Opinion

Mark Hallan, director of global investment at Scottish Enterprise, discusses why the financial services are key to attracting inward investment to Scotland. Scotland is an extraordinary proposition for global companies to invest in.

Fraser Campbell, head of family business with Azets, has suggested that Scotland’s businesses wanting to thank their staff in the traditional manner at Christmas should back their local hospitality enterprises by taking advantage of HMRC’s tax-free annual exemption of up to £200 fo

Betsy Williamson, managing director and founder of Edinburgh-based Core-Asset Consulting, discusses the impact of Brexit and COVID on recruitment in the Scottish financial services sector. Top talent is continuing to depart one of Scotland’s most influential sectors as confusion around th

Scotland has a thriving technology sector but there’s still a huge amount of untapped potential that could further elevate its success and bolster our economy. Women, who remain significantly underrepresented within the sector, have a major part to play in making this happen, writes Jackie War

Ian McMonagle, tax specialist at Russell & Russell Business Advisors, discusses the tax options for employers to consider when it comes to celebrating Christmas. While we still don’t know if Christmas is going to be officially cancelled, what we can be quite certain about is that there wil

Murdoch MacLennan, head of brewing and distilling with Azets, toasts the enduring success of Scotland’s Whisky industry. I am of course biased, however, despite the gloom of the T, B and the C words (Tariffs, Brexit and COVID), Scotland’s buoyant spirits sector has continued to attract s

Kevin Collie, senior paraplanner at Mearns and Company, discusses the DIY skills individuals may have learned throughout lockdown. It seems like only yesterday that we emerged from our lockdown bunkers ready to face the world again. Some of us were sporting once-in-a-lifetime lockdown tans and other

Stuart Clark, managing director at Glasgow-based Russell & Russell Business Advisers, discusses the complexities of the tax involved in using gift vouchers in the hospitality sector. For business people and their professional advisers, it is like trying to navigate a pathway on constantly shifti

Derek Money, head of sales at White Oak in Glasgow, says that now is the time for businesses in Scotland to take advantage of the coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) and look towards growth in 2021. Scottish businesses have shown their true spirit during what has been the most chal

Jim Lockhart, accounting partner at accountancy firm Armstrong Watson Glasgow, is urging Scottish businesses to go back to basics in face of declining confidence and falling demand. Last week saw the publication of both the ICAEW Business Confidence Monitor (BCM): Scotland for Q4 2020, and the

Graeme Williams, director of M&A at KPMG in Scotland, considers the state of the deals market in Scotland. The last twelve months have taken their toll on Scotland’s economy with no sector or business left unscathed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Stuart Clark, managing director of Russell & Russell Chartered Accountants in Glasgow, lists five things to consider if you might make the switch to electric vehicles (EVs) for your employees. The tax treatment of company-owned electric cars is not as simple as you would hope, but there are defi

Chris Sanger, EY’s head of tax policy, discusses the recent tax policy announcements made by HM Treasury. Despite the news from the Chancellor that the Autumn Budget has been postponed this year, it has not prevented HM Treasury from issuing today an Autumn set of tax announcements, to add to

Bryan Shaw considers some of the more common pain points in syndicated deals and shares some suggested strategies to resolve any roadblocks. In the early months of 2020 and during Covid lockdown, access to capital for early-stage and scaling businesses became more difficult as investors’ risk

Louise Brittain, restructuring and insolvency partner at accountancy firm Azets, discusses how new personal insolvency legislation is open to fraud. The Debt Respite Scheme gives people who receive professional debt advice access to a 60-day period in which interest, fees and charges are froze