Opinion

Jason Cozens, founder & CEO of fintech Glint, discusses the rise of alternative global currencies such as Bitcoin. The idea that became Glint began life almost 15 years ago as I watched desperate consumers struggle to recover their funds from the collapsing Northern Rock. It was the first time t

Gordon Dean, partner at law firm Balfour+Manson, discusses the impact of an increase in authorised push payment (APP) fraud in recent years. There has been a huge rise in “authorised push payment” or “APP” fraud over recent years. The amounts involved in these scams can be si

Suzanne Sosna, interim director for global trade at Scottish Enterprise, outlines how the organisation is supporting Scottish companies following the end of the EU transition period. COVID-19 has changed everything; how we work, how and what we buy, who we spend time with, how we communicate, how we

Aileen Scott, head of tax in Scotland with Azets, discusses why the forthcoming Budget must further relax business taxes and minimise the growing risk of closures and redundancies across the SME community. Businesses are being starved of cash and the Chancellor must use tax relief to help businesses

With exactly four weeks to the day until the Chancellor delivers his Budget speech, Chris Sanger, EY's head of tax policy, has set out his predictions. While it’s been nearly a year since last Budget, the Chancellor has arguably spent more time delivering the series of mini ‘Covid-19 cri

Andrew Pollard, director of Falkirk-based business consultancy Ahead Business Consulting, discusses how planning ahead can help businesses as the year unfolds. 2021 is a highly uncertain year. We know more about COVID-19 and how both the NHS and Government will respond, but not much about new varian

Ian Campbell, director and chartered financial planner at AAB Wealth, discusses the future of pensions. The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable.” At AAB Wealth we agree with this view by the American economist, John Kenneth Galbraith, particularly in lig

Joanne Gillies, partner and insolvency disputes specialist at Pinsent Masons, discusses the impact of a ruling by the Court of Session allowing banks to claim debtors' PPI cash payouts.  Banks will be able to reduce the amount of compensation paid to customers who claimed they were mis-sold pay

Stuart Law, payroll director at Anderson Anderson & Brown (AAB), discusses the importance of payroll technology in a business. Rapidly advancing technology in the digital age means organisations are increasingly moving their technology away from Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)-based systems t

Ian McMonagle, tax specialist at Russell & Russell Business Advisers based in Glasgow, is predicting a fresh spate of late notice penalties in the wake of changes made at the start of this tax year to how and when residential property owners pay tax on the sale of a home. The changes to the

Property developer Andy Hadden, founder and director of The Lighthouse Business Centres and founder & CEO of Wavegarden Scotland, discusses the potential revolution of the UK's workplaces amid the COVID-19 pandemic. What do you really want from your life? Pre-pandemic, this was a question that m

David Alexander, joint chief executive officer of apropos by DJ Alexander, discusses how extending the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) holiday beyond the end of March would increase revenues. Mr Alexander said that the Scottish Government’s’ latest figures show that LBTT revenu

Murdoch MacLennan, banking partner in Scotland with accountancy firm Azets, has warned that 'Bad Bank’ – the term coined for the specialist units within banks where businesses showing signs of financial distress are transferred – is likely to make a return to the UK’s busines

Andrew Foyle, solicitor advocate and joint head of litigations (Scotland) at Shoosmiths, discusses how new regulations will introduce conditions designed to uphold creditor confidence in the pre-pack administration process. While there is no definition of a pre-pack administration in the insolvency

Jonathan Smith, an Aberdeen-based coach and facilitator with peer-to-peer business networking platform The Alternative Board (TAB), discusses how businesses could benefit from 'free' training for their staff. Most learning comes from real-life, on-the-job experience and that presents a big opportuni