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New rights for employees
A number of new employment laws came into force in April 2024 to provide greater flexibility for employees, including enhanced flexible working rights and new leave entitlements.
Global | Publication | September 2022
The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill 2022 (Bill) was introduced in the House of Commons on September 22, 2022. The Government describes it as effectively the second part of a legislative package to prevent the abuse of UK corporate structures and tackle economic crime, following on from the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022, which received Royal Assent in March 2022.
The Bill has three key objectives:
The main elements of the Bill include the following:
We will be producing a more detailed briefing on certain of the provisions in the Bill in due course.
(Home Office, New crackdown on fraud and money laundering to protect UK economy, 22.09.2022)
(The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill 2022, 22.09.2022)
On September 21, 2022 the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) published the results of a Thematic Review it has conducted into deferred tax asset accounting and disclosure. This updates the findings on tax disclosures discussed in the FRC’s October 2016 Corporate Reporting Thematic Review: Tax disclosures (the 2016 review).
For a selection of 20 companies from a cross-section of industries (across the FTSE 100, FTSE 250, and others listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange and with period-ends ranging from December 31, 2021 to April 2, 2022), the FRC considered the basis of recognition of deferred tax and the related disclosures under IAS 12, ‘Income Taxes’ in their annual reports. The FRC also assessed whether the evidence supporting the recognition of deferred tax assets for losses appeared to be sufficiently robust, and consistent with the annual report and accounts as a whole. In addition to the specific requirements of IAS 12, the FRC considered the guidance set out in the public statement: ‘Considerations on recognition of deferred tax assets arising from the carry-forward of unused tax losses’, issued in July 2019 by the European Securities and Markets Authority (‘the ESMA public statement’). The FRC believes this represents best practice, and it is consistent with the FRC’s expectations. It highlights the need to assess thoroughly the nature and extent of evidence supporting the recognition of a deferred tax asset and, whenever relevant, provide high-quality disclosures.
The FRC’s principal findings in relation to disclosure were as follows:
Specificity of convincing evidence
Judgements and estimates
Transparency
Consistency
The FRC encourages companies to consider the findings within the report and its expectations when drafting their upcoming annual reports and accounts. In particular, the FRC expects companies to:
On September 22, 2022 the OECD Corporate Governance Committee launched a public consultation on revisions to the G20/OECD Principles of Corporate Governance. The overall objective of the review is to update the Principles in light of recent evolutions in capital markets and corporate governance policies and practices.
OECD and G20 countries have identified a range of priority areas to take into consideration during the review, including the management of environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks, digitalisation and corporate governance, gender diversity on company boards and in management, the role of board-level committees in corporate governance, changes in corporate ownership and concentration, and the role of institutional investors and stewardship, among others. An important overarching aim of the revision is to support strengthened corporate sector resilience and to improve companies’ access to finance from capital markets.
Comments are requested by October 21, 2022. Revised Principles are to be published in 2023.
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A number of new employment laws came into force in April 2024 to provide greater flexibility for employees, including enhanced flexible working rights and new leave entitlements.
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