ACCA’s Policy team is working to develop recommendations and lobby for government policy to support members and the businesses they advise. The team maintains close relationships with a number of government departments and ministers to ensure that members have clear and relevant guidance.
Members have been sharing a range of helpful insight and experiences, which we have reported back in response to government requests for business intelligence and our targeted lobbying, and we continue to welcome a broad range of views and insight from members to shape lobbying at UKPolicy@accaglobal.com.
ACCA’s Technical Advisory team fields technical and general business queries from members, offering case-by-case responses as well as broader guides and factsheets relevant to clients and employers in all sectors.
ACCA is receiving a high number of queries from members supporting businesses to claim the available support. Technical Advisory is working hard to maintain the usual three-day response time as services continue to be available to members in the UK via the email helpline advisory@accaglobal.com.
ACCA has taken steps to support its 219,000 members and 527,000 students all over the world via a Covid-19 online hub with resources and updates for students, employers and staff as well as guides to aid business planning and insights from members in international markets.
To find out more, take a look at our monthly updates, available on this page.
On 24 September ACCA submitted evidence to the government’s Comprehensive Spending Review. You can read a summary of our response.
Ahead of our submission we held a meeting on 18 September with Paul Scully MP, Minister for Small Business, and the Finance and Leasing Association. ACCA President Mark Millar and Council member Susan Allan spoke on behalf of ACCA, talking about the need to reintroduce the Enterprise Finance Guarantee to keep finance available to SMEs; modernisation of capital allowances to allow green investments in properties; and enhancing Local Enterprise Partnership models to encourage more SMEs to take professional advice, particularly throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.
With party conferences going virtual this year, ACCA took up an offer to host a policy discussion at the Labour Party Conference on 24 September. Our event, entitled ‘Greening Up: Better Work in a Just Transition’, was hosted by ACCA’s Head of Sustainability Jimmy Greer and welcomed guests Ed Miliband MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy; ACCA expert Yen-Pei Chen; Catherine Howarth, CEO at ShareAction; and Miriam Brett, director of research and advocacy at CommonWealth.
Yen-pei Chen called for systemic change and spoke about ACCA’s policy recommendations, including rethinking labour taxes, boosting social protections and how government can support circular business models to drive down resource consumption.
In September, ACCA was invited by Nick Owen, chair of the Professional Business Services Council (industry council convened by the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy), to submit representations ahead of an evidence session in Parliament on post-pandemic recovery.
ACCA spoke of the need for better digital infrastructure to support more localised working models as well as the need to embed finance professionals into the national industrial strategy as ‘super connectors’ in local economies.
ACCA noted that our members have unrivalled access to local business communities and deal daily with the analysis of business data as well as horizon scanning for risks/ opportunities that could support better policymaking within government.
In September, ACCA was invited to submit evidence to the Public Accounts Committee on user experiences of Making Tax Digital Reforms, ahead of questioning of HMRC officials on measures to close the tax gap.
Working with ACCA’s member policy group, ACCA’s Policy team submitted anonymous ‘testimonials’ and anecdotal evidence from members with our recommendations for an improved MTD user experience. We received correspondence in return asking to publish member comments in the committee report upon conclusion of the inquiry.
If you are interested in hearing from ACCA more regularly on requests for evidence and opportunities for engagement on policy issues, please email UKPolicy@accaglobal.com to express your interest.
In August, ACCA responded to two HMRC consultations. The first outlined the revised HMRC Charter to which ACCA noted that it was vital that ‘the right to appropriate representation’ would need to be carried into any new charter and that HMRC should include clarifications on how it would commit to reviewing and reporting its own failures to uphold the charter.
The second consultation focused on raising standards in the tax advice market, whereby we highlighted issues stemming from a lack of harmonised standards for non-registered agents and invited further engagement on suggested kitemarking schemes for professionally qualified agents
You can read a summary of our consultations.
ACCA’s Policy team is working to develop recommendations and lobby for government policy to support members and the businesses they advise. The team maintains close relationships with a number of government departments and ministers to ensure that members have clear and relevant guidance.
Members have been sharing a range of helpful insights and experiences, which we have reported back in response to government requests for business intelligence and our targeted lobbying.
We continue to welcome a broad range of views and insight from members to shape lobbying at UKPolicy@accaglobal.com.
On 9 July ACCA brought together a selection of ACCA members and industry partners to discuss Covid-19 recovery support and how policy could better reach those left behind by government schemes, particularly due to the exclusion of dividend income from support schemes.
Chaired by Claire Bennison, head of ACCA UK, the meeting welcomed guest speakers including Sarah Olney MP, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for business and trade; Philip King, Small Business Commissioner; and Gina Broadhurst, Forgotten Ltd campaign founder .
Olney stressed that there was enormous support in Parliament for these issues and the Liberal Democrats would continue to raise the highlighted trends, but pressure on the Treasury would also be crucial.
Bennison committed to bringing the group back together to discuss future measures and continue the discussion around support for at risk sectors.
At the beginning of the Covid-19 lockdown period, ACCA UK launched a survey in collaboration with the Corporate Finance Network (CFN) to identify the urgency and prevalence of liquidity concerns for businesses. This month alone, ACCA member feedback has received coverage in the Daily Telegraph, Sunday Times and City AM among many others.
Recent data shows a jump in the number of clients liquidating or dissolving their business from 2.9% a month ago to 5.4% this month; 23% of practice clients feel they will be unable to reopen their business with social distancing guidelines in place compared to a month ago.
We urge members to share their views and client experiences.
ACCA regularly attends a number of HMRC forums and this month we have taken part in meetings with the HMRC Representative Body Steering Group, the Employment and Payroll Group, the Agent Digital Design Advisory Group and the CJRS Stakeholder Group.
We were able to raise several critical areas of member feedback, including simplification of agent applications for CJRS, director payroll applications and CBILS take-up.
HMRC has noted member concerns and ACCA will share relevant feedback or actions with members in due course.
Following on from the above joint survey with CFN, which revealed that just 27% of clients had written financial forecasts or business plans that had been reviewed in light of Covid-19, ACCA has joined a new campaign to #LeaveNoBusinessBehind.
The campaign aims to provide additional support to the accounting profession to contact clients directly to plan for recovery, in order to prevent business owners from ‘sleepwalking into insolvency’ over the next 12 months. Members can watch the campaign launch.
Greater government support and industrial strategy advocacy for business planning and professional advice is a central part of ACCA’s policy positioning.
ACCA will be preparing responses to the following consultations and welcomes member feedback and evidence to UKPolicy@accaglobal.com:
In June ACCA’s chief executive, Helen Brand, was invited to join the Professional and Business Services Council, convened by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. The council met to discuss the sector's response to Covid-19, future recovery and the council's working group progress on responsible business, skills and inclusion and EU Exit.
ACCA was able to highlight the work of our members in supporting many businesses throughout the Covid-19 outbreak, and how ACCA and its members will support and advise throughout the recovery period.
At the beginning of the Covid-19 lockdown period, ACCA UK launched a survey in collaboration with the Corporate Finance Network (CFN) to identify the urgency and prevalence of liquidity concerns for businesses. This month, member feedback has received coverage on BBC online pages and BBC Radio, as well as a host of publications in the trade press.
Recent data shows around 2.9% of SMEs have liquidated or dissolved their business and 15% of practice clients feel they will be unable to reopen with social distancing guidelines in place. Business client appetite to offer supply chain credit is in decline, with 18% of clients tightening credit terms for new customers.
We urge members from practice to share their views and client experiences.
ACCA regularly attends a number of HMRC forums and this month we have taken part in meetings with the HMRC Representative Body Steering Group, the Employment and Payroll Group, the Agent Digital Design Advisory Group and the CJRS Stakeholder Group.
We were able to raise several critical areas of member feedback, including simplification of agent applications for CJRS, director payroll applications and CBILS take-up.
HMRC has noted member concerns, and ACCA will share relevant feedback or actions with members in due course.
ACCA attended an event with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Brandon Lewis MP. We submitted two questions during a Chatham House-style event:
Both questions were well received, and the minister reassured us that the government will look closely at both issues raised.
Throughout June and July, ACCA will be submitting evidence to the Labour Policy Forum on a range of policy areas including economic recovery, trade, Brexit and skills.
We welcome evidence from members on what principles or areas of focus the Labour Party should adopt in their policy development. Opposition policy is a useful mechanism for holding existing government measures to account and advocating for new mechanisms to improve business support.
On 29 June ACCA’s executive director for government, Maggie McGhee, will take part in a Labour Policy Forum panel with Shadow Chancellor Anneliese Dodds MP to discuss Covid-19 economic recovery. Member views are welcomed at UKPolicy@accaglobal.com.
The Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee is holding an inquiry into post-pandemic business growth. ACCA will be submitting a response by 17 July, and invites members to send in thoughts and market intelligence for inclusion in our submission. Members can follow the link above for the full call for evidence. The main relevant questions for ACCA members will be:
In May, ACCA joined a roundtable with Kevin Hollinrake MP. ACCA cited our member survey results, showing that just 2% of businesses applying for the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) and low approval rates from lenders. ACCA also raised member feedback highlighting SME reluctance to assume debt, and enquired whether alternative finance support measures would be made available.
Hollinrake said that grants form a significant part of business support and, naturally, government would be looking into further support. He invited ACCA to a follow-up meeting to share examples of members/clients struggling to access loans.
ACCA will be sharing member feedback with the minister; members are invited to send any further information to UKPolicy@accaglobal.com.
On 11 May ACCA attended a meeting with Kwasi Kwarteng MP, who spoke about the government's commitment to the pre-Covid-19 path of making the UK a green finance centre and making sure capital markets have the right information on climate risk exposure, which is comparable and consistent. Jimmy Greer, ACCA's head of sustainability research and policy, spoke about the role of chartered bodies in green finance education and the role of accounting standards in improving climate risk disclosures.
At the beginning of the Covid-19 lockdown period, ACCA UK launched a survey in collaboration with the Corporate Finance Network (CFN) to identify the urgency and prevalence of liquidity concerns for businesses. Member feedback has received coverage in the Financial Times, BBC Radio and The Accountant online. We urge members from practice and private sector to share their views and client experiences.
ACCA is discussing pragmatic responses and policy developments on a continuous basis. The following positions have recently been adopted and raised by ACCA in our regular market intelligence briefings to key government departments:
Agent eligibility to act on behalf of clients for SEISS
ACCA is concerned about HMRC’s announcement that agents would not be able to make Self-Employed Income Support Scheme claims on behalf of clients. Often clients require professional support to set up account details with HMRC, check calculations and use office tax portals. The inability of agents to act on behalf of their client, as is routine with tax returns, could lead to an unnecessary proportion of incorrectly submitted claims and delays. Self-employed individuals may also be left exposed and unable to identify scams and phishing emails, of which we are receiving increased reports in the current period.
ACCA has raised the issue of directors on annual payroll who, despite having made RTI submissions in previous years (2018/19 and earlier) and notifying payment to HMRC before 19 March 2020, are not being picked up by the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) application system. Additionally, many directors are receiving no support at all, as no FPS have been made in the 19/20 tax year ahead of the 19 March cut off. Urgent clarification and assurance is now required on this issue for many directors of limited entities whose only source of government support will now be the CJRS.
Support for self-employed: From an economic and public value perspective, it makes sense to target support for businesses on the basis of their function as economic actors, rather than their legal form. Government should consider how support could be extended to directors of SME- incorporated entities to ensure the survival of these businesses, naturally taking into account caps on support that exist for employees and the self-employed.
On 15 April, ACCA joined a small roundtable with Paul Scully MP, Minister from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to discuss Covid-19 support for business. ACCA was able to submit questions for the minister from our practitioner network and invite a further 10 ACCA members to join the meeting.
The minister stressed that the department is working to find simple solutions to support businesses that could operate at scale and was dealing with a very high volume of correspondence.
ACCA fed back that applications for the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) were not working as intended, with members reporting onerous applications and requests for information from lenders. Additionally ACCA highlighted that employers were running low on cash and were concerned that Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) payments were not being released in time to meet April payroll commitments.
The minister reported that efforts to increase the number of accredited lenders was a department priority. Additionally, lenders were experiencing difficulty getting smaller loans (less than £25,000) approved but BEIS was taking steps to address this.
The minister stressed that government officials understood the immediacy of the issue. Due to the updated lockdown timetable in line with scientific advice the minister welcomes insight from businesses about how they plan to come out of lockdown and what is vital for them to make the transition.
In April, ACCA UK launched a survey in collaboration with the Corporate Finance Network (CFN) to identify the short- to medium-term cash pressures on businesses.
On Wednesday 15 April we released results from the first week of the survey. Our survey found that a third of practitioner clients were likely to be unable to access the cash they would need for another two weeks of lockdown. Additionally, one in 10 business clients were likely to have already liquidated or dissolved their company.
Our findings, based on member feedback, were covered in the Financial Times and on Radio 4.
To inform our conversations with government and lenders on urgent capital support, we will continue to collect responses and produce a weekly analysis.
We urge members from practice and private sector to share their views and client experiences.
ACCA is discussing pragmatic responses and policy developments on a continuous basis. However, we have a number of key policy areas that we believe will be crucial for members and the businesses they support:
Expanding provision of CBILS
A recent survey of our private sector members found that 7% of organisations had applications for CBILS rejected and a further 42% had not yet applied for funding but intended to do so. For many with cash flow concerns, fixed costs and existing debts, securing finance or refinancing existing debts is essential. Based on feedback from members that those with pre-existing relationships with lenders are more likely to gain approval for funding, CBILS should be extended to include all Financial Conduct Authority-regulated providers in order to bolster the number of deals being agreed and ensure that economic stimulus is used to provide security to those who need it urgently.
Liquidity support
Member feedback has demonstrated that to aid cashflow for those concerned about short-term liabilities, fixed costs and staff costs, government and lenders should consider an amendment to the CBILS process to provide immediate liquidity support in the first stage of application, which allows firms to draw down a percentage of their annual revenue immediately on an interest-free basis until the facility is agreed.
Support for self-employed
From an economic and public value perspective it makes sense to target support for businesses on the basis of their function as economic actors, rather than their legal form. Government should consider how support could be extended to directors of SME-incorporated entities to ensure the survival of these businesses, naturally taking into account caps on support that exist for employees and the self-employed.
We welcome the measures by Companies House to offer filing deadlines for businesses. However, further relaxation of rules must be extended, allowing Companies House to grant extensions to filing deadlines for as long as necessary for businesses hit by Covid-19 disruption, bypassing the three-month limit on extensions and automatic penalties, which would be applied across the board.