NATIONAL BUSINESS AWARDS CELEBRATE VERY BEST OF BRITISH November 9, 2010 “CELEBRATING” the Best of British was how Prime Minister David Cameron described the National Business Awards last night, speaking via a video link recorded before his trip to China this week. And a fine celebration the ceremony was too, honouring companies of all sectors and sizes across the UK economy, from niche tiddlers such as [...]
ACCA EXPERTS | WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED IN THE COMPREHENSIVE SPENDING REVIEW November 9, 2010 Chas Roy-Chowdhury Head of taxation It’s very disappointing that HMRC’s budget was cut, although given that the Treasury had its budget cut by 33 per cent, maybe a 15 per cent cut isn’t as bad as it could have been. However, HMRC is a department that is having trouble even standing still, so any cut [...]
Four-year government plans miss the target November 8, 2010 THEY are calling it a revolution. David Cameron and Nick Clegg have announced a rejection of Labour’s target culture, offering instead four-year departmental business plans, opened up for public scrutiny and updated by regular progress reports. The ministerial statement claims this will “change the nature of government”, but this does not look like the accountability [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 5, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES NEW HOLE IN CONNAUGHT DEBT The scale of debt at Connaught, the collapsed property services group, will be greater than previously thought after administrators found 50,000 invoices that the company had not accounted for. Management accounts had led administrators from KPMG to believe that the social housing maintenance arm of Connaught owed £46m [...]
Child benefit proposals hit major hurdle October 28, 2010 THE government’s plans to scrap child benefit for higher rate tax payers could be almost impossible to enforce, it emerged yesterday, in the latest saga to hit the controversial reforms. Earlier this month, George Osborne announced plans to axe child benefit for all households that contain at least one higher-rate taxpayer from 2013, saving the [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING October 27, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES SOUTH AFRICA STILL A DRAG ON ANGLO AMERICAN Anglo American, the mining company, is finding it hard to escape its South African roots despite its efforts to become a cosmopolitan corporate citizen. An array of risks in South Africa, the source of 41 per cent of operating profits last year, is having an [...]
At a glance: George Osborne’s first comprehensive spending review October 20, 2010 SPENDING FIGURES This fiscal year current expenditure will be £637.3bn. In 2011-12, current spending will be £651.1bn, followed by £664.5bn in 2012-13, £678.6bn in 2013-14 and then £692.7bn in 2014-15. The government will pay £43.3bn of gross government debt interest this fiscal year followed by £46.5bn in 2011-12, £52.4bn in 2012-13, £57.8bn in 2013-14 and [...]
Drinks sales see faltering recovery October 13, 2010 NEW figures show that the alcohol industry in the UK is experiencing an “unsteady and uneven” recovery. Latest HMRC figures show beer sales fell in July, adding to publicans’ woes. The volume of beer released for UK consumption was down 1.7 per cent compared to the figure in June and 5.1 per cent year-on-year. The [...]
If fear of HMRC gets you down, cut a deal now September 30, 2010 THE Revenue net is closing in,” warns DLA Piper partner Simon Airey. “They’re creating a little bit of fear, which is what the HMRC like to do.” Sensing a public mood that is increasingly hostile to those who don’t pay UK taxes, treasury secretary Danny Alexander recently earmarked £900m for investigations into offshore tax evasion. [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 23, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES HARMAN COOL ON PLAN TO HALVE DEFICIT Harriet Harman has suggested that Labour should scrap its pre-election plan to halve the deficit by the end of this parliament, becoming the latest senior figure to intervene in the debate over economic direction. Labour’s interim leader said the UK was now in a “new situation” [...]