Search: financial focus

Reforms to the UK's audit and corporate governance framework will make the country "an even more attractive place in which to do business and to invest", the UK government has said. In the government's response to an earlier consultation on audit and corporate governance, Business Secretary Kwasi Kw

Finance professional Alastair Couper has joined charity Flexible Childcare Services Scotland (FCSS) as treasurer of the board. Mr Couper is an advisor at Edinburgh Airport, having previously been the airport's chief financial officer for seven years prior to his retirement in 2021.

Credit card debt in the UK is growing more quickly than any time since 2005, according to the latest figures from the Bank of England. The annual growth rate of credit card borrowing was 11.6 per cent in April, the highest since November 2005, while the annual growth rate for other forms of consumer

The Scottish National Investment Bank (SNIB) has spent £1750,000 in recruitment fees after it hired London-based Spencer Stuart to help it find a new chief executive after Eilidh Mactaggart resigned earlier this year. Scottish Financial News reported in February that Ms Mactagagrt resigned, wh

Projects which will improve Scotland’s timber transport infrastructure, benefit rural communities and help to decarbonise the forestry sector, have been awarded over £7 million from the Scottish Government. Work to upgrade fragile rural roads, the creation of new forest haulage routes, a

New tax-free childcare statistics from HMRC have revealed that 29,110 families in Scotland received up to £2,000 towards the cost of their childcare during the 2021 to 2022 tax year, up from 20,330 in the previous year. Tax-free childcare provides thousands of eligible working families with vi

EY is considering a global restructuring that could see it spin off the audit division from its advisory business. Yesterday, EY confirmed that it was in the “early stages” of separating its audit business from its consultancy arm.

Kilmarnock-based construction firm McConnell has appointed Kenny Downs as its new group finance director. A Chartered Management Accountant, Mr Downs has previously held a number of operational and strategic finance roles within the construction industry with Urban Union, Keepmoat and City Facilitie

Legislation to support smaller businesses to raise finance, helping them maintain income and address rising business costs has been published by the Scottish Government. The Moveable Transactions (Scotland) Bill will give new opportunities to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and other busin

Corporate finance specialist Dow Schofield Watts has opened a new office in Glasgow as it continues to build its presence in Scotland. It is the second new location within weeks for the firm, which opened an office in Edinburgh in April and which has an existing office in Aberdeen.

The average inheritance tax bill will rise to £266,000 this year, as surging inflation tips more homeowners over the threshold, according to new analysis by investment service Wealth Club. Wealth Club has revealed that in this financial year, the average bill for a family hit by inheritance ta

Stuart Clark, managing director at Russell & Russell Business Advisers, offers advice to employers who want to offer staff a helping hand with ever-increasing living costs. These are hard times all round. Particularly for the generations who have never experienced the inflationary chaos late las

The ClearScore Group has announced plans to create 100 new jobs in Edinburgh through the launch of an Open Banking centre of excellence in the city. Over the next few years, the group plans to employ over 100 new members of staff, including developers, data engineers, data scientists and product and

The historic Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust, managed by Baillie Gifford, has seen its net asset value drop by 13.1% in the 12 months to the end of March. The £14 billion fund also suffered a 9.5% drop in its share price, compared with a 12.8% increase for its benchmark FTSE All-world Index

abrdn Equity Income Trust plc, has published its results for the six months ended 31 March 2022, revealing a share price total return of 8.6%. The total return of the FTSE All-Share Index was 4.7%. The company's portfolio performance was impacted during the first three months of the financial year a