ALCOHOLICS Anonymous-style meetings have proved highly effective for a group of Bury and Bolton accountants who come together to tackle tax problems.

Tax Club meets every eight weeks at Bury-based business advisers DTE and involves members raising tax issues within the group.

Alan McCann, DTE director of tax, said: "We find this self-help format works well. We sometimes have a guest speaker and our own specialists are on hand but the discussions are largely self-generating."

He added: "A lot of accountants from sole practitioners are especially heartened to learn that they aren't the only ones who don't know everything about a particularly obscure area of VAT regulations, for example."

Up to 30 people have attended each of the free sessions, which have been running for more than a year.

Ken Aldred, of Ramsbottom-based Aldred Consultancy, said: "The main benefits I find are that Tax Club allows me to air issues and get feedback on unusual and quirky problems, the kind you wake up to at three in the morning asking yourself 'what have I been doing for the last 20 years?'

"I also enjoy listening to the problems of other baggy-eyed professionals. You realise you are not alone."

For further information, call Alan McCann on (0161) 767 1200 or, alternatively, e-mail him at amccann@dtegroup.com.