News

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has today published its annual end of year letter to CEOs, CFOs and audit committee chairs setting out its reporting expectations for preparers of reports and accounts for the year ahead. This year’s letter is of particular significance given the continuin

Analysis by Bank of Scotland owner Lloyds Banking Group and the Carbon Trust has found that carbon emissions in Scotland are down 10% compared to the same time last year. However, also found that emissions rose 26% in Scotland between the second and third quarter of the year as spending increased on

Techno is music, a top German court has ruled in a move with tax benefits for the country's legendary clubbing scene.

Par Equity has sold its stake in Edinburgh-based portfolio company Symphonic Software in an all-cash transaction for a headline price of $31 million US dollars. Par Equity achieved a blended 8.3x return across two rounds of investment for its EIS Fund, over a period of 6.8 years. Par Equity's e

Aberdeen-based IT provider ITWORX has announced its transition to employee ownership, with 17 staff given a stake in the business. Established in 2010 by Philip Mowatt and Jill Ross, ITWORX provides tailored IT and communications services and solutions to a range of clients. The firm is headquartere

South of Scotland Enterprise (SOSE) has invested £690,000 in Hilltop Leaf Limited, a private medicinal cannabis cultivation and extraction business which aims to provide an alternative plant-based clinical treatment to synthetic pharmaceuticals.

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has said that auditors must redouble their efforts to remedy inconsistent audit quality in the wake of the unprecedented economic turbulence caused by COVID-19.  In its Developments in Audit 2020 report released today, the regulator reports audit quality re

Glasgow-based online product discovery platform Product Guru has secured funds of £330,000 to disrupt the traditional retail buying process by re-inventing how products end up on shelves. The investment of £230,000 from Scotmid Coop and Techstart VC, with a further £100,000 funding

Scotland exported £9.2 billion of financial and related professional services in 2019, an increase of 7.7% from 2018, according to a new report from TheCityUK. Financial services exports from Scotland accounted for 8.2% of Great Britain’s total financial services exports in 2018. Th

Aberdeen Standard Investments (ASI) has launched a range of sustainable index funds within a tax efficient Authorised Contractual Scheme (ACS) structure aimed at pension funds and other institutional investors. The sustainable index funds each track customised MSCI sustainable equity indices that ha

Demand remained strong in Scotland’s housing market last month, according to the October 2020 RICS Residential Market Survey.

Landlords, small business owners, investors and second-home owners are facing a rise in tax after a review ordered by Chancellor Rishi Sunak.   The chancellor is considering proposals by the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) to reform capital gains tax to help pay for the Covid-19 pandemi

The UK is facing a 'new and unprecedented debt crisis' in the wake of COVID-19 as the number of people affected by coronavirus who are in severe problem debt has risen to 1.2 million, according to a new report by debt charity Step Change. Step Change's Tacking the Coronavirus Personal Debt Crisis re

The Scottish Government’s budget will be published on 28 January 2021, finance secretary Kate Forbes has announced. It follows the UK Government’s decision to postpone its Autumn Budget until an unspecified date in the new year.

The UK's economy bounced back from recession with record growth of 15.5% in July to September, according to the latest figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).