In this month’s roundup of developments in accounting and financial reporting, Companies House six-year data wipe plan shelved, FDs hit with £5,000 senior accounting officer compliance fines, former RSA CFO censured over financial statements
Finance directors hit with £5k SAO compliance fines
A record number of finance directors at the UK’s largest businesses faced fines of £5,000 for failures in tax accounting last year, according to analysis by law firm Pinsent Masons, which says HMRC is getting tougher on any failures to comply with the senior accounting officer (SAO) regime.
HMRC levied 181 fines last year for failures to maintain appropriate tax accounting arrangements or to disclose any deficiencies identified, a 17% rise compared with 155 penalties issued the previous year. HMRC initially adopted a ‘light touch’ approach and in the first year of operation only 46 fixed penalties were handed out in 2012/13.
The SAO regime was first introduced in 2009 and requires qualifying companies to designate an individual director or officer, typically the chief financial officer (CFO) or other similar senior executive, to act as senior accounting officer and take full responsibility for the company’s tax accounting arrangements.
