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Thursday 28th April 2011

If bookings for our Academies Specialist Conference are anything to go by, it would seem that many of you are interested in adding Academies to the list of specialisms covered by your firm. Our East Midlands conference is almost full so to avoid disappointment, we are running the event again in June. We also plan to hold the conference in London in the autumn. If this is an area of interest to you, you'll be pleased to know that we are currently writing a new Specialist Assignment Manual to cover the audit and accounts of these schools. Look out for news of this under Audit and Accountancy Issues below.

Another topic of interest this month is the Bribery Act 2010, as the government issued the long-awaited final guidance to support the Act at the end of March. It has been announced that the Act will come into force on 1 July 2011. What will you be telling your clients about this important new Act? It introduces a new 'corporate' offence of failing to prevent bribery, which may mean changes to your clients' policies and procedures, as well as your own. We are putting the finishing touches to both a client letter and factsheet for small and medium-sized businesses on this subject, which will be available in early May.

On a less technical note, our IT team have been making some changes to the format of our notes and the good news is that you can now access these on your Kindle. Instructions on how to do this can also be found below.

Nicola Hurley
Director
nicola.hurley@mercia-group.co.uk

Academies Conference 2011

As increasing numbers of schools look to convert to Academies, a niche area for Accountants and Tax Advisers has arisen. This new full day conference is aimed at Partners and Senior Managers in practice who are seeking to advise schools on Academy conversions.

The presentations on the day will cover:

The conference will be held at the Hilton Hotel, Castle Donington on 24 May 2011 and again on 22 June 2011. It costs £265 (£50 for MembershipPLUS and 25% discount for Members). To view the full programme, please click here. The conference will also be held in London in the autumn and further details will be available in July.

Tax Cards

Tax cards are an excellent way to keep your firm's name in front of your clients and provide them with a useful summary of the key rates for 2011/12.

Our tax cards are printed on quality card and matt laminated for a professional look and durability, there's a choice of three printed sizes available for delivery in June, July and September. HTML and PDF versions can be ordered at any time and will be despatched within two working days of receipt of order or approval of artwork.

For more information, to order online or request a free printed sample, please click here. Alternatively, call the Marketing Support Team on 0116 258 1242.

For all Amazon Kindle lovers

Are you aware that you can read Mercia notes on your Kindle?

Whether you are a Mercia member with access to notes as part of your membership, or you have subscribed to an online course or webinar, as long as you have a PDF of the notes these can be added to your Kindle. You can then enjoy the notes wherever you take your Kindle. Please let us know if that includes any unusual or exotic locations!

If you would like further information on how to transfer notes to your Kindle please click here.

Audit and Accountancy Issues

Forthcoming changes to the Solicitors' Accounts Rules
Earlier this month we emailed subscribers to our Solicitors' Accounts Rules Specialist Assignment Manual with news of the launch of the new Solicitors Regulation Authority Handbook, which includes draft, new Solicitors' Accounts Rules that are due to come into effect on 6 October 2011. Whilst the new Rules are overwhelmingly the same as the current Solicitors' Accounts Rules, there are some changes which will have an impact on the work carried out by Reporting Accountants.

You can find out more on the SRA's website.

Guidance on auditing banks and building societies
The Auditing Practices Board has issued a revised version of Practice Note (PN) 19, The audit of banks and building societies in the United Kingdom. As expected, the revised PN has been update for clarified ISAs, as well as for changes in legislation. You can access a copy on the APB's website.

The future of UK GAAP
Staff at the Accounting Standards Board have prepared a series of case studies to help us assess the effect of the proposals for the future of UK financial reporting. The case studies aim to illustrate certain requirements of FRED 43, Application of Financial Reporting Requirements and FRED 44, Financial Reporting Standards for Medium-sized Entities. You can find copies on the ASB's website.

The ASB has also produced a report on cutting the clutter in annual reports.

Bribery Act 2010 - Implementation date announced
At the end of March the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) published the long-awaited supporting guidance on the Bribery Act 2010. This statutory guidance provides details about the procedures which relevant commercial organisations can put into place to prevent persons associated with them from bribing. Failure to prevent such persons from bribing will be an offence under section 7 of the Act when it comes into force on 1 July 2011. If you haven't already heard about the requirements of the new Act you can find out more on the MoJ's website.

Academies - New Specialist Assignment Manual coming soon
Academies are publicly funded independent schools. They have additional freedoms including those in respect of local authority control, the ability to set their own pay and conditions, delivery of curriculum and the length of terms and school days. Their funding is received directly from an agency of the Department for Education (D for E) rather than through a local authority as is the case with an equivalent maintained school.

All academies approved by the D for E are automatically deemed charities and are set up using agreed governing documents setting out the charitable objective of advancing education. As part of the model funding agreement, an academy's accounts are required be audited annually by independent auditors. An opinion on the truth and fairness of the accounts is needed, along with an opinion that grants were used for the purposes intended.

We are writing a new Specialist Assignment Manual on the audit and accounts of academy schools. The manual will contain the usual guidance notes, example engagement letter, audit report, proforma accounts and disclosure checklist, as well as full 'true and fair' audit programmes, planning and completion to help you undertake this work.

The manual is scheduled for release in June 2011, although we will say that government guidance affecting the audit and accounts of academies continues to emerge! Look out in next month's newswire for a complimentary introductory factsheet on academies.

News for Mercia technical manual subscribers
Updates to our Audit Manual and Charities, Clubs and LLP SAMs that take account of APB Bulletin 2010/2 (revised) were issued at the end March. If you have any administrative questions about these updates please contact karina@mercia-group.co.uk or call her on 0116 258 1200.

An update to our Pension Schemes SAM that takes account of an updated version of Practice Note 15 as well as the revised APB Bulletin on audit reports will be issued shortly.

Tax Issues

More Toolkits
HMRC have issued two more Toolkits to make it easier for tax agents and advisers to get their clients' tax returns right, covering capital gains tax for shares and income tax losses. To read more, please click here.

More on RTI
Following consultation, HMRC have confirmed that confirmed:

To read more, please click here.

Trust management expenses - revised guidance
HMRC have recently issued revised guidance on trust management expenses to reflect the outcome of HMRC v Trustees of the Peter Clay Discretionary Trust [2009] STC 469. To read more, please click here.

Key tax deadlines for agents
The calendar for tax agents showing key dates for submitting returns and making payments for 2011/12 is now available. To read more, please click here.

Employee Benefit Trusts - settlement opportunity
HMRC is offering employers who have utilised Employee Benefit Trusts the opportunity to resolve outstanding enquiries. To read more, please click here.

Office Gossip and Idle Chat!

A star in our midst…
Shan has been busy in her spare time, whilst not presenting courses or writing marketing support products as she has been rehearsing 'Last of the Vamps' with a local drama group. As part of cast of four the drama group's entry for the All England One Act play festival has been very successful. Having won four trophies, making them Leicestershire and Rutland champions, they progressed to the Central Area Quarter finals and won, beating the local Tamworth favourites who regularly perform at the Edinburgh Fringe. They now progress to the semi finals of the Festival! Break a leg!

Congratulations to Julie!
Just to update you all on Julie Bowles' recent London Marathon run, even with a calf injury, we're so pleased to announce that she completed the course in a fantastic 4 hours and 33 minutes. Well done Julie!