'Reforming Financial Markets' White Paper

The UK Government released its' much anticipated White Paper "Reforming financial markets" today on the Treasury department. This aims to set out the Government’s proposals for the reform of the financial system. The full text of the report is available online (176 pages with a ueful executive summary of around 20 pages).

Welcome back from the ICAS Information Service!

I've been neglecting this blog for far too long and after a very interesting couple of sessions about the use of Web 2.0 in libraries I've decided to dust off the keyboard and start blogging again!



I'll be sharing information about developments in the accountancy world and in related fields like business and management. I hope that you find these interesting and useful. Please let me know what you think.

New journals received

Today we have received new issues of 'Abacus', 'Financial management', 'Pensions World' and 'Recovery'. 'Abacus' has an article on replacing 'true and fair view' with 'acceptable risk of material misstatement'. It also has an article called 'Audit fees, non-audit fees and auditor going-concern reporting decisions in the United Kingdom'. 'Pensions World' has an interview with the ex-President of the Faculty of Actuaries and an article on training courses for trustees. 'Recovery' has articles on insolvency in the construction industry, and on the administration of PPP firm Metronet. 'Financial Management' has extracts from a speech by the Chief Economist at Bank of China International on China's "economic miracle" and articles on charitable sponsorships for companies and user-friendly annual reports.

New books received

We've recently recently received new editions of two of CCH's Industry Accounting and Auditing Guides. These are for Clubs and Associations, and for Doctors and will be a valuable guide to any accountant with clients in these sectors. Also new is the STEP Accounting Guidelines for the preparation of trust and estate accounts in England and Wales. These publications are all available to borrow from the Information Service - please phone (0131 347 0138) or email us for further details, or have a look on our library catalogue.

New journal issues received

There is an interesting article today in Times Higher Education on the huge expansion of higher education in the Gulf and the opportunities it offers UK academe. Taxation has articles on the joint HMRC/Treasury consultation document on tax relief for travel expenses, and on HMRC investigations.

What does the public think of accountants?

The September 2008 issue of PQ Magazine has a double-page article on the recent ICAS research into the public perception of accountants. The article also looks at how ICAS is responding to the findings of the research.

The same issue also looks at the recent ICAS research report 'Ethical issues Encountered by Chartered Accountants' Details on how to order or download the report - and other ICAS research reports are on the ICAS website.

New ICSA publications

We have recently received four new ICSA publications which are available for users of the Information Service to borrow - just email or phone us on 0131 347 0138.
They are:

• Corporate Governance Essentials
• The ICSA Corporate Social Responsibility Handbook, 2nd edition
• The Company Secretary's Handbook, 7th edition
• The ICSA Company Secretary's Troubleshooter

For further information from the ICSA website just follow the links above

Journals received

This week's Taxation magazine has articles on whether the HMRC's powers are going too far; the taxation of foreign profits; the tax benefits of pensions; and, the construction industry scheme.

Scottish Banker has a special section on liquidity which includes an article by Jeremy Peat, Director of the Hume Institute as well as an article on a new banking reform bill. There is also a report on a debate on ethics which took place, featuring the ICAS Chief Executive Anton Colella.

Scottish Business Insider has an article on why there aren't more women executives. It also has an article on how to survive the economic downturn which gives tips from Scottish business advisers.

New journals received

A number of new journals have been received recently. The latest issue of the ICAS journal CA Magazine includes articles on corporate social responsibility and wealth management in the credit crunch, as well as an interview with the Chief Executive of Johnston Carmichael.

Taxation has articles on the HMRC's new investigation powers, community financing schemes, and on tax planning in a recession. Tax Adviser has articles on whether green taxes can change behaviour, and on the tax plans of the candidates in the US elections.

Management Today has articles on business travel, and on what doing an MBA at Harvard Business School is really like. People Management has articles on achieving 'lean production', and how to launch an e-recruitment drive. Financial Management has articles on personal branding and an IFAC survey on the future of financial reports.

Report on VAT

Tax experts looking at VAT as part of a report for the Institute for Fiscal Studies have called for VAT to be simplified with one rate and almost no exceptions. The submission is part of the Mirrlees Review of the tax system which is currently being undertaken by Sir James Mirrlees, a Nobel prize winning economist.

The Crosby Report

Yesterday Sir James Crosby’s interim report to the Government on options for improving the function of mortgage finance markets was published. The report van be found on the Treasury website and many of the newspapers today had articles on this including The Times, The Telegraph, and the FT.

New journals received

The new issue of both Director and Company Reporting have been received today. Director has a special report on flexible working. This includes an article on flexible working in small businesses; one on on enterprise 2.0: collaborative knowledge management or social networking for business; and, one on the increase of web-based applications for business and cloud computing. Company Reporting looks at how recent annual reports address a number of issues including pension surplus; impairment reversal; share-based payments and financial instrument disclosures.

New books received

We have received a number of new books in the last week which may be of interest to users of the service. These focus on 'soft' management skills rather than technical skills.

Firstly, "Total Leadership: be a better reader, have a richer life" by Stewart D. Friedman, which is published by Harvard Business Press. It looks at improving performance in work and no-work time at the same time by identifying your core values. The books contains more than thirty hands-on tools.

Also received recently is "NLP at work: the difference that makes a difference in business" by Sue Knight. It looks at how the Neuro Linguistic Programming at work can help accelerate learning, creativity, communication, influence and impact.

Finally, the third edition of "A Career in your suitcase" by Jo Parfitt is a practical book which looks at how to have a portable, flexible career you love.

To borrow any of these books please contact the Information Service.

New journals received

A number of journals with interesting articles have come in over the last few days. These include Taxation, which has an article on how charities can save tax as well as an op-ed on the HMRC's concept of dialogue. What to buy for business which has a special report on multifunctional copier/printers. People Management which has articles on the stereotype of finance-sector managers as well as on apprenticeships. Accounting and Business has interviews with the outgoing ACCA Chief Executive and the FASB Chairman. It also has articles on ethical behaviour, the latest issues in business travel, and, how the credit crunch may help recruitment at small and medium practices.

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. ”