The government announced this morning it is raising the audit threshold to £1m for now - but wants to raise it to as high as £4.8m in the future. Deloittes is considering ditching compulsary suit-wearing.
Byers has at long last announced that he is raising the audit threshold now to £1m, and will be consider raising it to as high as £4.8m once the Company Law Review has finished its work.
Those companies in the £1m to £4.8m bracket could be subject to some sort of ‘lighter’ regime. The DTI said the difference betweeen Byer’s figure of £4.8m and the EU limit of £4.2m was due to ‘currency fluctuation’.
Byers, who is due to speak to the British Chambers of Commerce’s conference this afternoon, is expected to include the announcement in a wider speech on the government’s intention to cut red tape.
More details are included in our news story on the issue, while more will be included in a special AccountancyAge.com feature to which we will add more details, comment and reaction as it comes in.
Meanwhile, Deloittes is refusing to confirm or deny that it plans to tell its staff that they no longer have to wear formal suits. Its consulting staff already enjoy the dubious privileges of ‘office casual’, but AccountancyAge.com has received reports that it is extending this to staff in audit and other departments. Read the story, and check out our guide to office casual for tips on how to deal with this new trend.
With the audit threshold going up, one area accountants might try and make up for the lost business is in the new field of ‘web auditing’. A new feature on AccountancyAge.com this week explores this new and growing area.