The government has announced that this year's pre-budget report will be delivered on Wednesday 9 December.
Alistair Darling will make his pre-budget statement to the House of Commons at 12.30pm.
The chancellor is expected to offer details of how he plans to halve public debt over four years. Experts at accountancy firm MacIntyre Hudson predict that the government will also introduce a limit on how far businesses can carry losses forward against future tax bills to a period of six years, which it says will prevent the financial sector in particular from offsetting future healthy profits against losses made during the financial crisis.
It's also expected that the chancellor will extend for one further year the temporary measure of allowing businesses to carry back trading losses of up to £50,000 for three years, to help support struggling businesses in the here and now.
Dragons' Den judges James Caan and Deborah Meaden and social entrepreneur Karen Darby are some of the successful entrepreneurs who feature in our exclusive videos. 
Join our social media discussion group and share your Twitter username with other BusinessZone members. 
We've got lots of free books to give away; all you've got to do is review them! 
We're putting together a list of business owners' must-haves.