Business &amp; Accountancy Daily

Leadership & Management

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Tax | Public beneficial ownership registers mandatory in overseas territories

Certain British overseas territories, including the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands (BVI), are to be required to maintain publicly available registers of the beneficial ownership of companies, as part of new legislation to encourage greater transparency about financial dealings

2 May 2018

Tax | Apple’s dividends rise 16% from Trump tax reforms

US tech giant Apple has taken advantage of President Trump’s tax reforms by onshoring profits and increased dividend payments by 16% in its latest quarterly figures ending 31 March

2 May 2018

Finance | PRAG guidance highlights going concern for pension schemes

The Pensions Research Accountants Group (PRAG) has published guidance to assist trustees and auditors in developing a practical and proportionate response to dealing with the issues of going concern when auditing pension scheme financial statements

2 May 2018

Finance | Korean regulator investigates Samsung BioLogics accounting

Samsung BioLogics has become embroiled in a war of words with the Korean regulator the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) after claims the multinational employed fraudulent methods in accounting for a subsidiary, Samsung Bioepis, which saw $6bn (£4.3bn) wiped from the ’s pharmaceutical company’s value

2 May 2018

Business | Deloitte appoints managing partner for regional markets

Deloitte has named Pauline Biddle as the new managing partner for its regional markets, with responsibility for leading all of the firm’s regional practice senior partners outside of London, in succession to Richard Bell, who is now head of financial advisory

2 May 2018

Careers

Leadership & Management

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Business | Bus company’s pensions failure impacts transport licence

A regional bus operator which was the first company to be prosecuted by the Pensions Regulator (TPR) for failing to comply with the law on workplace pensions has had its transport licence cut from 40 to 31 vehicles indefinitely as a result

2 May 2018

Pensions

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Tax | Call to scrap IHT for ‘lifetime receipts tax’

Inheritance tax (IHT) should be scrapped and replaced with a new ‘lifetime receipts tax’ of £125,000 per person coupled with a much lower rate, to smooth out intergenerational financial imbalances, according to analysis from the Resolution Foundation

2 May 2018

1 May 2018

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Business | BAME firm survey 2018: ethnic diversity stalls at the top firms

In Accountancy's second BAME Survey ethnic diversity at the top 10 accounting firms has stalled, showing very little growth over the past two years. Amy Austin examines why progress is so slow and why certain groups are shunning the profession altogether

1 May 2018

Leadership & Management

Image for panasonic hit 143m penalty over bribery and fraud charges

Finance | Panasonic hit with $143m penalty over bribery and fraud charges

Japan-based multinational Panasonic is to pay more than $143m (£103m) to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to resolve bribery charges under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and accounting fraud violations involving its global avionics business

1 May 2018

Finance | Charity under investigation over ‘unexplained expenditure’

The Charity Commission has opened a statutory inquiry into Croydon Tabernacle after examining the charity’s financial information and identifying cause for serious regulatory concern about ‘substantial’ unexplained expenditure

1 May 2018

Charities

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Tax | Treasury to add safeguards to digital cheque clearance

The Treasury is to go ahead with secondary legislation to support the use of the image clearing system (ICS) for cheques by banks and building societies, which will provide safeguards for users after October 2018, when all cheques are cleared by this method

1 May 2018

Tax | HMRC to delay more digital services for individuals

HMRC has acknowledged that its digital transformation programme has not ‘all been smooth sailing’ and says the need to refocus priorities to meet the demands of Brexit mean it will delay plans to introduce more digital services for individuals

1 May 2018

Tax | HMRC guidance on tax avoidance enablers legislation

HMRC has published guidance on the definitions that make an individual an enabler of tax avoidance under legislation introduced in the Finance (No.2) Act 2017, together with details of the key concepts and penalties

1 May 2018

Tax | OECD workers pay 25% tax on wages

Workers in OECD countries paid just over a quarter (25.5%) of their gross wages in tax on average in 2017, with just over half of countries seeing small increases in the personal average tax rate, according to OECD research

1 May 2018

Business | US court finds ex-CFO of Autonomy guilty of fraud

The former chief financial officer (CFO) of British software firm Autonomy has been convicted of fraud by a US court in the first of a series of legal actions relating to claims that the company’s earnings had been falsely inflated when it was bought by US computer giant Hewlett-Packard (HP) for over $11bn in 2011

1 May 2018

Tax | Consultations: May - Jun 2018

A roundup of current consultations from HMRC, including extension of offshore time limits, allowing entrepreneurs’ relief on gains made before dilution, VAT registration threshold

1 May 2018

HMRC

Consultations

Finance | Legal updates: May 2018

In this month's legal updates, experts at law firm Gateley plc consider the government’s response to the call for evidence on the new beneficial ownership register, procedures to stop bribery failed to meet requirements

1 May 2018

Finance

Law and Regulation

Finance | Accounting updates: May 2018

In this month’s roundup of developments in accounting and financial reporting, Air Partner forced to deal with £3.3m accounting error, IASB refreshes Conceptual Framework for IFRS users, US GAAP rules on revenue recognition hit GE profits

1 May 2018

Tax | Tax updates: May 2018

This month's review of tax cases and tax news including late filing penalty appeals thrown out, Goldfinger confidant loses, payment made by LLP member not deductible in Vaines

1 May 2018

Case Reports

Business | Development updates: May 2018

In the latest career development updates, consulting revenue hits £3bn at the Big Four, Carillion pay policy slammed as ‘greed on stilts’ by MPs, fair trial not possible after discussion of the case

1 May 2018

Finance | Audit updates: May 2018

In our monthly roundup of developments in audit and governance, FRC plans £1m fund to monitor audit firms, mid-tier firms stalled by audit rotation rules, regulator rejects claims of ‘internal cultural problems’

1 May 2018

Auditing

Corporate Governance

Tax | VAT updates: May 2018

Graham Elliott, VAT expert at City & Cambridge Consultancy argues that VAT reform is essential as there is no point defending the indefensible plus, cost sharing exemption, split payments on online platforms

1 May 2018

VAT

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Tax | Tax filing deadlines: May - Jul 2018

The key HMRC filing deadlines from May to July including online CIS returns, inheritance tax due on lifetime transfers, PAYE cheque payments

1 May 2018

Tax | Employment tax updates: May 2018

Jackie Hall ACA CTA, partner at RSM on benefits in kind reporting revised, childcare voucher scheme extended, consultation on employment status

1 May 2018

Employment Tax

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Tax | Sanlam UK launches inheritance tax planning service

Wealth management company Sanlam UK has launched an inheritance tax (IHT) service, based on investments in the AIM market with tax planning as part of the offer

1 May 2018

30 Apr 2018

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Finance | International reporting: disclosures and the paradigm of less is more

Jeroen Van Doorsselaere, vice president of risk and finance at Wolters Kluwer, on effective IFRS disclosure and the example of less is more for investors

30 Apr 2018

Finance

Financial Reporting

IFRS

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Tax | Hubbard: IR35 rulings are more complicated than first appears

A recent decision at a tax tribunal appeal shows that IR35 rulings are not just one-way traffic and each contract needs to be looked at separately, explains Andrew Hubbard, consultant and tax partner at RSM

30 Apr 2018

Tax | OTS seeks views on IHT simplifications

The Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) is seeking views from those with personal experience of inheritance tax (IHT) to inform its simplification review, which will focus on the ease or complexity of the legislative rules and the processes that have to be followed

30 Apr 2018

Finance | Crackdown on Scottish limited partnerships planned

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has signalled plans to crackdown on the abuse of Scottish limited partnerships (SLPs) as a way of laundering dirty foreign money through the UK, after research suggested one such scheme had been used to channel $80bn (£58bn) out of Russia

30 Apr 2018

Tax | Overseas territories face compulsory public ownership register

The UK government will tomorrow debate on changes to the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Bill which if passed will force overseas territories such as Bermuda and Cayman Islands to put in place public registers of beneficial ownership

30 Apr 2018

Business | SRA reports drop in breaches of client money rules

Law firms are improving their approach to handling client money, as the number of qualified accountant’s reports relating to breaches submitted to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) fell by 28% last year, according to analysis by Hazlewoods

30 Apr 2018

Image for hmrc launches investigation lycamobile email leak

Tax | HMRC launches investigation into Lycamobile email leak

Chief executive of HMRC, Jon Thompson, has refuted claims that the tax authority refused to investigate Lycamobile over money laundering and tax fraud claims due to its Tory donations but rather that there was insufficient information to meet the criteria for a UK search warrant

30 Apr 2018

Finance | Charity Commission issues guidance pack for novice trustees

The Charity Commission has created a welcome pack for the more than 100,000 charity trustees who take up positions each year, focusing on the main duties of the role and governance responsibilities

30 Apr 2018

Finance | PwC hands over 109-year audit client to KPMG

Carr’s has signalled the end of a 109-year relationship with auditor PwC, after the agriculture and engineering group announced it is to appoint KPMG as its auditor for the financial year ending 31 August 2019

30 Apr 2018

Auditing

Corporate Governance

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Business | EU/UK working group to assess risk to financial services

The EU and UK are to set up a formal means of cooperating on risk management in financial services in the run up to May next year, when Brexit officially takes place

30 Apr 2018

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Business | 43% of UK businesses report cyber breaches

More than four in 10 UK businesses have suffered a cyber breach or attack in the past 12 months, according to research by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DDCMS), which is urging companies to take action ahead of the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) next month

30 Apr 2018

Tax | Number of corporation tax planning schemes falls by 42%

There has been a 42% drop in the number of businesses using corporation tax planning over the past twelve months, and an 88% reduction over four years, according to analysis by UHY Hacker Young, which suggests the fall undermines HMRC’s call for wider powers to tackle tax avoidance

30 Apr 2018

Business Tax

Tax Planning

Business | Corporate insolvencies up 13%

The number of companies becoming insolvent hit a four-year high in the first three months of 2018, according to figures for England and Wales published by the Insolvency Service, which also show individual insolvencies are on the rise

30 Apr 2018