Firms must tighten their scrutiny of candidates whilst also bolstering their IT skills development infrastructure, experts say. Accountants’ ability to seamlessly transition between different IT systems is critical to promoting productivity and lowering upskilling costs within small and medium-sized accounting firms, according to specialist recruiter AJ Chambers. Jason Reynolds, the firm’s operations director, argues that practices’ […]

When it comes to the rich and famous, we only ever associate them with the roles they are famous for. Musicians have always been performing and actors have always been portraying characters on the big screen. However, many of the biggest stars we know today obtained multiple qualifications and held down 9-5 jobs before they […]

The modern consumer is tech-savvy, and generally digitally literate. Nowhere is this more evident than within the financial sector; consumers demand real-time reporting of their transactions, access to their accounts at any point during the day, and fast services. As a result, financial institutions have had to also embrace the digital world – the accountancy […]

The role of the accountant is changing as a result of new technology and software which can now do many of the process-heavy jobs which accountants used to have to do. In the future an accountant will need not only numerical skills, but a knowledge of technology, an understanding of how business works, the ability […]

Can Open Banking drive a quiet revolution in accountancy?   Since its launch in 2018, progress on the flagship Open Banking initiative has been incremental and occasionally inconsistent. Will the removal of a significant obstacle to adoption and an increasingly diverse range of products in the space help Open Banking deliver on its promise to […]

HM Treasury has approved the final 2022 version of the Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies’ (CCAB’s) anti-money laundering (AML) guidance for the accountancy sector. The new guidance incorporates changes introduced to the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 from January 2020, when the EU Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5AMLD) […]

HMRC have opened a new consultation ‘Income Tax: Low-income trusts and estates’ which considers whether trusts and estates with small amounts of income should be removed from Income Tax. Strictly speaking, as trustees and personal representatives do not benefit from personal allowances, trust and estates have to report all income earned through Self Assessment, irrespective […]

As we are back round to another tax year, we have a few changes coming into force. As an employer it is important that you are aware of the following changes to your payroll, whether you are a small business or a large company. Each year the national minimum wage and living wage changes so […]

Self Assessment customers are being warned to be on their guard after more than 570,000 scams were reported to HMRC in the last year. HM Revenue and Customs says reports of fraudulent texts, emails and calls have been logged in their thousands with criminals making persistent attempts to try and steal people’s money or personal […]

HMRC investigations into individuals and small businesses last year yielded no returns in nearly half of of all cases, according to new research shared with City A.M. this afternoon. The proportion of investigations which returned no money to the Treasury has risen by over a third, to 47 per cent last year up from 31 per cent […]