HMRC has set up a specialist team to probe the tax affairs of ultra-high net worth individuals, as it extends efforts to crackdown on possible tax avoidance by some of the UK’s wealthiest families

Rising shareholder dissent hit a quarter of the FTSE all share companies last year, with high levels of executive pay and director re-election topping the list of concerns

A number of business leaders could lose their government advisory roles as Downing Street plans to downsize committee numbers on the business council network

Entrepreneurs’ relief should be reshaped to inspire budding entrepreneurs rather than acting as a way to top up pension pots, argues Phil Hall, head of public affairs, AAT

A third of all board positions in FTSE 100 are now held by women, but female representation in senior executive roles is lagging with only 15% of finance directors at top UK companies being women

Succession planning is vital in any finance team where the future viability of a business can rest on a poor decision. Matt Weston, managing director of Robert Half UK, sets out the key steps

The Cayman Islands has been put on an EU blacklist of tax havens, the first UK overseas territory to be named and shamed for failing to crack down on tax abuse

The Devon-based firm has fallen into insolvency for the second time in seven years with the loss of around 80 jobs

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) is to conduct a major review of how companies and auditors assess and report on the impact of climate change

Diageo, the UK-based alcohol producer whose brands include Guinness, Baileys, Smirnoff and Johnny Walker, has been fined $5m (£3.88m) by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

Nearly half of UK companies are paid late with worst offenders US and China paying past the average 45-day payment terms

The government has made thousands of pounds available to areas affected by storms Dennis and Ciara with over 100 flood warnings still in place

The government is to bring in a points-based immigration system from the start of next year, which will give priority to highly-skilled workers but will not offer a general low-skilled or temporary work route, raising concerns about the potential impact on the labour pool

Five months into his job as head of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), Sir Jon Thompson sets out his vision for the future of the audit regulator, the challenges of reforming the market from joint audits to splitting up the Big Four and the timetable for the new Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority (ARGA). Sara White reports

Listed logistics management specialist Wincanton has ended a 20-year relationship with KPMG and appointed BDO as its external auditor following the conclusion of a formal competitive tender process