Newswire September 2024

  • Person icon Mercia Group
  • Calendar icon 23 September 2024 10:00

Welcome to our September Newswire.

Thank you once again for all your feedback and insights to help us prepare your Training Programme for 2025. We’re almost ready to launch, so do watch out for it landing in your inboxes shortly! As requested, courses will be available in various formats, to support you in meeting your training needs.

Among the highlights, our award-winning Early Careers Auditing Skills Series will be offered in both on-demand and interactive eLearning modules. These provide a fresh approach to audit training, designed to be completed at the most appropriate time for your trainee’s role and experience. And new for 2025 are the Mercia Masterclasses, providing extracts from our popular conference programme, offering you a unique opportunity to hear from experts in specialist areas relevant to your area of work.

We’re also preparing for Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ first Autumn Budget. Speculation is mounting over which measures she will take to fill in the £22 billion blackhole while HMRC has updated its guidance on Research and Development tax reliefs. For more details on these topics take a look at our news and insights page.

Mercia’s tax experts will be watching the Autumn Budget on 30 October and will provide a detailed analysis of all the fiscal announcements. Keep your clients up to date with our range of digital and printed products.

In this month’s newswire, we look at the top myths around self assessment tax returns and HMRC’s new postal forms for registering as a subcontractor, please see the tax section for details. On the audit side, we look at the amendments to the FRS 101 Reduced Disclosure Framework and the regulator’s consultation on Going Concern Guidance..

Latest products

 

2024 Conferences

With more than 15 topics to choose from, Mercia’s conferences ensure that you are kept up to date on the latest regulatory changes and trends across various sectors.

 

Autumn Budget 2024

Communicate key changes effortlessly with Mercia’s Autumn Budget Summary.

FREE content with every purchase of an Autumn Budget Summary.

Budget at a Glance – highlights you can share with your clients, delivered to you during the working day on 30 October.

Autumn Budget Webinar – attend our webinar on 31 October to understand the implications of the Chancellor’s announcements and prepare for client questions.

Technical queries

PRODUCT OF THE MONTH

Need expert advice? Struggling to find a solution? Mercia’s technical team is always on hand to help. We handle over 2,000 technical queries each year, providing insights and resolving issues for accountancy firms across the UK.

AUDIT & ACCOUNTING

FRC publishes amendments to FRS 101 Reduced Disclosure Framework 

The FRC has issued minor Amendments to the FRS 101 Reduced Disclosure Framework following the 2023/24 annual review cycle. 

Changes include a disclosure exemption from presenting certain comparative information, and a conditional exemption for qualifying entities in respect of certain disclosures about supplier finance arrangements required by IAS 7 Statement of Cash Flows. 

Amendments were also made to Appendix II Note on Legal Requirements for consistency with IAS 1 Presentation of Financial Statements. 

FRC issues consultation on Going Concern Guidance 

The FRC has issued a consultation on revisions to its Guidance on the Going Concern Basis of Accounting and Related Reporting, including Solvency and Liquidity Risks. Once finalised, it will replace the FRC’s existing guidance, issued in 2016. 

The FRC comments that the draft Guidance is intended to help companies prepare high-quality, company-specific disclosures about their going concern conclusions and how they were reached. The FRC add that Guidance will be non-mandatory and will serve as a proportionate and practical guide to all UK companies within its scope, which includes companies that apply the UK Corporate Governance Code, but excludes small companies and micro-entities. 

The consultation closing date is 28 October 2024. The FRC expects to publish the final guidance in early 2025. 

FRC publishes thematic reviews into offsetting in the financial statements and IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts 

The FRC has published two thematic reviews into the quality of UK company reporting in respect of offsetting in the financial statements and IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts. 

The FRC comments that offsetting contributes to a number of the FRC’s top ten reporting findings. It involves presenting items that would otherwise be shown separately as a single net amount. International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) permit or require offsetting only in specific situations. The FRC add that inappropriate use of offsetting can mask the full extent of the risks relating to a company’s assets and liabilities, income and expense, and cash flows. 

Discussion Paper launched on the Future of Digital Reporting in the UK 

A cross-regulatory group, comprising the FCA, Companies House, HMRC and the Charity Commission for England and Wales, has launched comprehensive discussion paper on the future of digital reporting in the UK. 

The group aims to gather stakeholder feedback on crucial developments in digital reporting. The paper addresses changes in the regulatory landscape and considers the impact of the recently passed Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023. 

The deadline for submitting comments is 1 November 2024. 

IASB proposes IFRS Accounting Taxonomy update for Contracts for Renewable Electricity 

The IASB has published a proposed update to the IFRS Accounting Taxonomy 2024 to reflect the proposed disclosure requirements for renewable electricity contracts.  

The proposed amendments relate to IFRS 9 Financial Instruments and IFRS 7 Financial Instruments: Disclosures. 

The deadline for submitting comments is 14 October 2024. 

ICAEW 

ICAEW changes to the UK Audit Regulations 

The ICAEW have made changes to the UK Audit Regulations with more to follow. 

The first amendments will come into effect on 1 October 2024 and include changes to: 

  • clarify that registered auditors must ensure that they and their staff comply with their professional body’s CPD regulations; 
  • the eligibility criteria to make it clear that where a firm’s constitution, however comprised, includes certain decisions that need more than a simple majority-vote for approval, that audit-qualified persons must be able to control any such ‘super-majorities’. The ICAEW acknowledge that these changes are complex and therefore more information on these eligibility-related changes has been issued. Firms will have until 1 April 2025 to comply; and 
  • the eligibility criteria to allow audit qualifications of certain overseas individuals to now be recognised in the UK. 

More changes are planned for 2025 which include: 

  • extending the powers of ICAEW’s Audit Registration Committee (ARC) to enable it to issue non-financial sanctions against on Ris; and 
  • the introduction of compulsory alternates for sole practices, although there are no immediate. 

The ICAEW comment that they are staggering these updates to give firms time to adapt and to ensure compliance. 

 

TAXATION

Need to register for Self Assessment? Top 5 myths - debunked

HMRC have clarified some common myths about Self Assessment tax returns. To read more, please click here.

New HMRC postal forms to register as a subcontractor

HMRC has published two new postal forms which can be used to register a limited company or a partnership as a subcontractor with payment under deduction. To find out more, please read the following two articles:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/register-a-partnership-as-a-subcontractor-with-payment-under-deduction-by-post

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/register-a-limited-company-as-a-subcontractor-with-payment-under-deduction-by-post

 

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