HMRC tells accountants it’s business as usual for routine tax planning June 8, 2016 The taxman has written to a leading accountancy firm to reassure it that it's business as usual for routine tax planning. Accountancy firm RSM, which has offices in the City, previously wrote in its weekly tax bulletin that it was concerned about a report that HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) had published in May. The report [...]
BHS blamed for the collapse of supplier as Pretty Polly tights firm goes into administration May 25, 2016 An iconic clothing firm that supplied BHS has gone into administration, blaming its collapse on the high street retailer. Courtaulds makes and supplies branded clothing, including Pretty Polly tights; its collapse will result in the loss of 350 jobs at the company. CUK Clothing, which merged with Courtaulds in 2006, also went into administration. Read more: The BHS brouhaha [...]
Cold weather and early Easter hit the pub trade in April, according to CGA Peach’s Coffer Peach Business Tracker May 19, 2016 Pub sales suffered as a result of cold weather and an early Easter, according to figures from CGA Peach's Coffer Peach Business Tracker. Pub groups experienced a 2.7 per cent sales decline on the same month last year, undermining wider growth in casual dining trading, although restaurant groups registered a like-for-like trading increase of 2.5 per [...]
Listen: Women in the City – time to stop asking why, and start asking why not? May 18, 2016 Whose responsibility is it to put more women into top roles? At the launch of City A.M.'s Power 100 list, our digital editor Emma Haslett was joined by Virgin Money chief executive Jayne-Anne Gadhia, A Very Good Company founder Natalie Campbell, Tech City chief of staff Caroline Makepeace and RSM chief executive Jean Stephens to [...]
Suitors wanted: Investors circle as Austin Reed becomes the latest retailer to tumble into administration April 26, 2016 Austin Reed has become the second retailer to enter administration in as many days, following the collapse of BHS on Monday. Yesterday, AlixPartners’ Peter Saville, Kevin Coates and Catherine William-son were named joint administrators of the firm, after months of challenging market conditions and cash flow problems. Two names have emerged as potential rescuers of the [...]
RSM International boss Jean Stephens: Take the emotion out of equality and remember the facts – more diverse businesses just do better April 18, 2016 Jean Stephens is a woman who is passionate about diversity but, from time to time, she thinks it would be better to suck the emotion out of the often explosive subject and just face the facts: improving diversity in the boardroom could improve profits too. "Everyone has to embrace the fact that, by having diverse opinions [...]
The 32 best barbecue restaurants in America: From Austin to North Carolina, we take a foodie tour of the American South’s top grills March 7, 2016 The best way to see America is by car, and the best way to taste America is on a driving tour of the country’s most celebrated BBQ pits. On a three week, six state and 2,500 mile journey from Texas to the Carolinas, I went in search of the best BBQ in the American South, [...]
After a sticky 2015 McDowell is on course to prove that class is permanent February 29, 2016 Class is forever, form is only temporary. That saying could well be applied to Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell as he continued his resurgence with a strong performance at last week's Honda Classic. McDowell endured a rocky 2015, during which he missed seven cuts and registered just three top-10 finishes. That run of form resulted in him plummeting [...]
Google tax row: Economists and accountants react to this morning’s hearing with the Public Accounts Committee, many concluding that the corporate tax system needs a revamp February 11, 2016 From how taxed chair of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Meg Hillier's patience was to Google's Europe president Matt Brittin's take-home pay, today's hearing between MPs and Google representatives was a true war of words. For some observers, though, the debate did not quite hit the mark. "The focus today around Google’s tax affairs misses the [...]
RSM now sixth biggest accountancy network in the world, narrowly overtaking Grant Thornton, with six per cent fee income growth for year ended December 2015 February 3, 2016 RSM has today announced it achieved six per cent growth for fee income in the year to December 2015, meaning the accountancy network has narrowly overtaken Grant Thornton to become the sixth biggest worldwide. The firm, which was previously in seventh place in the global rankings and currently has over 750 offices across 120 countries, [...]