Accounting / International reporting: planning for IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts

Jeroen Van Doorsselaere, Wolters Kluwer vice president of risk and finance, on the issues of transitioning to IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts and tardy planning for IFRS 16 Leases
22 Jun 2018

Insight / UK aims for top role in green finance post-Brexit

The Chancellor has announced the setting up of a new Green Finance Institute and an industry-led financial services skills taskforce as part of moves to ensure the UK remains a leading finance services sector post-Brexit
22 Jun 2018

Insight / Drop in financial services work experience placements

There has been a drop in the availability of paid work experience opportunities in the finance sector over the past year, although the fall is least marked in the accountancy sector, according to research from online training specialist Theknowledgeacademy.com
22 Jun 2018

Tax / OECD updates advice on hard-to-value intangibles

The OECD has released new guidance on the application of the approach to hard-to-value intangibles and the transactional profit split method, which were both developed as part of its base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) action plan
22 Jun 2018

Accounting / Investors seek link between performance metrics reporting and strategy

Investors are calling on companies to reassess how they report their performance metrics, providing clarity about how the measures link with their business strategy, according to a new report from the Financial Reporting Council’s (FRC) Financial Reporting Lab
22 Jun 2018

Insight / People in the news: Smith Cooper, RSM, Duff & Phelps

This week's news of professional moves in the sector includes a promotion to senior partner at Smith Cooper, RSM gains two partners, Duff & Phelps appoints a managing partner in its transfer pricing practice
22 Jun 2018

Insight / Financial services leaders worry about skills shortage

A shortage of talent is becoming a key concern with the financial services sector, with half (49%) of senior leaders citing finding skilled candidates as the biggest worry over the next twelve months, according to research from Robert Half Financial Services
22 Jun 2018

Tax / US Supreme Court rules for taxing remote online sales

The US Supreme Court has handed down a ruling that online retailers can be required to collect local sales taxes even in states where they have no physical presence, in a move which is designed to level the playing field with bricks-and-mortar businesses
22 Jun 2018

Technical Alerts

Accountancy & Audit / June 2018 IFRIC update published

21 Jun 2018

Tax / IR35 for the private sector: HMRC focuses on non-compliance

Government plans to extend IR35 rules to private sector companies are predicated on absurdly high levels of non-compliance, warn Mike Herdman, director and Chesney Archer, senior manager at Grant Thornton
21 Jun 2018

Tax / Luxembourg deal meant French company’s tax rate was 0.3%

The European Commission is demanding Luxembourg recover €120m (£105.5m) in unpaid tax after discovering it allowed two companies in a French utilities group to avoid paying taxes on almost all their profits for about a decade, which it says is illegal under EU state aid rules
21 Jun 2018

Accounting / Former RSM Tenon FD faces £60k fine

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has excluded ICAEW member Russell McBurnie, the former finance director of RSM Tenon Group, from the accountancy profession for five years and fined him £60,000 after admissions of ‘reckless’ behaviour, in the final stage of its investigation into the firm’s financial statements
21 Jun 2018

Tax / HMRC names interim head of legal services

HMRC has named David Bunting as its interim general counsel and solicitor after the previous postholder, Gill Aitken, left to take up a new role as registrar at the University of Oxford
21 Jun 2018

Audit / Blockchain potentially ‘disruptive’ to corporate reporting

Blockchain technology is not going away, and preparers need to consider its potential disruptive impact, but its growth in corporate reporting is likely to be gradual and restricted to certain use-cases, according to a report from the Financial Reporting Council’s (FRC’s) Financial Reporting Lab 
21 Jun 2018

Tax / SMEs still unsure of Making Tax Digital requirements

Nearly half (41%) of small business owners are still unaware of Making Tax Digital, according to research from Intuit QuickBooks, with the online software specialist saying accountants will play a key educational role as the deadline for the switch to digital updates nears
21 Jun 2018

Audit / MPs ask PwC for more details of BHS audit

The work and pensions select committee has challenged PwC and audit partner Steve Denison for more details about their work on the audit of BHS and the Taveta group accounts, which were signed off on a going concern basis days before the retailer was sold for £1
21 Jun 2018

Technical Alerts

20 Jun 2018

Tax / Nunn: ISA spaghetti creates potential minefield for savers

Yvette Nunn, director of Berkeley Associates, warns that advisers need to tread carefully when giving advice on ISAs as they grow increasingly complex, each having their own set of terms which need to be understood
20 Jun 2018

Tax / Property tax confusion hits Bank of Mum and Dad

Attempts by the government to help first-time buyers onto the housing ladder could actually be pricing them out of the market because of anomalies in the way new stamp duty land tax (SDLT) rules operate
20 Jun 2018

Tax / Treasury challenged over plans to close childcare vouchers scheme

The Treasury committee is challenging the government’s decision to close the existing employer-led childcare voucher scheme in October without conducting a review of the impact on families who will then be required to move to the new online tax free childcare (TFC) system
20 Jun 2018

Audit / AQI 2018: Moore Stephens says first review ‘somewhat disappointing’

The Financial Reporting Council’s (FRC’s) first full inspection of Moore Stephens under its annual quality inspection (AQI) review process has found that the firm needs to clarify its relationship with other network firms and make better use of IT in its audit work, as well as improving its work on pension schemes
20 Jun 2018

Audit / AQI 2018: Mazars to improve bank audits and staff appraisals

Mazars should give audit quality a higher priority in its staff and partner appraisals and work on improving its auditing of banks, according to the findings of the latest audit quality inspection (AQI) by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) which was largely positive about the firm’s approach
20 Jun 2018

Tax / Extra NHS funding will see taxes increase

The government’s announcement that the NHS is to receive increased funding of £20.5bn per year by the end of five years, has signalled future tax increases, with the Prime Minister promising these will be imposed in a ‘fair and balanced way’
20 Jun 2018

Tax / ‘No plans’ for Treasury to assess value for money in PFI projects

MPs have taken the Treasury to task over its failure to assess the value for money from the private finance initiative (PFI) and says the department should do more to identify or address the impact of individual PFI projects on local budgets and clarify whether it will use this model in future
20 Jun 2018

Technical Alerts

Direct Tax / HMRC Agent update 66

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