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Pre-commencement conditions requiring the applicant's approval The long awaited effect of Regulations that will require Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) to obtain the written agreement of applicants before imposing pre-commencement conditions [...]

Case study Robert Bruce looks at the recruitment policies that are key to securing the top talent One of the perennial cries of woe from smaller accounting firms is that [...]

In the words of Graham Tilbury, business development manager at Thomson Reuters, 'XBRL has been a solution looking for a problem for much of its life'. XBRL (Extensible Business Reporting [...]

Mid-tier Robert Bruce looks at how the smaller firms are faring among the industry goliaths The mid-tier of the accountancy market in the UK has always been a difficult place [...]

Environment Robert Bruce looks at the potential benefits from government intervention Green taxes are the up-and-coming thing in tax circles. They are in tune with the times. They deal with [...]

The role of the corporate accountant has become more important not less, writes Robert Bruce Adecade ago, revolution was in the air. Report after report argued that the finance function, [...]

reporting standards Jennifer Hughes and Robert Bruce examine how companies are harmonising the way they report There is no part of the accountancy world that can escape the growing pressures [...]

nhs management Robert Bruce explores why the imposition of financial controls has created problems Arguing about the National Health Service is virtually a national sport. And recent days have seen [...]

sustainability Have accountancy firms really changed? Robert Bruce investigates The trouble with accountants and sustainability is the scepticism. The accountancy profession has always been adept at spotting new revenue streams [...]

LMITED LIABILITY Everyone thinks it desirable, but it has failed to happen, says Robert Bruce One of the longest running sagas in accountancy looks to be coming to a pretty [...]

SUSTAINABILITY Robert Bruce says firms that have linked green ideas to financial metrics will derive benefits in the downturn In a serious recession companies tend to batten down the hatches [...]

PROFESSIONAL liability The SEC may upset a long-awaited deal to limit UK auditors' exposure, reports Robert Bruce The arguments about auditor liability have run for decades. But every time a [...]

rankings The dominance of the Big Four carries risk, but it is hard to remedy, writes Robert Bruce The gap between the biggest accounting firms in the UK and the [...]

FINANCIAL TAGGING A new reporting system will soon become mandatory, says Robert Bruce The closer you get to introducing a new system of any form of reporting, the more people [...]

The profession is starting to integrate environmental audits into its mainstream reporting, writes Robert Bruce The outsider's perception of accountants would be that they are far from being the greenest [...]

You might expect a system to simplify financial reporting in smaller companies would be universally supported and acclaimed. After all, complaints about the complexities of international financial reporting standards (IFRS) [...]

For the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), success is producing headaches as well as plaudits. It was set up in 2001 with the task of bringing order to international financial [...]

The annual report is a peculiar document. It is born of compliance. Companies have to produce one every year. But other bits get bolted on. It becomes part marketing brochure, [...]

In between the Royal Academy and Burlington Arcade off Piccadilly in central London there is one of the highest walls you are likely to see. It was built back in [...]

Every year when the Finance Bill is published the accountancy profession takes a look at the number of pages it has grown to and complains about being overwhelmed with detail. [...]

For years, accountants have dabbled at the edges of sustainability. Their response to climate change and the growing effect it has on corporate performance has been, in the words of [...]

Companies that need turnround skills have come increasingly to rely on people stepping into the role of chief restructuring officer. These people, known as CROs, have become the central figures [...]

In an era of globalisation a common reporting language makes logical and business sense, and this is why an increasing number of listed companies around the world are using IFRS. [...]

The reporting of sustainability and the embedding of that process in corporates and other organisations is becoming a significant global issue for the accountancy profession. In August, the green guru [...]

As in much of the rest of life there is often a clear divide in business between what is seen as aspirational and what is simply practical. It is in [...]

For years the rather cumbersomely titled Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales - or the ICAEW - has been punching below its weight. It is by far the [...]

The relationship between accountants and their peers in a business setting has always been fraught. Accountants understand the numbers and how they work within the business. They build corporate strategies [...]

Internal control is one of the most basic of corporate safeguards. But in an era of burgeoning external regulatory measures companies can easily find that their focus is elsewhere. The [...]

Two years ago, there began a tumultuous revolution with far-reaching effects. Its name? The introduction of the innocuous-sounding International Financial Reporting Standards, or IFRS. To date, more than 100 countries [...]

When the idea of loosening the stranglehold of the Big Four audit firms was first mooted by the UK's Financial Reporting Council, it was thought a good idea but one [...]

On Monday an extraordinary thing happened. The leaders of the US, Germany and the European Commission signed an agreement in Washington that will put an end to much of the [...]

In the heart of the litigious business culture of the US, it takes an American lawyer to articulate the problem. Michael Young, litigation partner with Willkie Farr & Gallagher in [...]

One of the problems of success is that people want more. And so it is with audit committees. As a mechanism for providing an independently-minded overview of a company's strategy, [...]

No one can accuse the Scots of a lack of bravery. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS) started the fight, and now it is to take it to [...]

For several years the words 'Sarbanes-Oxley' have produced two responses from the corporate reporting world. The first was an instant feeling of weariness. The proliferation of rules surrounding the US [...]

'It's quite frightening,' says Anthony Kirby, head of regulation and compliance at Accenture. 'There are less than 250 days to go.' The final countdown to Mifid is on. Such has [...]

Once upon a time it was very different. The business world would be rent by a cataclysmic corporate collapse. The lines of credit would have finally run out and another [...]

There is nothing Americans and Brits like more, if you believe those songs about the pronunciation of words such as tomato and potato, than a spat about meaning in the [...]

The steady expansion of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as the way the world's companies report results continues apace. The days of troubles over implementation are past. But, with the [...]

The publication this month of the long-awaited exposure draft of an International Financial Reporting Standard on small- and medium-sized companies (IFRS on SMEs) has generally been welcomed. But much of [...]

The past months have been turbulent for financial reporting and the result has been much uncertainty. But now that the dust has settled over the latest changes in company law, [...]

The idea of outsourcing a company's basic finance function activities is not a new one. The original pioneering effort took place back in 1993 when oil giant BP outsourced its [...]

When the team of participants launched the 'Report Leadership' initiative late last November it made it clear this was only a start and that, after assessing reactions to their proposals, [...]