Articles

Clear and effective communication between audit teams and clients is essential for any successful audit engagement – the key is fostering collaboration, trust, and transparency

Sustainability these days is more of a team sport. If you wish to succeed, especially in a world of increasing regulatory compliance and heightened stakeholder expectations, then you will need a good captain backed up by a willing and skilful team.

With a new year comes new challenges and, in a world of global economic uncertainty, remaining at the forefront of technological transformation, innovation and societal trends is key. Read our latest Belfast Telegraph article and discover what some of the main trends and developments are expected in 2024.

Unfortunately there has been no shortage of high-profile corporate collapses across the UK in recent years each of which had a multitude of ramifications on the economy, other businesses and consumers.

The last number of years have presented unique sets of challenges for businesses, whether that be navigating the aftermath of Brexit, the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing energy costs, or spiralling inflation and the associated cost of living crisis. This has led to business leaders making decisions that would have been unheard of a decade ago, and brought with it an ever-increasing level of uncertainty.

UK audit reform has been brewing for quite some time, on the back of large scale corporate collapses such as Carillion and BHS, which had a devastating impact on their employees, suppliers, and investors.

A strong finance function with access to real-time information has been a critical factor for businesses over the past two years as they faced many challenges because of the pandemic. While the situation was out of their control, it highlighted the importance of being proactive rather than reactive, and businesses had to learn and adapt the way they worked by making changes and being innovative.

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has clarified that climate-related reporting in financial statements will be a key focus area for the regulator this year.

While the finance department will always be required to provide the core responsibilities of operational finance, including reporting and budgeting, organisations are increasingly looking to finance to play a role that goes beyond the traditional remit of the team.

A significant topic in all boardrooms at the moment is the impact of sustainable strategy on business operations and reporting.

The best-informed decisions usually depend on having relevant data. So, when time is short and there are competing priorities for your attention, how do you make sure that you focus on the key metrics for your organisation, rather than getting lost in a deluge of data which isn’t necessarily all relevant?

Businesses had to learn to react quickly to change during the pandemic, with many having to rethink how they worked, and move towards a digital world.

The world is facing a grave environmental challenge. Global carbon emissions reduced by only 8% in 2020 as a result of the global pandemic and we run the risk of more than reversing these gains as the world economy rebounds from the crisis in 2021/22.

It has been said that the failure of businesses over the course of the pandemic has largely been due to the fact that their business models were out of date, and that the pandemic has merely hastened their demise.

Even before the arrival of Covid-19, forward-thinking charitable organisations had already begun to consider how to diversify their income streams. They were looking to step away from traditional fundraising methods, as the early warning signs indicated a waning public appetite for direct debits and voluntary donations

The latest global survey findings from our International Business Report (IBR) shows that despite the rise of automation and record global business optimism (net 58%) businesses will turn to people in 2018 to meet swelling order books.