Accountancy Insights

Welcome to this ICAEW Insights podcast, where we analyse the latest news from the world of accountancy, business and finance.

On the show we speak to Eleanor Fairford, the National Cyber Security Centre’s Deputy Director for Incident Management, about the rising tide of ransomware, and how chartered accountants can protect themselves and their businesses.

ICAEW Tax Faculty’s Lindsey Wicks outlines the details of the government’s new health and social care levy and talks us through the Office for Tax Simplification’s report on the costs and benefits of moving tax year away from 5 April.

And ahead of Charity Fraud Awareness Week (18 – 22 October 2021), Mia Campbell, Head of Fraud Advisory Panel and Kristina Kopic, Head of Charity and Voluntary Sector, ICAEW tell us about fraud in the sector, how the pandemic has changed criminals’ behaviour, and how charities should react if the worst happens.

Links to resources discussed in the show:
- PM confirms 1.25% increase to NIC and dividend tax rates.
- Government to fast-track rules enacting healthcare levy.
- OTS provides valuable insights on changing the tax year.
- COVID sick pay rebate scheme ends on 30 September.
- The Charity Fraud Awareness Week website.
- Managing the risk of fraud and financial crime – an overview for charities.
- ICAEW virtual event on Charity Governance.
- The National Cyber Security Centre website.
- The growing threat of ransomware.

Host:
Tom Herbert, online editor ICAEW Insights, We Are Sunday

Guests:
- Lindsey Wicks, Technical Editor, ICAEW Tax Faculty.
- Eleanor Fairford, Deputy Director for Incident Management, the National Cyber Security Centre.
- Mia Campbell, Head of Fraud Advisory Panel.
- Kristina Kopic, Head of Charity and Voluntary Sector, ICAEW.

Producer:
Natalie Chisholm

Episode first published: 23 September 2021
Podcast recorded: 15 September 2021 (ransomware section) and 21 September 2021 (tax and charity fraud sections)

Welcome to this ICAEW Insights ‘In Focus’ podcast. This is where we interrogate a specific but timely topic from the world of accountancy, business and finance. This time we examine the gender pension gap.

We hear a lot about the gender pay gap – the difference between the average earnings of men and women, but the pensions gap has had little attention, yet it is actually more acute. While the gender pay gap among full-time employees in April 2020 was 7.4%, and it was 15.5% among all employees, the gender pension gap is much wider. A recent report found a 40% gap in pension savings between women and men – that's an average difference in pension income by gender of about £7,500 a year.

According to research released by Scottish Widows earlier this year, the average woman in her twenties is on course to have £100,000 less in her pension pot at retirement than a man of the same age. Women face a higher risk of retiring in poverty than men. And the pandemic appears to have increased the gender pension gap, because women were more likely to be furloughed or lost their jobs.

Women live longer, earn less and save less. They are more likely to take long breaks from their career for caring responsibilities or to work part-time. Even the state pension is based on how many years you’ve worked or National Insurance credits you’ve received during time off for parenting or caring.

This podcast will explore all these issues, and explain how individuals, businesses and government can go about closing the gender pension gap.

Host:
Rosamund Urwin
 
Guests:
- Jane Portas, a former financial services partner at two big 4 accountancy firms, the co-founder of Insuring Women’s Futures which is a market-led programme for improving women’s and society’s financial resilience, and the author of ‘The Risks in Life’ series of reports and practical including ‘Solving women’s pension deficit to improve retirement outcomes for all.
- Philippe Seidel of AGE, the largest EU-funded network of organisations of and for older people in Europe. He specialises in the fields of employment of older workers and social protection, as well as gender equality. Philippe also coordinates AGE’s relations with the European Parliament.
- Philippa Kelly, ICAEW’s Director of Financial Services who leads ICAEW’s work across banking, insurance and investment management. She qualified as a chartered accountant with PwC.

Producer:
Natalie Chisholm

Episode first published: 16 September 2021
Podcast recorded: 13 September 2021

Welcome to this ICAEW Insights podcast, where we analyse the latest news from the world of accountancy, business and finance.

On this show, we’ll speak to Liz Barclay, the government’s new Small Business Commissioner, on efforts to tackle the scourge of late payments.

ICAEW Tax Faculty’s Lindsey Wicks outlines the implications of the government’s proposed reforms to basis periods.

Football finance expert and chartered accountant Kieran Maguire gives us the story behind his hit podcast ‘The Price of Football’.

And ICAEW’s Katharine Bagshaw explains why the IAASB thinks we need an audit standard for less complex entities.

Links to resources discussed in the show:
- Getting paid sooner: the vital role of accountants.
- Contact the Office of the Small Business Commissioner.
- TAFR gets real with consultation on basis period reform.
- Basis period reform – feedback needed.
- Speed of basis period reform risks integrity of tax system, warn professional bodies.
- Digital marketplaces to report sellers’ incomes to HMRC as early as 2023.
- Football clubs should target accountants this transfer window.
- An Evening with Kieran Maguire.
- The Price of Football podcast.
- Less complex entities: ICAEW salutes IAASB’s initiative.

Host:
Tom Herbert, online editor ICAEW Insights, We Are Sunday

Guests:
- Katharine Bagshaw, Manager, Auditing Standards, ICAEW
- Kieran Maguire, Football Finance Lecturer, University of Liverpool and co-founder, Price of Football podcast
- Lindsey Wicks, Technical Editor, ICAEW Tax Faculty
- Liz Barclay, Small Business Commissioner

Producer:
Natalie Chisholm

Episode first published: 26 August 2021
Podcast recorded: 24 and 25 August 2021

Welcome to this ICAEW Insights ‘In Focus’ podcast. ICAEW’s Head of Corporate Finance, David Petrie, is joined by a panel of experts to discuss debt, equity and other funding options for small businesses in the light of government intervention as a consequence of the pandemic and the return to growth.

Host:
David Petrie, Head of Corporate Finance, ICAEW;

Guests:
- Graeme Sands, Corporate and Growth Banking Director, Virgin Money UK;
- Steve Cordiner, Head of Unquoted Investment, Gresham House Ventures;
- Maggie Rodriguez-Piza, Chief Executive, Funding London;
- Asif Ahmed, Founder & Managing Director, Acclivity Advisors;
- Wendy Smith, Senior Innovation and Growth Specialist, Innovate UK EDGE North.

Producer:
Natalie Chisholm. 

Episode first published: 19 August 2021. 
Podcast recorded: 12 August 2021. 

Welcome to this ICAEW Insights podcast, where we analyse the latest news from the world of accountancy, business and finance. 

On this show, we’ll look at how the boundaries between accountants’ personal and business lives have blurred during the pandemic, resulting in a rising number of disciplinary cases involving social media. What are the professional bodies doing about this?

ICAEW has responded to the government’s future-facing Tax Administration Framework Review, which is likely to affect all taxpayers, businesses and those who advise them. We’ll examine the review and ask why the Institute has called for more resourcing for HMRC to deliver the government’s vision.

Details of the fifth self-employment income support scheme grant have been released - how different is it from its predecessors and what should you look out for? 

And what is the difference between an e-money business account and a traditional business bank account, and why does it matter?

Links to resources discussed in the show:
- HMRC needs more resource to rebuild the UK's tax system.
- In-year tax estimates wouldn’t be an accurate basis for payment.
- FCA: fintech firms must clarify non-bank status.
- E-money and what you need to know.
- HMRC publishes guidance on the fifth SEISS grant.
- Self-employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) - the fifth grant.
- Accountants battle blurred boundaries between personal and professional life.
- CCAB Guidance on Boundaries of Personal and Professional Life in Ethics.

Host:
Tom Herbert, online editor ICAEW Insights, We Are Sunday

Guests:
- Philippa Kelly, Director, Technical Strategy Business Group, ICAEW
- Lindsey Wicks, Technical Editor, ICAEW Tax Faculty
- Sophie Wales, Director, Technical Strategy, Tax, Ethics & Law Group, ICAEW

Producers:
Guy Ruddle, Natalie Chisholm

Episode first published: 22 July 2021
Podcast recorded: 19 July 2021

The pandemic has pushed back gender parity across the UK FTSE 350 to 2036, with women holding just 22% of all executive committee roles. Just 15 of the top companies have female chief executives. While we’ve made some progress in recent years, what needs to change to reach true equality? ICAEW's Susanna Di Feliciantonio and Jane Berney discuss the issue with a panel of experts. 

The panel:
- Andrew Weir, Regional Senior Partner of KPMG in Hong Kong and Vice-Chairman of KPMG China, and Global Chair of Asset Management for KPMG.
- Leda Condoyanni, Chair of the Non-Executive Directors’ Club in Greece + board member of ecoDa.
- Catherine Musakali, Advocate of the High Court of Kenya and Chairperson of Women on Boards in Kenya.
- Susannah Haan, a non-profit leader currently holding a portfolio of non-executive director roles.

High profile frauds and corporate failures has put the spotlight on auditors. Regulators have questioned the quality of audits and the lack of competition in the audit market, leading to some of the more contentious elements of the BEIS whitepaper. What’s the right approach? Anna Draper, lead partner, BDO, Jayne Kerr, director audit strategy and public policy, PwC, Tracy Gordon, director of corporate governance, Deloitte, and Katharine Bagshaw, manager, auditing standards, ICAEW, join ICAEW’s Iain Wright to discuss. 

Trust in business and other institutions, such as Parliament and the press, has been declining for decades. How do we reverse the tide? Do the measures in the BEIS whitepaper set out a path to build back trust? In the second part of our corporate governance discussion, panellists Mala Shah-Coulon, associate partner at EY; Tom Gosling, fellow at London Business School; Andrew Ninian, director of stewardship and corporate governance, The Investment Association; John Odada, head of board and committees at BP; and Elizabeth Richards, head of corporate governance, ICAEW, talk trust with ICAEW’s Iain Wright.

The BEIS whitepaper proposes replacing the current regulator, the Financial Reporting Council, with a new, more powerful body, the Audit Reporting and Governance Authority – ARGA. ICAEW’s Iain Wright is joined by a mega-panel of experts to discuss this proposal: Mala Shah-Coulon, associate partner at EY; Tom Gosling, fellow at London Business School; Andrew Ninian, director of stewardship and corporate governance, The Investment Association; John Odada, head of board and committees at BP; and Elizabeth Richards, head of corporate governance, ICAEW. Part one of two.

The BEIS consultation on audit and corporate governance reform proposes sweeping changes that will have a profound impact on the way corporate Britain operates. Why is this necessary now? What will it mean in practical terms? And is the timing right? Cosette Reczek, a Chartered Governance Professional with over 30 years' experience and a member of the ICAEW Corporate Governance Committee, Janet Williamson, Senior Policy Officer at the TUC, and John Boulton, Director of Technical Policy at ICAEW, speak to ICAEW’s Managing Director for Reputation and Influence Iain Wright to find out more.

 Restoring trust in audit and corporate governance: explore the consultation and find out more about ICAEW’s views with this dedicated series of articles.