Left out in the cold: The company directors who have fallen through the cracks in the Treasury’s support schemes On Friday, the Prime Minister set out the latest steps towards reopening Britain’s economy, providing encouragement for many businesses. Combined with the chancellor’s promise earlier this month of a half-price lunch, the message appears clear: it’s time to get going and move the economy forward again. But as we do, the government should also take [...]
Don’t let corporate governance turn into a box-ticking exercise Last week, some of the UK’s biggest businesses received a rap on the knuckles, as the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) published its annual review of how well companies lived up to the Corporate Governance Code. Some FTSE firms, the accounting and governance regulator argued, were simply “paying lip service to the spirit of the Code”, [...]
With companies in uproar over business rate increases, should the tax just be scrapped? Sancho Simmonds, a partner and scaleup lead at Smith & Williamson, says Yes. Business rates belong in another age. They are an antiquated way of taxing companies and they don’t take into account the fact we are living in a modern age. Many small companies have now been taken out of the range, but there [...]