2010

Zero-rating for indirect exports

[15/10/2013] The VAT rating for goods exported outside the EU is changing.

Gifts and inheritance tax

[15/10/2013] Help clients understand the types of transfers which can be made under inheritance tax legislation.

Technical factsheet 183: Leases

The purpose of this helpsheet is to provide guidance on the disclosure of accounting for leases within statutory financial statements. This helpsheet will consider the provisions within the Companies Act 2006 and the accounting and disclosure requirements within the related accounting regulations, SSAP 21 Accounting for leases and hire purchase contracts, Financial Reporting Standard for Smaller Entities 2008 (FRSSE 2008), FRSSE 2015 and Financial Reporting Standard 102 (FRS 102) The Financial Reporting Standard Applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland.

Five things we’ve learned about SMEs during the downturn

[10/10/2013] What has the past few years taught us about SMEs, and what will this mean for your business in the months to come?

Surviving the recession and the recovery: the SME story

This report provides a unique insight into how SMEs have survived and thrived the latest period of global economic developments and drawing lessons for the future.

IAESB: Proposed revised IES4, initial professional development - professional values, ethics, and attitudes (revised)

Comments from ACCA to the International Accounting Education Standards Board, October 2012

Digital Darwinism: thriving in the face of technology change

This report presents the top 10 technology trends that will have the potential to significantly reshape the business and accountancy landscape.

Technical factsheet 182: School academies – advice for auditors

The number of academies in England has increased drastically over the past few years -from 203 in 2010 to 1,957 by August 2012. An academy is a publicly funded independent school that receives its funding from central government and sponsors, rather than from the local authority. Academies have freedom from local authority control, and this includes the freedom to set pay and conditions, and to alter term and day lengths, as well as a certain amount of freedom around how the curriculum is delivered.

Refunds of Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT)

Charitable organisations should consider if they have overpaid SDLT following the decision of the Court of Appeal.

Carbon avoidance? Accounting for the emissions hidden in reserves

This joint report from ACCA and Carbon Tracker explores global reporting practices on fossil fuel reserves and the nature of any information gaps.

Introducing collaboration technology as a multi-dimensional solution to the handover process

Sharon Cannaby, October 2013. This report describes the progress of University Hospitals of Leicester (UHL) in transforming clinical handover on the surgical wards from a disorganised and often frenzied process to one that complies with best clinical practice.

Global economic conditions survey report: Q3, 2013

The global economic conditions survey, carried out jointly by ACCA and IMA since late 2011, is the largest regular economic survey of accountants in the world, both in terms of the number of respondents and the scope of economic variables it monitors.

Consultation on corporate responsibility

Comments from ACCA to the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS), 27 September 2013

Future pathways to finance leadership

This report looks at how the future role of the CFO is expected to evolve, and the career experiences likely to be of most benefit to next generation CFOs.

Finance leaders survey report: June 2013

ACCA and IMA, June 2013. This is the second of a series of surveys that ACCA and IMA conduct every six months to track finance leaders' views on key issues.

Improving natural capital reporting and finding the tools to help

This paper highlights some of the ways companies can report on their natural capital impacts and dependencies.

Transparency and trust

Comments from ACCA to the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS), September 2013

Employee ownership and employee shareholder status

Details of employee ownership and employee shareholder status

Inheritance tax - Scotland

HMRC has produced a suite of forms for dealing with inheritance tax on Scottish estates

Tariff Trade Agreement - Central America

[18/09/2013] Reciprocal Preferential Trade Agreement between EU and Central America came into force on 1 August 2013.

US tax residents

[18/09/2013] HMRC has issued an update on the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).

Inheritance tax – gift schemes

[16/09/2013] Discounted gift schemes can exist where a gift or gifts are made by an individual whose estate is likely to face an IHT charge and where the gift or gifts are structured to ensure that the value of the gift is less than the value of the assets being removed from the individual’s estate. The most common schemes are insurance product based.

UK GAAP: how ACCA can help you prepare

[16/09/2013] ACCA Technical Factsheet 181 explaining the financial reporting and taxation consequences of the change to the new UK GAAP is now available.

Good governance in the public sector – international framework

Comments from ACCA to the International Federation of Accountants, 13 September 2013

Leases

Comments from ACCA to the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), 13 September 2013

Disincorporation relief

[12/09/2013] Disincorporation Relief is available to small businesses looking to convert from being a corporation subject to the regulations of the Companies Acts to the flexibility of being unincorporated.

Applying capital gains tax in divorce cases

[12/09/2013] Divorce often results in the transfer of assets between spouses. Understand how and when CGT applies.

Knowledgeable about IFRS for SMEs?

[11/09/2013] Why ACCA’s CertIFRS for SMEs could benefit your business.

Regulatory deferral accounts

Comments from ACCA to the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), 4 September 2013

Understanding investors: the road to real-time reporting

ACCA, September 2013. This report is the third of a four-part project examining what investors want from corporate reporting and how organisations are responding to their needs. It explores trends in the speed of internal and external financial reporting, and assesses the pros and cons of a move towards real-time, or ‘near-to-real-time’, reporting to investors and other stakeholders.

Benefits in kind

A detailed look at income, in the context of employment.

International standard for public benefit entities

Details of CCAB research into the need for not-for-profit organisations.

Charity SORP (New SORP consultation)

The Charity Commission and Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR), the joint SORP making body, have issued an Exposure Draft SORP for comment.

Gift aid

HMRC has published detailed guidance on The Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS)

Housing associations - practice note 14

Proposed Practice Note 14 (Revised) on the audit of housing associations in the United Kingdom

Audit tendering

FRC has issued PN067: Audit Tenders: Notes on best practice.

Tax avoidance schemes

HMRC, as part of its 'Spotlights' updates, has issued warnings on two types of tax scheme.

VAT update: August 2013

A number of VAT consultations were announced in the Budget 2013.

Withholding tax rates

Maximum rates of tax those countries with a Double Taxation Agreement with the UK can charge a UK resident on payments of dividends, interest, royalties and management/technical fees.

Conceptual framework for general purpose financial reporting by public sector entities: presentation in general purpose financial reports

Comments from ACCA to the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board, 13 August 2013

Housing SORP 2014

The National Housing Federation has published an invitation to comment on the Housing SORP - Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP): Accounting by registered social housing providers.

HMRC campaign targets tax return catch-ups

HMRC has launched its latest campaign entitled 'My Tax Return Catch-Up'

SMEs, financial reporting and trade credit: an international study

ACCA research report 133, by J. Collis and R. Jarvis.

The UK General Anti-Abuse Rule

Chas Roy-Chowdhury, August 2013. This article considers tax avoidance and the possible effects of the UK General Anti-Abuse Rule (GAAR), which came into effect in July 2013.

Material concerns

While the widening scope of corporate reporting and assurance is making the concept of materiality more important, it is also becoming more complex.

SMEs and foreign exchange risk: are small and medium-sized accountancy practices up to speed?

This report explores the role of accountancy practitioners in managing the foreign exchange exposures of SME clients, and what the accountancy profession could do to improve its offering to small businesses.

HMRC enquiries – re-opening earlier years

Tribunal case reveals that HMRC’s method of calculating income for earlier years on the basis of spreading is open to challenge where a more reasonable and accurate method is appropriate

New charity SORP: have your say

With a new charity SORP on the way, you can comment on the current Exposure Draft

Remittance basis 2011-12: HMRC exercise

HMRC announce an "educational exercise" aimed at taxpayers taxed on the remittance basis due to a perceived lack of understanding of what constitutes a remittance.

Cash accounting - the pros and cons

Arguments in favour of and against the cash accounting regime for small businesses, which is optional for small unincorporated businesses from 6 April 2013.