Traditionally this is the Silly Season, when the Press have to file stories about singing sheep to fill the papers since there is no real news to talk about. But actually there are not one but two interesting stories to ponder this week.

Credit managers are expecting to see a rise in business insolvencies of over 10% within the next year.

Contractor accountants might be interested to hear that the government is planning to merge the Financial Reporting Council and the Financial Services Authority to form a companies commission like the Securities and Exchange Commission in the United States.

HMRC’s crack down on tax evasion with offshore accounts in Liechtenstein is gathering steam. The Revenue is sending letters to UK taxpayers who have accounts in the principality reminding them that they need to comply with UK tax law.

SMEs and online accountants are spending a disproportionate amount of time on administration and tax compliance, according to the CIOT.

Good to see the Coalition coming good on their promise of reviewing IR35. The announcement of the creation of the Office for Tax Simplification was rapidly followed by the publishing of its Terms of Reference. This made really good reading since they contained a specific statement of IR35 as a prime target for their review.

Vince Cable, the business secretary, says that banks are making it harder for small firms to apply for loans despite claims from the semi-nationalised banks that they approve at least 80% of loan applications.

Contractor accountants may be interested in the warning from the CEO of BDO Global, Jeremy Newman. He has cautioned that auditors may be cutting corners because of increased competition and cost pressures.

In October last year, Prudential the insurance giant, lost their High court battle to have accountants’ advice made confidential in the same way that advice given by lawyers is.

You have to feel sorry for the poor recruitment industry. I mean, after several years of being beaten up by the bean counters who run their business these days to improve throughput and efficiency, they finally get to the point where the process is as effortless as it’s going to get.

HMRC is desperate to get money into the government’s coffers and some tax experts expect the Revenue to embrace negotiated settlements rather than litigation in a bid to achieve this.

There have been recent reports suggesting that the government might scrap the Pre-Budget Report but the UK200Group has warned against this move.