The Insolvency Service is increasingly using ‘public interest’ disqualification orders to remove potentially rogue directors from their positions before they can do more harm, with a 600% increase in a year, according to analysis by Moore Stephens

HMRC has been told it must do more to ensure its new customs system, the Customs Declaration Service (CDS) is ready in time for Brexit, or face ‘catastrophic’ consequences, according to a report from the public accounts committee (PAC) which warns the department is facing an overload of development work in the run up to the UK quitting the EU

Optimism is growing among business leaders across Europe and the outlook for revenue growth, hiring and capital spending is improving, although in the UK uncertainty levels are markedly higher than elsewhere, according to Deloitte’s latest European CFO survey

Businesses reported £262m in fraud losses last year according to data from ActionFraud, the UK’s national fraud and cyber-crime reporting centre, obtained under the freedom of information act by RSM, which is warning companies need to do more to protect themselves

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) plans to review the UK Corporate Governance Code to focus on the need for companies to consider how they benefit wider society, following calls from a government advisory group for more support in developing a culture of social impact investment

The annual cost of fraud in the UK is put at £190bn currently, down from an estimate of £193bn in 2016, mostly due to reduced levels of expenditure in key areas such as procurement, according to a research study compiled by Crowe Clark Whitehill, Experian and the Centre for Counter Fraud Studies at the University of Portsmouth

The Bank of England’s recent rise in interest rates marks the first tightening in policy for a decade and although it is unlikely to make a significant impact on households or business, the longer term outlook for rate levels could have more pernicious effects, warns George Buckley, chief UK economist at Nomura

In a blow to one of the largest operators in the gig economy, Uber has lost its appeal to overturn last year’s Employment Tribunal decision that its drivers should be paid the national minimum wage and holiday pay, which could result in a hike in NICs payments for the company

Ten accountancy firms feature in a new ranking of the top 100 employers in the UK for school and college leavers, with EY leading the way in a table drawn up by RateMyApprenticeship

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) is considering whether to expand its current practice statement on management commentary to include wider reference to environmental and societal issues in corporate reporting, after admitting it is currently ‘silent’ on sustainability

Seven top Scottish employers including RBS, Standard Life Aberdeen and Prudential, have signed up to a government-funded programme to help professional women get back into skilled financial services jobs after an extended career break

The Insolvency Service has published guidance on compensation orders, which apply if a director is subject to a disqualification order or undertaking and their conduct has caused a quantifiable loss to one or more creditors of an insolvent company