Journals received in the Information Service

We received a number of new journal issues today and here are details about a few of the articles in them that may be of interest. Taxation has a couple of articles on aspects of capital gains tax as well as one on the Conservative party's proposals for tax simplification. PQ Magazine has articles on whether 'wonder pills' can help students pass exams, and what The Apprentice teaches us about business. Finally, The Economist has articles on stagflation in the UK; Doha world trade talks; and, an eight page section on the world economic crisis which starts with a piece on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

New books received

Three new books arrived at the Information Service today, two are from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland (ICAI) and one from the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). The ones from the ICAI are "Slave to the clock, master of time" and "Going paperless", and the one from the IASB is "Improvement to IFRs" (May 2008). The links give further information about the books. Please email or phone us (0131 347 0138) if you would like to borrow any of them.

Times Higher Education

There's an interesting article and op-ed in today's Times Higher Education (17 July, p23 and p30–). The article is called "National power generators" and looks at how the Scottish Government is eager for universities to lead Scotland to renewed prosperity, and whether the sector is up to it.

Poynter review

Continuing with the HMRC theme, there is an op-ed in today's FT by Kieran Poynter, former Chairman of PwC and author of the Poynter review which looked at data loss at HMRC. The op-ed is entitled "Data security is not just a matter of technology" and looks at data management and security.

HMRC in the news again

There were also more stories in the news about HMRC after their accounts were published and it was found that Paul Gray, the official who stood down after the loss of personal data last year, was given a £137,000 pay-off and will be in line for a large pension later this year.

NAO HMRC report

On Monday the The National Audit Office released their report into HM Revenue and Customs Accounts 2007/2008. The audit spotted a possible £1.5bn tax credit error.

Tim Burr, head of the National Audit Office, said:“Levels of tax credits error and fraud are significant when compared with the expenditure on the scheme. I have therefore qualified my opinion on the regularity of these payments. HMRC now has a target and has developed a strategy for reducing error and fraud. It will need to monitor how the measures it adopts are contributing to the achievement of the target and to respond effectively.”“The Department must strike a balance between stopping criminals entering the VAT system and ensuring legitimate traders receive their VAT registrations without delay. Its performance in processing VAT registrations is now operating in line with targets. ”

ICAS submission on Local Income Tax

There was a lot of press coverage over the weekend and yesterday about the ICAS submission on Local Income Tax - a response to Holyrood's consultation paper 'A Fairer Local Tax For Scotland'. There were 2 articles in Scotland on Sunday: "ICAS: local income tax 'unworkable'" and "Local income tax doesn't add up, say experts", as well as articles in the Scotsman and the Herald.