Business &amp; Accountancy Daily

Business | Lisa Osofsky named as SFO head

The new head of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has been named as Lisa Osofsky, who has dual UK-US citizenship, and has over 30 years’ experience of focussing on financial crime, including periods with the FBI and Goldman Sachs

4 Jun 2018

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Finance | 57% of governance professionals oppose increase in FRC powers

There is strong opposition to plans to increase the Financial Reporting Council’s (FRC’s) powers of enforcement, according to a survey by ICSA: The Governance Institute, which found over half of governance professionals do not want to see a wider remit for the regulator

4 Jun 2018

Business | KPMG South Africa cuts staff and reshapes firm

KPMG South Africa is to cut employee numbers by around 400 and bring in senior KPMG partners from across the firm’s international network in a bid to reshape the business following a series of crises over the past year

4 Jun 2018

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Business | Treasury consults on pre-paid funeral plan sector

The Treasury is to consult on tougher regulation for the pre-paid funeral plan sector, including proposals to bring the market into the supervision of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), in a bid to protect grieving and vulnerable people from aggressive sales tactics and poor financial advice

4 Jun 2018

Tax | Cannabis tax ‘could bring in £3.5bn’

The Treasury stands to collect between £1.4bn and £3.5bn annually if it introduced a tax on cannabis sales, based on analysis of the tax take from other regulated markets, according to the charity Health Poverty Action

4 Jun 2018

Tax | HMRC crackdown on scam websites saves £2.4m

HMRC has revealed it has saved the public over £2.4m by tackling fraudsters that trick the public into using premium rate phone numbers for services that HMRC provide for free

4 Jun 2018

Tax

HMRC

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Business | Growing shareholder challenge to FTSE 100 pay

Shareholder protests against excessive executive pay deals are increasing, with a quarter of FTSE 100 companies receiving more than a 20% vote against a pay resolution, three times as many as in 2017, according to a mid-season report from PwC

4 Jun 2018

1 Jun 2018

Tax | Tax updates: June 2018

This month's review of tax cases and tax news including IR35 rules set to net private companies, contractor beats HMRC over IR35 dispute, late return penalty thrown out due to lack of evidence

1 Jun 2018

Finance | Delay in Air Partner annual accounts extended

Private jet hire company Air Partner is to extend the deadline for publishing its annual audited accounts further, following an earlier delay caused by the discovery of an estimated £4m accounting error, and has now requested trading in its shares is suspended for the time being

1 Jun 2018

Finance

Financial Reporting

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HR | People in the news: Bishop Fleming, Quantama, Edwin Coe

This week's news of professional moves in the sector includes a trio of directors have been promoted to partner at Bishop Fleming, Quantama launches its forensic accounting service with seven new team members, Edwin Coe appoints a tax director

1 Jun 2018

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HR | Bank of England criticised over male economist appointment

The Bank of England’s monetary policy committee (MPC) has run into controversy after appointing the only man on a five-strong shortlist to fill a vacancy, despite having just one woman among the nine members responsible for rate-setting

1 Jun 2018

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Tax | Uganda introduces ‘WhatsApp’ tax

The parliament in Uganda has passed a controversial law imposing a tax on citizens using social media and internet messaging services, which is scheduled to be introduced on 1 July

1 Jun 2018

Tax | Predicted Scottish income tax take falls by £209m

There could be a drop of over £200m in the amount of devolved tax the Scottish government collects over the next tax year due to a subdued economy, according to the latest forecast from the Scottish Fiscal Commission

1 Jun 2018

Finance | Six pension firms shut over £21m rogue advice

Fast Pensions Ltd and five other related firms have been wound up in the public interest at the High Court, after an Insolvency Service investigation found at least £21m had been invested into pension schemes connected with the companies without adequate advice

1 Jun 2018

Pensions

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Business | ‘Outrageous’ attitude to women on boards

Just one in five individuals being proposed for senior financial services positions are women according to research by Pinsent Masons, while the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has described some of the reasons given for low levels of female representation on FTSE 350 boards as ‘outrageous’

1 Jun 2018

Business | Development updates: June 2018

In the latest career development updates, Mazars reports record £174m fee income, Andersen expands UK tax arm, parental pay and sex discrimination issue, pensions regulator to take pub chain to court over scheme

1 Jun 2018

Finance | Audit updates: June 2018

In our monthly roundup of developments in audit and governance, Carillion triggers Big Four break-up call, PwC dropped after century long audit tenure at Carr’s, Labour hires Prem Sikka to review Big Four audit firms

1 Jun 2018

Auditing

Corporate Governance

Finance | Legal updates: June 2018

In this month's legal updates, experts at law firm Gateley plc consider amendment to articles to force out minority shareholder held valid, listed company takeovers under investigation by CMA

1 Jun 2018

Finance

Law and Regulation

Finance | Accounting updates: June 2018

In this month’s roundup of developments in accounting and financial reporting, government plans urgent crackdown on use of Scottish limited partnerships, Korean regulator probes Samsung BioLogics accounts, tech company hit by balance sheet impact of IFRS 15

1 Jun 2018

Tax | VAT updates: June 2018

Graham Elliott, VAT expert at City & Cambridge Consultancy asks when a charity is not a charity following Wakefield College VAT decision, whether goods or services in paragon, language barrier reasonable excuse

1 Jun 2018

Tax | Employment tax updates: June 2018

Jackie Hall ACA CTA, partner at RSM on HMRC delays digital service rollout for individual taxpayers, directors’ loan accounts agent toolkit updated, reporting optional remuneration arrangements

1 Jun 2018

Tax

Employment Tax

31 May 2018

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Finance | FTSE 250 Auditors Survey 2018: turning up the heat on audit firms

Big Four dominance of the £269m FTSE 250 audit market is under fire as MPS set alight competition and mid-tier firms fail to gain market share. In the annual Accountancy FTSE 250 auditors survey, Philip Smith examines the latest trends in audit fees and the lack of competition from outside the Big Four

31 May 2018

Finance | Deloitte auditors and Autonomy finance team face FRC disciplinary tribunal

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has made formal complaints and is planning for a tribunal hearing against Deloitte and two of its audit engagement partners and the former chief financial officer and vice president of finance at software company Autonomy, which has faced allegations of accounting irregularities

31 May 2018

Auditing

Corporate Governance

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Finance | Pensions regulator head to step down after criticism from MPs

Chief executive of The Pensions Regulator (TPR), Lesley Titcomb, will leave her role at the end of February in 2019, after facing criticism over the handling of Carillion’s pension scheme following the outsourcing company’s collapse

31 May 2018

Pensions

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Finance | FRC receives no feedback on third country auditor’s fees consultation

Due to the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) receiving no response on its consultation on plans to increase registration and annual renewal fees for third country auditors, the regulator has decided to put the 2018 Instrument into effect from 29 May 2018

31 May 2018

Auditing

Corporate Governance

Accounting Consultations

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HR | Tax and company cars – NEW CPD module

This month's exclusive Accountancy Daily CPD module covers the various tax aspects of the purchase, ownership and use of cars including tax relief, VAT, taxable benefits and the statutory mileage scheme

31 May 2018

Training & CPD

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Business | Takeaway bosses disqualified after submitting false tax returns

An uncle and nephew who ran a kebab takeaway in Camden have been disqualified from acting as company directors for seven years each after they suppressed takings and sales that had been absent on submitted VAT returns

31 May 2018