Accenture ruling 'will threaten jobs'

The Accenture ruling on VAT on outsourced services will threaten jobs, the finance director of Aviva has said.

The ruling meant that financial services companies outsourcing work in the EU had to pay VAT on the work. They are usually exempt, and experts say the extra 17.5% charge often entirely outweighs the benefits of outsourcing.

The ruling 'can positively encourage companies, such as my own, to look to outsource to less developed economies,' Andrew Moss, the group FD at Aviva, told the Financial Times.