TS - along with the rest of the accounting profession - was distressed to hear of the beating suffered by accountant John Stewart from his client John Cowie.

The event, precipitated by fines from Companies House, was a matter to be considered seriously, especially as the court let Cowie off without punishment.

So imagine our surprise when an email from the ubiquitous MD of tax software company Digita, Jerry Rihll, used the whole event as a sales plug.

'We believe that Digita software is capable of protecting a practitioner's health as well as his pocket!,' Rihll jokes, somewhat cheerily in a press release.

'Using the latest version of (Digita's) company secretarial solution might have avoided a very unfortunate situation,' Digita claims.

Rumours that the software also protects against burglars, traffic wardens and bird flu cannot be confirmed by TS. Poor taste indeed.