chief Operating and Financial Officer Robin Washington said that AI is more than just technology. 'I always think about people, process and technology,' Washington said. 'AI revolution is all of those things. It's cultural, it's operational, it's organizational. And when you think about AI agents, my boss always says we're probably the last set of managers to just manage humans. We're going to have AI autonomously working side by side, helping us make decisions, being part of our decision-making teams in ways that are going to transform our businesses for the positive.' The survey found that CFOs are, on average, dedicating a quarter of their AI budgets to agents. About three-quarters say they feel AI agents, performing more mundane tasks and providing digital labor, will both cut costs and drive revenue. The top tasks they're delegating to AI agents include risk assessments, financial forecasting and expense management. PayPal Chief Finance and Operations Officer Jamie Miller joined Washington at Salesforce's virtual event last week to discuss the survey results and how they apply to the CFO's role. She said she sees the AI revolution being all about velocity and productivity—being able to do more things faster, with the same number of people. Finance jobs, she said, have traditionally been an 80-20 split: 80% of time is spent manipulating data, and 20% doing insightful analysis. 'AI is going to be the thing that can finally really help flip that to be 80-20 the other direction: More time really having an impact and really leaning into the business in ways that can drive important change,' Miller said. One area where the finance department of multinational companies should pay closer attention is transfer pricing—the method used to set prices of international goods and services —for taxation purposes. President Donald Trump has indicated this might be an area that sees more enforcement, though the number of people to enforce it at the IRS is diminished. I talked to Mimi Song, a transfer pricing expert and COO of financial software company Exactera, about what to do. An excerpt from our conversation is later in this newsletter. This is the published version of Forbes' CFO newsletter, which offers the latest news for chief finance officers and other leaders focused on the budget. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox every Tuesday. ECONOMIC INDICATORS A shopper looks at a dairy case at a Brooklyn, New York grocery prices rose less than expected last month—2.7%, as opposed to the expected 2.8%—buoying the stock market and igniting more hope that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates at their next policymaking meeting in September. Core consumer prices—without the volatile food and energy categories—were up 3.1% year-over-year. The slight increase is still above the Federal Reserve's 2% inflation target rate, but a slower-than-expected job report last month could be a formula for rate cuts. After opting not to cut interest rates last month, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said that the U.S. economy was in a 'solid position,' but the economic effects of tariffs are yet to be seen. Many of President Trump's new tariffs went into effect last week, though there are still some ongoing negotiations and new agreements coming forward. This week, Trump paused the previously enacted 145% tariffs on Chinese goods for 90 days, until Nov. 9, presumably to allow for additional negotiations. Outside of national tariffs, U.S. AI chip makers Nvidia and AMD agreed to pay 15% of all revenues from Chinese sales to the federal government. A Financial Times report indicated this deal was a necessary condition for the Chinese export licenses granted to the companies. TAXES Former IRS Commissioner Billy Long at his Senate confirmation hearing in IRS now has another new leader, as President Donald Trump's Senate-confirmed choice Billy Long was pushed out late last week, writes Forbes' Kelly Phillips Erb. The tax agency's temporary new leader is Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who is the seventh person to lead the tax agency this year. A new IRS commissioner nominee has not yet been named, and Long is expected to be nominated as an ambassador. Long, a former Missouri congressman who spent his pre-government career as an auctioneer, was sworn in as IRS commissioner on June 16 after being confirmed on a 53-44 party-line vote. He does not have a college degree or formal tax, finance or accounting training. He did not serve on any tax or finance committees while serving in Congress, though during the 12 years he was in office, he sponsored and co-sponsored legislation to eliminate the tax code, institute a flat tax, abolish the IRS, repeal the estate tax and enact a national sales tax. He is a strong Trump ally and worked as a consultant to help companies get tax credits after leaving Congress. The reasons behind Long's hasty removal aren't clear. Erb writes that he told a crowd at the 2025 Tax Summit of the National Association of Enrolled Agents last month that the 2026 tax filing season wouldn't start in January, but would begin in mid-February, close to Presidents Day, because the agency needs more time. Other outlets reported Long refused to provide the Department of Homeland Security with information about specific undocumented immigrants who paid federal taxes through individual taxpayer identification numbers. A Washington Post report citing people familiar with the decision said Long previously told Homeland Security executives that his agency wouldn't provide confidential taxpayer information outside of a pre-existing agreement. RETIREMENT + BENEFITSPresident Trump signed an executive order last week that opens the door for 401(k) providers to add private equity investments to their offerings. Forbes ' Hank Tucker writes that private equity has been off limits for plan providers because they feared they could face lawsuits for investing in these alternative assets. Trump's executive order asks Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer to review and consider rescinding Biden Administration guidance that seemed to discourage private assets in 401(k)s, also covering other alternative assets, including real estate and cryptocurrency. Chavez-DeRemer was given 180 days to clarify the guidance, but has already shown which way she is likely to rule. 'The federal government should not be making retirement investment decisions for hardworking Americans, including decisions regarding alternative assets,' she said in a statement shortly after the executive order was signed, adding that the order supports efforts to 'eliminate unfair one-size-fits-all approaches' to retirement investing. Private equity funds are excited about the prospects of the 401(k) market, but some analysts are asking for caution—especially because illiquid assets will be difficult to blend with traditional liquid target date funds. Marc Pinto, global head of private credit at Moody's, told Tucker he cautions that 'if these new investments don't live up to their promise, asset managers could face lawsuits and regulatory heat.' OFF THE LEDGER How To Work Through Changes In Transfer Pricing Enforcement With A Smaller IRS Exactera COO Mimi Song. Exactera, Getty The IRS has cut more than a quarter of its workforce since President Trump took office. Still, the administration is also eyeing more enforcement of transfer pricing rules—the way multinational companies set costs for goods and services in other countries for taxation. I spoke with Mimi Song, COO of tax software company Exactera, about what all of this means for the finance department, and what CFOs should do to prepare. This conversation has been edited for length, clarity and continuity. From what you have seen and heard, is the current administration looking at transfer pricing audits any differently than the previous one? Song: Everybody's talking about the GLAM that came out, which is a generic legal advice memorandum, where it is very clear that there is a lot of scrutiny as it relates to related party transactions, and this notion of giving a lot of authority back to the IRS to apply periodic adjustments. You can tell based on that issuance that there is a lot more scrutiny, and asserting the right to apply these periodic adjustments. That statute or that regulation always exists and they had that level of power, but now it's putting that out onto the table to explicitly give everybody the perspective of, 'Hey, we're actually going to exert this authority.' The large budgetary and personnel cuts at the IRS have reduced the staffing to do transfer pricing audits. Presumably, CFOs and finance teams were already holding onto records for as many years as they were within the audit statute of limitations. Should they be doing anything differently now than two years ago? Presumably they were keeping books and records. However, many companies don't always document a business rationale for the decisions that are being made, and they may not be keeping the records organized to make it audit-ready for transfer pricing purposes. What you tend to find is that getting the information or isolating it to the inter-company transactions is not always as easy as applying a filter in an Excel spreadsheet. It is an important exercise to make sure that you're able to isolate those intercompany transactions and invoices, or treating them as if they are unrelated parties so that you have sufficient documentation to prove arm's-length dealings at the end of the day. There needs to be a lot more rigor, especially in times where people feel like there may not be as much attention to this area. Remember, the statute of limitation is seven years. Your number can be called within a very broad time span. Companies who haven't been under audit may not fully appreciate the level of detail and complexity that an audit can create. Finding that information seven years later when the audit is happening is so difficult. People don't stay at companies for that length of time, at least not in this generation. Institutional knowledge, all of that gets lost in the mix if you don't have the right level of documentation in place, or the story fleshed out within the documentation, the analysis of the data, and the work papers to support that. What advice would you give CFOs and finance teams dealing with transfer pricing documentation now? The documentation is more important than you think. It is such an interesting dynamic because a lot of people might have considered transfer pricing [like] a piece of insurance because you don't have to file it right away although it's supposed to be contemporaneous. Going through the exercise of a transfer pricing analysis tells you so much about the business in and of itself. That document, that story, it's more than just protection against audit risk. It really is an internal risk assessment for you to truly appreciate how the intercompany policies are, whether or not they can withstand scrutiny and does it make sense. It gives you an opportunity to understand that business, and then compare it to other competitors in the market, or similar companies. It gives you a lot of insight, so I do think it shouldn't be underplayed. We have tariffs that are applied now on a country-by-country basis, which could impact the profitability of companies. We're going to see more volatility as it relates to the results of comparable companies. And so benchmarking exercises are important: understanding where you fall out, where things are shaking out, how the market is reacting. All of that is very important to think about over the next few years. COMINGS + GOINGS Biotech and science conglomerate the Danaher Corporation promoted Matthew Gugino as its next chief financial officer, effective February 28, 2026. Gugino joined the firm in 2013 and is currently group chief financial officer of the company's Life Sciences Innovations Group as well as vice president of Financial Planning & Analysis. He will succeed Matthew McGrew, who is transitioning to an executive vice president role. promoted as its next chief financial officer, effective February 28, 2026. Gugino joined the firm in 2013 and is currently group chief financial officer of the company's Life Sciences Innovations Group as well as vice president of Financial Planning & Analysis. He will succeed Matthew McGrew, who is transitioning to an executive vice president role. Enterprise communications provider RingCentral appointed Vaibhav Agarwal as its new chief financial officer, effective August 5. Agarwal has been with the company since 2016, and he succeeds Abhey Lamba, who will continue to serve as an executive advisor through the end of the year. appointed as its new chief financial officer, effective August 5. Agarwal has been with the company since 2016, and he succeeds Abhey Lamba, who will continue to serve as an executive advisor through the end of the year. Online dating firm Bumble hired Kevin D. Cook to be its new chief financial officer, effective August 12. Cook most recently worked as chief financial officer at Cloudera, and he succeeds Ronald J. Fior. STRATEGIES + ADVICE Leaders can show their companies who they are through impassioned talks at town hall meetings—or by taking actions that impact employees. As AI becomes central to how finance departments operate, a thoughtful tech transition can prove your leadership style. Being a leader means sometimes having difficult conversations. There is a way to use technology to practice them: Get an AI avatar to talk to. Here are some platforms designed for that kind of exercise. QUIZ Which retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week? A. Spencer's B. Gap C. Claire's D. Eddie Bauer See if you got the right answer here.
Forbes
25 minutes ago
- Forbes
Can The UK Finally Stop Late Payers? And How Do SMEs Help Themselves?
They are the scourge of small businesses worldwide. Customers who pay their bills late cause entrepreneurs huge stress as cash flow issues mount up, opportunities to expand get missed and relationships sour. In the worst cases, late payment problems have led businesses to go under – and small businesses, often at the mercy of larger customers, are particularly vulnerable. It's something of an international epidemic. In the US, recent research from Creditsafe found more than eight in 10 businesses were struggling with at least 30% of their monthly invoiced sales overdue. In the European Union, almost half of all small businesses suffer significant problems with late payments according to the EU Payment Observatory. Late payments cost the UK economy £11 billion a year ($14.9 billion), says London Economics. The UK Government is so worried about this problem that its just announced a series of new measures aimed at helping small businesses to fight back. Ministers describe their proposals as 'the toughest laws on late payments in the G7'. The idea is to give stronger powers to the UK's Small Business Commissioner, set up in 2017 to help small firms resolve disputes with large organisations, but often criticised as lacking teeth. Government reforms will see the Commissioner given new powers to issue fines, with ministers promising these could total millions of pounds for large businesses that persistently pay their suppliers late. The Commissioner will also be asked to carry out spot checks on large businesses and to enforce a 30-day invoice verification period to speed up resolutions to disputes. Another key element of the reforms will see the UK's maximum payment terms – currently 60 days – reduced to 45 days. Meanwhile, the audit committees of large listed companies in the UK will be handed a new legal duty to scrutinise the payment practices of their businesses, with the aim of ensuring fewer companies transgress in the first place. 'I want the UK to be the best place in the world to start a business, grow and succeed,' says small business minister Gareth Thomas. 'Too many small firms go under each year because they are not paid on time – that is completely unacceptable.' Will the crackdown work? The proposals have had a positive reaction. Alan Vallance, chief executive of the ICAEW, the accounting trade body, thinks they could make a difference, particularly if more small businesses are prepared to actively engage with the Small Business Commissioners. 'Small businesses are the backbone of the UK economy, making up 99% of all businesses, employing two-fifths of the private sector workforce and generating more than half of the UK's business turnover,' says Vallance. 'It is vital they can operate in an environment that helps them grow and thrive.' Tina McKenzie, policy chair of the Federation of Small Businesses, adds: 'This is bold and ambitious – it's an encouraging commitment from the government to take the side of small businesses.' Others are more sceptical, however. Critics of the proposals point out that small businesses are often reluctant to make a fuss about late payments for fear of missing out on future business from key suppliers. Often, they feel they have no choice but to accept extended payment terms that hit them just as hard as customers on standard terms who pay late. Previous efforts to hold large companies to account publicly have also come up short, with a new code of best practice introduced earlier this year to replace a previous standard that was widely seen as under-performing. For this reason, accountants continue to encourage all small businesses to remain disciplined about they manage invoicing, payments and debt collection. Here are their 10 top tips for heading off a late payments crisis before it cause real damage to the business: 1. Get to know your customers Running credit checks on new customers could help your business identify likely late- (or non-) payers. That will save valuable time and money in the future. It's now possible to run quick and inexpensive checks online. 2. Be crystal clear about payment terms Make sure your payment terms are stated clearly on every invoice you send out and keep them consistent. It's also worth outlining the terms verbally to new customers. 3. Avoid old-fashioned forms of payment Encourage customers to pay using cash, electronic transfer or direct debit. 4. Invest in credit control teams If your business can afford to hire credit control staff, they may soon pay for themselves. But train staff in the right way; they need to be firm but polite. 5. Talk to customers When your business sends out an unusually large invoice, it may be worthwhile calling the customer to make sure it has been received and there is no query. 6. Start chasing right away Don't delay in chasing a late payment: get in touch as soon it falls due. The longer you waits to contacts the customer, the further down the queue your invoice is likely to drop. 7. Claim interest and compensation In many countries, small businesses paid late have a statutory right to claim interest on late payments at set interest rates. They may also be able to claim compensation for debt recovery costs. Check your rights and warning customers about these costs, as this may encourage payment. 8. Be prepared to be flexible On large outstanding amounts, you may be prepared to offer flexible payment terms. This might mean the customer pays in regular installments, say, or splits the bill into two manageable chunks. The key is to maximise your chances of payment. 9. Don't let the problem escalate When a customer fails to pay for goods or services, stop supplying it immediately, rather than adding to its debt through further sales. 10. Use a debt management specialist As a last resort, small businesses have the option of employing a debt recovery agency. Agencies will often work on a 'no recovery, no fee' basis, though this can prove expensive.
