Treasury Commissioned Report on British Offshore Financial Centres published

The final report of Michael Foot’s Review of the opportunities and challenges facing the British Crown Dependencies (Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey) and six Overseas Territories (Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Gibraltar, Turks and Caicos Islands) was published on 29 October. The full text of the report is available online. Also published at the same time was Deloitte's report on tax avoidance by UK companies using these centres and the amount not being paid in tax. A combined report is also available.

New ASB report on annual reports

The Accounting Standards Board, part of the Financial Reporting Council, has published a report on the state of narrative reporting in annual reports. It focused on: how companies are complying with the enhanced business review content requirements from the Companies Act 2006 (CA); effective communication and presentation of the required content; and areas that are leading to clutter in narrative reporting. The full text of "Rising to the challenge" is available on the FRC website.

UK private businesses call for tax certainty

Private businesses want to see a more stable tax regime that will support and encourage growth according to The Enterprising UK 2009 survey published by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Head of UK private business at PwC, Mary Monfries, states " Private business is calling for a stable, certain tax environment in which to conduct their business successfully".

SFO settles Amec 'irregular receipts' case for £5m

The Serious Fraud Squad has agreed a civil court settlement of £4.9m with the engineering group Amec concerning $9m of 'irregular receipts' that the company took in relation to the construction of the Incheon Bridge in Korea.

Herald article on plan fo larger state role in bankruptcy cases

There was an article in the Herald newspaper on 26 October on reactions to the Scottish Government's proposals to part-nationalise the management of personal bankruptcy. ICAS is one of the organisations giving a response.

Report calls for new green taxes

A report published by the Green Fiscal Commisson on 26 October 2009 is calling for a green tax shift which would allow government to deliver economic as well as environmental benefits. Among the things that it calls for are a levy on new cars and an increase in fuel duties.

NAO report on the perception of red tape by business

A survey of businesses the National Audit Office (NAO) has been published which found that "almost no businesses think that complying with regulation has become easier or less time consuming in the last year. The majority think that things have remained the same and over a third think that the burden of regulation has got worse. On the other hand, 42 per cent of businesses think that government is getting the right balance of regulation to protect people and the environment." The full text of the report is available on the NAO website.

Reform public finance report published

Think tank Reform has published a report "The end of entitlement" looking at how the British middle class needs to decide between giving up welfare benefits or having tax increase by 8%. The full text of the report is available on Reform's website.

Results of the latest Deloitte quarterly survey of finance directors

A Deloitte survey of 120 Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) found that financial optimism has reached the highest level since the Survey started in September 2007. However just 14% of CFOs expect a return to normal or trend rates of growth in their markets in 2010. CFOs believe the corporate sector is entering new era of lower gearing and greater financial conservatism.

CBI blueprint for balancing UK public sector budget

The CBI has released a report saying that radical public services reform is needed to deliver savings of £120bn. The full text of the report is available on the CBI website. It is called "Doing more with less: A credible strategy for restoring the public finances".

Government defeated in battle over Equitable Life’s collapse

After a ruling in the High Court issued by Lord Justice Carnwarth, thousands of policy holders of Equitable Life could now receive compensation from the Government. A four part report titled "A Decade of Regulatory Failure" published in 2008 by the Ombudsman, Ann Abrahams, found " serial maladministration" and recommended compensation be reached through an independent tribunal.

Equitable Life: a decade of regulatory failure (HC 815),

FSA outlines its approval and interview process for significant influence functions

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has written to the CEOs of 5,000 regulated firms to reinforce how its intensive regulatory approach applies to approving and supervising senior personnel performing significant influence functions (SIFs).
The City regulator said that under its new approach to supervision, it would not be happy to rush approvals in a couple of days, and would expect to take part in the short-list stage for large institution appointments.

Lloyd's slashes cash for Scottish charities

Lloyds Banking Group said it was to cut its charitable foundation's funding, worth at least six million pounds a year due to the financial crisis.
Sources at the foundation said that it was inevitable some charities would be forced to withdraw key services.

Impact of Bank easing ' may never be known

Charles Bean, the deputy governor of the central bank told the London Society of Chartered Accountants that the impact on the economy of the Bank of England's multi billion pound scheme of quantitative easing will probably never be known.
He also commented on the recession, saying that the British economy has probably hit bottom, despite fears at the beginning of the year that this recession would continue to deepen.

The APB issues new ISAs (UK and Ireland)

On 13 October the Auditing Practices Board (APB) published 33 new International Standards on Auditing (UK and Ireland) (ISAs (UK and Ireland)); A new International Standard on Quality Control (UK and Ireland) 1 (ISQC (UK and Ireland) 1); and, a revised Statement of the Scope and Authority of APB Pronouncements. These are all available on the APB website.

PwC report says £43 billion fiscal gap needs to be closed by 2015/16

A report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), "Dealing with (even more) debt", was published on 12 October. The report says that "£43 billion fiscal gap needs to be closed by 2015/16". The full text of the report is available on the PwC website.

Scotsman op-ed by ICAS' Chief Executive

There is an editorial piece in the Scotsman on 13 October 2009 by Anton Colella, the ICAS Chief Executive. It is called "Bonus review will not mean the end of risk-taking bankers".

Planned tax rules could undermine building industry, say accountants

In response to the Treasury consultation: False Self-employment in Construction,The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland says that onerous new tax rules on construction workers and those who engage them could seriously undermine an industry that has been amongst the hardest hit by the recession.

"We are astonished that these proposals have come forward during a recession, since we believe the net result of adopting them would be an increase in unemployment.This is clearly undesirable, and we recommend that the proposals be abandoned. The proposals are flawed, can easily be circumvented and are unlikely to work properly."states Derek Allen, ICAS Director of Taxation.

Tough new laws could hit Big Four services fees

Auditing Practices Board issues a Consultation Paper on audit firms providing non-audit services to listed companies that they audit. "The aim of the APB Consultation Paper is to seek views, especially from investors, on whether there is support for the Treasury Select Committee’s view that investor confidence and trust in audit would be enhanced by a prohibition on audit firms conducting non-audit work for the same company.” Richard Fleck, Chairman of APB commented.

Chairman and Chief Executive relationship 'can be too close'

A too close relationship between chairman and chief executive can be a signal for excessive risk-taking in a company, a high-powered panel of Scottish accountants warned. Guy Jubb, head of corporate governance at Standard Life Investments, told a forum on risk management staged in Edinburgh by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland that boardroom culture had changed over the past five years, particularly in the financial sector.