ProShare issued its Save-As-You-Earn (SAYE) & Share Incentive Plan (SIP) Report in respect of the 2018 calendar year on 25 June 2019.  HMRC published its latest statistics on tax-advantaged share plans for the tax year 2017-18 on 27 June 2019. This article extracts details from the two data sources about current practice for these two…

July 30, 2019 Read more >

The Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee of the House of Commons (the BEIS Select Committee) published on 26 March a further report on Executive Rewards.  It contained 16 recommendations to Government. The Government’s response to the report (HC2306) was published on 13 June The Select Committee comprises six Labour MPs (including the Committee Chair,…

July 29, 2019 Read more >

GECN is a group of independent firms, specialising in advising corporate clients on executive compensation and good governance. GECN member firms have offices in London, Geneva, Zurich, Kiev, Singapore, Melbourne, Sydney, Los Angeles and New York. MM&K has been the UK member firm since 2015 For a few years now, GECN has conducted annual research…

July 29, 2019 Read more >

On 2 July 2019, the UK Government published its Green Finance Strategy: Transforming Finance for a Greener Future, which is intended to ensure that “our financial system is robust and agile enough to respond to the profound challenges that climate change and the transition to a clean and resilient economy bring with them”.  The paper…

July 25, 2019 Read more >

There is no doubt that the Private Equity and Venture Capital landscape is becoming even more crowded, with new funds successfully being raised and an almost unbelievable level of “dry powder” available to be invested worldwide.  Apparently, the global figure has recently reached $2.5trn. Geographically, the majority of dry powder is still targeting North America,…

July 22, 2019 Read more >

Disguised remuneration schemes include tax avoidance arrangements that seek to avoid Income Tax and National Insurance contributions (NICs) by paying scheme users their income in the form of loans. Typically, the loans will have come from a “third party” such as an Employee Benefit Trust (“EBT”).  In the view of HMRC, the loans were never…

July 20, 2019 Read more >

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) is embarking on a transition programme to morph into the Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority (“ARGA”) accountable to Parliament, after coming under heavy fire from the Kingman Review and others, including a report by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on competition in the audit sector, which prompted BEIS to…

July 19, 2019 Read more >

PE/VC Fund Manager Compensation Survey MM&K has been running its PE / VC compensation survey for more than 20 years now. Our survey is not just about the numbers, although it does cover that very well.  It also provides invaluable insights into trends and direction of travel in the Private Equity / Venture Capital industry.…

June 27, 2019 Read more >

The UK Corporate Governance Code requires, for listed companies, annual evaluation of the performance of the board. The chair should consider having a regular externally facilitated board evaluation.  In FTSE 350 companies this should happen at least every three years. The Government Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) received responses on its Insolvency…

June 27, 2019 Read more >

Have a discussion about pay, and in particular executive pay, and invariably someone will raise the idea of “negative bonuses”. The concept is simple, if bonuses are meant to be a reward for delivering a performance that is above and beyond what is expected, then surely it is only ‘proper’ that an executive should have…

June 25, 2019 Read more >

For the tax year 2018/19, the deadline for filing the share schemes annual returns is 6 July 2019.  The filing obligation applies in relation to any new share schemes implemented as well as existing share schemes. HMRC do not send out any reminders. As there are automatic penalties for late-compliance, we recommend filing your online…

June 25, 2019 Read more >

Background A series of reforms have been introduced to the taxation of termination payments from 6 April 2018 following technical consultation. Although the reforms started out as simplification measures, they now “clarify and tighten” the taxation of such payments. In other words, the legislative changes effectively enlarge the scope of taxation of termination payments. Position…

June 25, 2019 Read more >