By Ian Fraser The Herald November 26th, 2007 More than a quarter of law firms are facing inquiries from Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) because of a change in accounting practice which requires them to value their work in progress. Charles Barnett, a partner in accountants PKF, said that legal firms face an uneasy [...]
By Ian Fraser The Herald November 26th, 2007 Members of the Scottish Parliament have expressed their desire to protect Scottish legal services from the full blast of market forces, apparently disregarding some of the views of the Office of Fair Trading. In a wide-ranging debate on the legal services market held in the Holyrood parliament, [...]
By Ian Fraser The Herald November 26th, 2007 The Scottish Government’s insolvency service is expected to unveil a radical restructuring of the government’s approach to handing out insolvency work later this week. Larger accountancy firms with good geographic coverage are expected to be the main beneficiaries, while smaller firms and sole practitioners are expected to [...]
November 22nd, 2007 I’ve just watched a chilling documentary on Channel 4 by the political comedian Mark Thomas. The programme focused on some of the unsavoury practices allegedly adopted by the Coca-Cola Company around the world. The Atlanta-based fizzy drinks company is facing a mounting consumer boycott, which initially kicked off in 2003, on university [...]
November 21st, 2007 Fortune magazine’s cover story on the collective insanity that overtook both Wall Steet and the City is well worth a read. The article, bylined Shawn Tully, was given the evocative title What were they smoking? but went under a more mundane headline on the related CNN website (“Wall Street’s money machine breaks down”) [...]
November 19th, 2007 TWO major stories regarding Scottish businesses were broken over the weekend. The first was that Sir Fred Goodwin, chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland, has been approached about taking over from Charles “Chuck” Prince III as boss of Citigroup. This was published by the Sunday Telegraph and written by former Scotsman [...]
By Ian Fraser The Herald November 19th, 2007 Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is trying once more to claw back money from people with offshore bank accounts through the offer of a partial amnesty. The move follows an attempt to offer offshore account holders an amnesty in June 2007 which has produced meagre pickings [...]
By Ian Fraser The Herald November 19th, 2007 Local authority planning departments will have to add resources and undergo a major cultural shift if Scotland’s new planning system is to meet its goals of making planning more efficient and more inclusive. Planning lawyers at law firm DLA Piper also warn that the division of Scottish [...]
By Ian Fraser Sunday Herald Business Comment November 18th, 2007 THE CITY chatter last week was that, having walked away from its £4.9 billion takeover of the “zombie” life company Resolution, Standard Life has become a takeover target itself. Sandy Crombie, the chief executive who marched his troops up the hill only to march them [...]
By Ian Fraser Sunday Herald November 18th, 2007 Office of Fair Trading raises landmark court action BANK CUSTOMERS could face a “blizzard of additional charges on their current accounts” if the Office of Fair Trading wins its court case against the UK’s largest banks over the fairness of their unauthorised overdraft charges. Should the OFT [...]