News - Accountancy Age

Deloitte hire World Bank telecoms expert

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:10:00 GMT

MARK WILLIAMS has left the World Bank to become a partner in Deloitte's economic consulting practice. Williams will focus on telecoms clients in his new job at the Big Four accounting firm. Williams was at the World Bank for five years and previously Frontier Economics for six years. At the World Bank he led the team designing the bank's strategy for African broadband infrastructure.

US watchdog recruits federal government auditor

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:17:24 GMT

Accountancy Age

THE US AUDIT WATCHDOG has recruited a government auditor to its board. The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) has appointed current MD of the Governemnt Accountability Office Jeanette Franzel as a panel member, in a move investors believe could set back attempts to create tougher requirements on audit firms, The Wall Street Journal reports. The Securities and Exchange Commission names board members for the PCAOB which is a five member...

Green tax strategy slated by MPs

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:41:00 GMT

Accountancy Age

THE GOVERNMENT'S refusal to define what it constitutes as a green tax is making it difficult to ascertain whether environmental promises are being met a group of MPs has warned. Pre-election the Conservatives promised to increase revenues from green taxes as a way of reducing environmental damage and shifting taxes away from work and income, The Guardian reports. However, the government's refusal to define environmental taxes is making it difficult to...

Redknapp and Mandaric described as ‘Odd Couple’

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:28:55 GMT

Accountancy Age

HARRY REDKNAPP and former Portsmouth FC chairman Milan Mandaric were likened to Hollywood's ‘odd couple' by Mandaric's defence barrister. In closing statements, Lord MacDonald QC compared the pair to Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau's characters in the Odd Couple movie, saying the "deep bond" between them led Mandaric to pay Redknapp investment money as a gift. Redknapp and Mandaric are accused of two counts of cheating the public revenue when Redknapp was...

Treasury unaware of tax write off

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:28:19 GMT

Accountancy Age

THE TREASURY was "surprised" to learn that £10.9bn of unpaid tax had been written off by HM Revenue and Customs in one year, according to an influential group of MPs. The department was apparently not fully aware of the estimate until after it appeared in the Whole of Government Accounts (WGA) for 2009-10, the Press Association reported. The Treasury also had "no knowledge" of whether plans were in place to cut...

SME winding-up costs to rise as tax concession tightened

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:16:51 GMT

Accountancy Age

THE COST of winding-up a small business is set to increase significantly in March because of new legislation restricting restrict tax concessions for voluntarily winding-up a company, the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) has said. A current tax concession, Extra-Statutory Concession 16, allows company directors to wind-up a solvent company without appointing a liquidator. Directors can pass the surplus funds to the shareholders as capital receipts rather than dividends. This will...

P45 slips saved from redundancy

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:16:00 GMT

Accountancy Age

THE TAXMAN has decided not to scrap P45 slips after employers said they wanted to keep them. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), which is modernising the Pay As You Earn system, had planned to replace the forms for when employees move jobs with a "leaver statement". Under plans for "real time" PAYE, employers will send information about tax and national insurance deducted from employees' wages to HMRC when they are made...

P&A Partnership administrators called to joinery giant

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:28:00 GMT

Accountancy Age

THE UK'S largest joinery business has entered administration with P&A Partnership administrators appointed. John Russell and Chris White, both partners at the P&A partnership, were appointed joint-administrators to Oakworth Joinery, the UK's largest independent window and door manufacturer. The West Yorkshire-based business employs about 170 people and is the second biggest employer in the area. Russell (pictured) said: "Unfortunately Oakworth is a victim of the continuing downturn in the...

Tax advisors welcome postponed business record checks

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:56:00 GMT

Accountancy Age

A DECISION by the taxman to postpone checks of small businesses' records and make future inspections more targeted has been welcomed by the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT). The CIOT said that the change to the pilot scheme of business record checks – which has been criticised for putting excessive administrative burdens on small and medium-sized businesses – would help improve business records. "Tax advisors are strongly supportive of efforts to...

Tax advisers welcome postponement of business record checks

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:56:00 GMT

Accountancy Age

A DECISION by the taxman to postpone checks of small businesses' records and make future inspections more targeted has been welcomed by the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT). The CIOT said that the change to the pilot scheme of business record checks - which has been criticised for putting excessive administrative burdens on small and medium-sized businesses - would help improve business records. "Tax advisers are strongly supportive of efforts to...

EU will answer to Lords on audit market future

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:40:00 GMT

Accountancy Age

THE HOUSE OF LORDS will question the EU commissioner in charge of audit tomorrow, in a one-off session. Director general of internal market and services at the EU Commission Jonathan Faull, will face a grilling from the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee tomorrow afternoon. The committee is expected to ask Faull to explain the commission's proposals on regulation in the audit market. Questions which are likely to crop...

Remove tax relief on bankers' pay, calls the TUC

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:39:00 GMT

Accountancy Age

REMOVING BANKERS' tax relief on their high earnings would raise nearly £2bn, claims trade union TUC. The union, in its Bonus Season report, calls on tax relief on high earnings (more than £262,000) to be disallowed as a deductible expense for corporation tax purposes. With figures suggesting that some third of the high earners in the UK come from the banking sector, that could equate to a £1.7bn take for the Treasury. ...

200,000 take advantage of extended filing deadline

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:11:56 GMT

Accountancy Age

MORE THAN 200,000 people took advantage of HMRC leniency to file their tax returns in the penalty-free first days of February. With the taxman allowing filings on 1 and 2 February penalty-free, after HMRC staff took part in a strike on the self-assessment deadline of 31 January, 207,000 submitted tax returns online. The taxman received 87,000 tax returns on 1 February, and 120,000 a day later. In total 9.45m returns were...

Thousands take advantage of extended filing deadline

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:11:00 GMT

Accountancy Age

Taxman postpones Business Record Checks

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:26:00 GMT

Accountancy Age

THE TAXMAN has postponed any further record checks of small businesses, as it looks to introduce a more targeted approach in the future. The pilot scheme to check the record-keeping practices of SMEs, which caused such controversy, has been put on hold as the consultation process suggested that education should be paramount to improving record-keeping. Nearly 2,500 businesses' records have been checked by HMRC since the pilot scheme's launch in April...

Langbar CEO stripped of licence and pays £20,000 costs

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:21:00 GMT

Accountancy Age

THE PROFESSION'S WATCHDOG has stripped ex-Langbar chief Stuart Pearson of his licence to practice as an accountant and ordered him to pay costs. ICAEW member Pearson was today reprimanded by an independent tribunal following a complaint from the disciplinary arm of the Financial Reporting Council. He was ordered to pay costs of £20,000 towards the investigation into his conduct, and stripped of his licence to practice as a chartered accountant for...

Personal insolvencies down in 2011

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:37:38 GMT

Accountancy Age

THE NUMBER of people declared insolvent in England Wales fell in 2011, but the number of businesses insolvencies increased, Insolvency Service figures showed. The total number of personal insolvencies in 2011 was 119,850, down 11.3% on the record high in 2010. In the final quarter of the year, there was a 5.6% drop compared to the last three months of 2010. Bankruptcies were down 29.3% and were outstripped by the number...

Clarke takes partner role at Larking Gowen

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:22:34 GMT

Accountancy Age

ADAM CLARKE is promoted to business recovery at Larking Gowen. Clarke passed his JIEB insolvency exams in 2010 and has taken appointment since April 2011. Prior to joining Larking Gowen he worked in a number of firms' insolvency teams. Bob Rose, Larking Gowen's managing partner, said: "We are looking forward to Adam joining us, and his appointment is an important development for the firm, boosting our resources as we...

We want iPad biz apps, say accountants

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:57:00 GMT

Accountancy Age

ACCOUNTANTS WANT MORE applications to enable them to work from iPads, according to new research. A Thomson Reuters Digita survey of more than 400 respondents from a cross-section of firms found that practitioners want more integration between their office and mobile tools. Other wants include links with Outlook and Blackberry voice recognition capability, and easier recording of client phone calls. "Our results suggest that accountants are increasingly looking for...

Governance code should deal with alcohol issues

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:44:00 GMT

Accountancy Age

A NATIONAL charity has written to business secretary Vince Cable recommending that a specific policy to address alcohol be included as an explicit requirement in the Corporate Governance Code. According to Alcohol Concern, an effective alcohol policy is a material component of business strategy and that, as employees are a key business asset, boards should have a formal responsibility to address financial losses incurred through their reduced performance caused by alcohol. ...

Streets ties up with Poppleton & Appleby

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:40:40 GMT

Accountancy Age

TOP 50 FIRM Streets has brought in insolvency specialist SPW Poppleton & Appleby. The deal boosts Streets' insolvency expertise, and will enable them to leverage their forensic and tax service lines across Streets' nationwide offices. The corporate recovery business has been renamed Streets SPW PLC. "Following the tie up with SPW Poppleton & Appleby we will now be able to offer an insolvency and corporate recovery service with one of the...

SMPs weighed down by burden of regulation

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:32:12 GMT

Accountancy Age

REGULATORY burdens and economic woes continue to top the list of challenges faced by small- and medium-sized accountancy practices (SMPs) and their clients, a report has found. Around 30% of respondents to the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) survey chose burden of regulation and economic uncertainty as the biggest challenge, followed by difficulties in accessing finance. Similarly, for accountants within small practices, keeping up with new standards and regulations ranked as...

Smaller practices weighed down by burden of regulation

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:32:00 GMT

Accountancy Age

REGULATORY burdens and economic woes continue to top the list of challenges faced by small- and medium-sized accountancy practices and their clients, a report has found. Around 30% of respondents to the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) survey chose burden of regulation and economic uncertainty as the biggest challenge, followed by difficulties in accessing finance. Similarly, for accountants within small practices, keeping up with new standards and regulations ranked as the...

Top civil servants to have tax deducted at source

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:38:51 GMT

Accountancy Age

CHIEF SECRETARY to the Treasury Danny Alexander has said that the head of the Student Loans Company would now have his tax deducted "at source." The government is investigating how the head of the Student Loans Company (SLC) arranged for Ed Lester's salary to be paid through a private service company, thereby avoiding deductions for income tax and national insurance, the BBC reports. Lester may potentially have saved tens of...

Deloitte hit back at AADB complaint

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:13:07 GMT

Accountancy Age

DELOITTE HAS hit back at the decision by the profession's watchdog to investigate its role in the collapse of car maker MG Rover. The Accountancy and Actuarial Discipline Board (AADB), filed a complaint against Deloitte and its retired partner Maghsoud Einollahi, to its independent tribunal arm for their role in the collapse of MG Rover. However a spokesman for Deloitte has said the firm is disappointed with the decision. ...