With many changes announced even before this Wednesday's Budget, it's worth checking through these five items in case you want to take action before the end of the month/5 April:

With 'One Month Until Christmas' trending on Twitter at the same time as 'Spending Review' the link is obvious. 

However, it's true that a few feared changes didn't occur, such as Working Tax Credits and Freelancer/Consultant Tax increases known as IR35.

Public opinion has played a strong role in the Chancellor's statement today and perhaps his announcements made at the Commons film set today can be summarised into the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

The Good - Property Owners, Savers

At last the stamp duty system has been modernised, so it doesn't distort the property market with a more logical % being charged in each band rather than on the whole property price.

Today's Autumn Statement was more of a mini Budget than usual. Presumably due to the recent pressure being applied by the opposition.

The good news for businesses is that taking on an under 21 year old won't cost you any national insurance, but only from April 2015. In the meantime, if you can't wait, you can employ anyone on up about £22k (or more than one person on lower salaries) from April 2014, and, under a previously announced measure, this won't cost you any national insurance either. Both rules will continue into April 2015, so you could arrange your workforce to cost you no national insurance at all.

It has at last been recognised that small retailers need help in competing against the Internet. Potentially, the most valuable relief is a 50% reduction in rates when re-occupying an empty property. Being able to pay rates in monthly instalments may also be helpful for some.