Pearse Trust Blog

In accordance with Companies Act 2006, a private company must have at least one director, who must be a natural person, at all times. The Companies Act does not state a maximum number of directors a company may have, however a company may choose to state a minimum or maximum number in their articles of association.

Following pressure from Europe the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) published a new standard, FRS 105 - The Financial Reporting Standard applicable to the Micro-entities Regime for use by those micro-entities choosing to adopt this simpler regime. This new standard is applicable for companies with accounting periods commencing on or after 1 January 2016 with the option for earlier adoption.

Full compliance in corporate governance for FTSE 350 companies has decreased from 61% to 57%, according to Grant Thornton’s Corporate Governance Review and Trends 2015 Report.

The 2015 figures also show a slight decrease in the number of FTSE 350 companies who complied with all but one or two of the UK Corporate Governance Code provisions; 90% compared to last year’s 93.5%.

In December 2015, the UK Department for Business Innovation & Skills (BIS) published draft statutory guidance for consultation on the meaning of ‘significant influence or control’. The purpose being to determine whether, in the context of companies, a person is a ‘person with significant control’ under the fourth or fifth specified conditions contained in the new Schedule 1A to the CA 2006. This blog is intended as a summary overview of the draft guidance and serves to update our previous blogs on the UK Small Business, Enterprise & Employment Act 2015.

The UK Charities sector suffered from bad press during 2015 amidst widespread allegations of inappropriate fundraising methods and accusations of data protection breaches. The shortcomings of the charities sector were trumped by an even bigger blow when children’s charity ‘Kids Company’ was closed due to allegations of financial mismanagement following reports that public funding was being spent on accommodation for its clients when the charity was in fact getting the accommodation for free; as well as an ongoing investigation by the Metropolitan Police.

The Chancellor of the United Kingdom announced in the 2015 Autumn Statement (25 November 2015) changes to UK property tax and relief that will effect landlords and people with additional properties. Changes were announced in relation to:

• Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT)
• Loan Interest Relief

With tax avoidance at the forefront of Government policy and a major talking point on the international stage at events such as the G20 summit it is not surprising to learn that Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) are using every tool at their disposal to recoup lost revenue.

The topic of whistleblowing has been a prominent issue in the media in recent years with several large corporate and governmental scandals being exposed. The UK was the first EU country to have specific whistleblowing laws through its Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (PIDA).

In October 2015, the UK Government launched a public consultation on important changes to corporate tax rules designed to prevent large groups from escaping restrictions on the deductibility of interest, proposed in response to the OECD's recommendations in the final report on base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) Action 4.

The United Kingdom is at the forefront of international efforts to curb tax evasion and financial crime, and increase corporate transparency. This blog post summarises one of the UK Government’s key initiatives in this area: a new register of beneficial owners of UK companies.