Most years the annual shareholder meeting of your average British public company is a sleepy affair. This isn’t most years. Typically, small investors catch the train to London for some free sandwiches and the chance to lob a couple of awkward questions at the board of directors. On rare occasions retail investors might back an […]
Neil Baker
Posted inFrom the Archive
New Tax Man Tactics in United Kingdom
Britain begins another fiscal year this week with the country short on cash, meaning yet another year of the Crown stepping up collection of corporate taxes to help close the gap. This year, however, the royal tax collector will have a new tool to force companies to disclose possible tax evasion more quickly if they […]
Posted inEurope
U.K. Gives More Guidance on Good Comply-or-Explain Disclosure
With the European Commission planning to introduce a tougher model of corporate oversight, Britain’s Financial Reporting Council is fighting to defend its more flexible “comply or explain” approach. The FRC’s latest salvo is a report urging all companies to reveal more detail about their governance arrangements, even if they aren’t doing anything unusual that needs […]
Posted inEurope
Europe’s New Data Laws Could Snare Many U.S. Companies
The European Commission is updating its data protection laws, creating the first pan-European rules to govern electronic information. While that’s good news for most European businesses since it will streamline compliance, it’s bad news for U.S. companies, many of which will have to comply with European data laws for the first time. The proposed European […]
Posted inEurope
Ten Global Compliance Trends to Watch in 2012
Plenty in the United States will happen this coming year to keep compliance executives busy, but they’ll need to keep an eye on overseas developments too. Europe is the main area to watch. Big changes to the regulatory and compliance environment are coming. 1. Britain loses its voice in Europe. Britain lost many friends in […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
Audit Reform Proposals in Europe Target Big Four
Many in the audit profession are pushing back hard against ideas regulators have proposed to improve audit quality here in the United States, including audit firm rotation and new disclosures in the audit report. But those ideas may seem mild compared to what regulators in Europe are considering. The European Commission is due to unveil […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
U.K. Regulators Scale Back Narrative Reporting
Britain moved a step closer to clearing up its complicated narrative reporting rules last month. The government announced long-awaited plans to scrap a series of required disclosures that, it admits, nobody wants to read. The aim is to ease the reporting burden on companies while making their financial reports more useful to shareholders. Too many […]
Posted inAnti-Bribery
Germany Creates a Standard for Compliance Assurance
With some of Germany’s best-known companies rocked by bribery and corruption scandals in recent years, the danger of a compliance system failure has become a growing concern inside the country’s boardrooms. German companies have been investing to improve their compliance systems in response and have turned to audit firms for help designing them and for […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Tax Fears Forces Companies to Look Abroad
*/ /*–>*/ A quarter of large UK businesses are thinking of moving some or all of their operations overseas, with the majority of them saying increased tax costs are their reason for wanting to go. Research carried out for HM Revenue & Customs by accountants UHY Hacker Young also found that 78% of large UK […]
Posted inBoards & Shareholders
Recruitment Code Aims to Get More Women on Boards
*/ /*–>*/ In an effort to increase the number of women in senior corporate jobs, a group of London-based executive search firms has launched a new voluntary code of recruitment conduct that it wants companies to follow. The move is a response to the government-commissioned Davies Review of Women on Boards, published in February. The […]