Iain Donaldson, partner at Hill Dickinson, considers the barriers to frictionless trade under a post-Brexit VAT regime facing hard or soft borders

Mossack Fonseca, the offshore law firm whose 11.5 million leaked files were at the heart of the Panama Papers tax avoidance investigation, is to close

HMRC has announced it is to begin a phased launch of its new post-Brexit customs declaration service (CDS) in August 2018, with the aim of all declarations taking place on CDS from early 2019

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Insolvency Service have launched a consultation on improvements to corporate governance within companies which are in or are approaching insolvency, including a potential new definition of ‘distributable profits’

The European Court of Auditors (ECA) says EU public private partnerships (PPPs) used to fund infrastructure developments suffer from widespread shortcomings and limited benefits, after an audit of European-wide projects, including in Ireland, identified €1.5bn (£1.1bn) of inefficient and ineffective spending

MPs are urging the government to reform workplace policies to better support working fathers in caring for their children, including a new policy on paternity pay and leave, as part of plans to address the gender pay gap

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has paid out its highest-ever awards for information which led to enforcement actions, with two whistleblowers sharing a nearly $50m (£35.5m) award and a third whistleblower receiving more than $33m (£23.5m)

HMRC is to pilot a new version of its Business Risk Review (BRR) process for the risk assessment of large businesses, after a consultation indicated there need to be more gradations of risk and closer dialogue between companies and the department

Nine pension funds, insurers, and asset management firms, have announced they will work with UN Environment Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) on guidelines towards a first set of climate-related investor disclosures

Paul Flint and David Costley-Wood from KPMG’s restructuring practice in Manchester have been appointed as joint administrators of S.G. Aluminium Ltd, a fabricator and installer of architectural aluminium windows, doors, curtain walling and shop fronts, which has ceased trading with the loss of around 30 jobs

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has announced it is to investigate the conduct of two former group finance directors at the failed outsourcer Carillion, in addition to its previously announced probe into KPMG’s role as auditors to the company, which collapsed in January

The current boom in the UK film business has led the trade body the Production Guild of Great Britain to partner with the University of Hertfordshire’s school of creative arts to pilot a new scheme designed to develop the next generation of UK production accountants