After just nine months, the number of profit warnings issued by UK quoted companies has reached a new, annual high with more expected as the impact of Covid-19, Brexit and reduced government support take effect, according to EY

Greater Manchester leaders were unable to reach an agreement with government by midday, therefore Tier 3 ‘very high alert’ Covid restrictions will proceed without an agreement  

Businesses and workers in Wales and Ireland are bracing themselves for tighter restrictions on activities as both administrations introduce lockdowns to halt the growing number of coronavirus infections and slow the progress of the pandemic

With around 50 working days until the end of the Brexit transition period, at which point the UK will leave the EU customs union and single market, the government is to urge business leaders to accelerate preparations for an Australia-style exit

British Airways has been fined a record £20m by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for failing to protect the personal and financial details of more than 400,000 of its customers

In our regular Q&A series, Croner Taxwise, tax adviser, Ibrahim Nalla, explains the tax implications of buying a brand-new office pod to be installed in a company director’s garden, how will the company and director be affected?

CFOs are not expecting a ‘return to normal’ to pre-pandemic levels for business until next summer at the earliest, although most are expecting to take back the bulk of furloughed staff in the meantime, according to research by Deloitte

With HMRC writing to thousands of businesses warning them of investigation risk if they have incorrectly or fraudulently claimed job support grants, now is the time to get records in order, writes Philip Smith

Head of audit at Mazars UK, Bob Neate, has his say on audit reform in the UK – explaining how he expects smaller firms to follow the Big Four in splitting operations and the benefits of more players through joint audit - as ‘everyone accepts that competition enhances quality’, Zak Jakubowski reports

HMRC’s reporting of the ‘tax gap’ has been labelled as ‘misleading’ by the public accounts committee (PAC), which says the department should explain the limitations of its approach to calculating the difference between the tax that should be paid on the UK’s economic activity and the amount actually collected

Audit income at the Big Four firms rose sharply last year, but was accompanied by a marked drop in fees from non-audit work for audit clients, ahead of the requirement for formal separation of activities, according to the latest Financial Reporting Council (FRC) analysis

Directors using funds from job retention scheme to boost cashflow rather than meet tax liabilities risk being personally liable for penalties, say RSM’s Susan Ball and Jamie Wilson