The National Audit Office (NAO) has criticised HMRC’s failure to reduce ‘material’ levels of error and fraud in tax credit payments, and has qualified its opinion of the department’s accounts on that basis, as it has done every year since tax credits were introduced in 2003/04

More than £4bn has been collected through accelerated payment notices (APNs) under the ‘pay now, dispute later’ rules for people who have used a tax avoidance scheme, according to HMRC

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has issued a revision of ISA (UK) 250 Section A—Consideration of laws and regulations in an audit of financial statements, and conforming amendments to other ISAs (UK), in response to changes made to the International Code of Ethics issued by the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA)

The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and CIPFA have launched a public sector financial accountability index to provide an overview of public sector financial reporting quality on a global basis

The European Commission has published its annual taxation trends report showing that tax revenues across the EU’s member states stabilised in 2015 at 38.7% of GDP with the EU having one of the highest tax levels compared to other advanced economies

An interim report from the EU high level expert group on sustainable finance has highlighted the need to prioritise the integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into financial decision making and backed a shift to integrated reporting