Thomson Reuters acquires Sabrix indirect tax technology

Source: Thomson Reuters website

Thomson Reuters, the world’s leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals, today (16th Nov) announced that its Tax & Accounting business has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Sabrix, Inc, a leading global provider of transaction tax management software applications and related services. Headquartered in San Ramon, CA, with additional operations in Oregon and London, all 160 Sabrix employees will transfer into Tax & Accounting upon the close of the transaction, which is expected in December 2009.

“This acquisition fulfills our vision of delivering a comprehensive global solution for corporations in the area of transaction tax, especially companies with a multinational presence” said Roy M. Martin, Jr., President and CEO of Tax & Accounting. “Sabrix offerings, which cover rates and rules for 170 countries, will be integrated with our existing local transaction tax software and services to form a total solution for corporate customers in the U.S., the U.K. and Europe.”

Transaction tax, also known around the world as indirect tax, VAT, GST or sales & use tax, trails only corporate and personal income taxes in its pervasiveness among country governments.

“Sabrix applications can process an unlimited number of transactions, control audit exposure, and reduce the total cost of sales tax, use tax, and VAT compliance,” said Brian Peccarelli, president of Corporate Software & Services for Tax & Accounting. “Additionally, the Sabrix Managed Tax Service™ offers finance departments of small-to-medium sized businesses an outsourced transaction tax compliance service.”

“We have collaborated with Thomson Reuters for years,” said Steve Adams, president and CEO of Sabrix. “We look forward to working alongside the well-known and respected brands of the Tax & Accounting business, including ONESOURCE and Checkpoint®, so that Sabrix clients can continue to achieve compliance with confidence in the most efficient and effective manner possible.”

SG comment: This acquisition follows Thomson Reuters taking over Digita and Abacus in the UK, and previously acquiring CrossBorder (transfer pricing software) in the US in 2007. This now makes Thomson Reuters the largest provider (by far) of tax software and technology in the UK.

Deloitte's Abacus taken over by Thomson Reuters

By Simon Godley

Some major news this week in the tax software market. Deloitte (where I trained in the Andersen days) has struck a deal with Thomson Reuters to sell the Abacus tax suite of software products to UK / American giant Thomson Reuters. I actually did find out about this on Friday night last week, but has taken me a while to blog it.

Thomson Reuters now have a major position in the UK tax software market, as they can offer products for CT compliance, PT compliance, tax accounting solutions, transfer pricing along with a workflow tax management product. That has been some serious acquisiton growth on the part of Thomson Reuters over the last 2 years.

For the full announcement from Thomson Reuters, click here.

Two Tax Software businesses merge

Source: AccountancyAge

UK Taxworld and Informanagement, which both provide information and software on tax, compliance and governance changes to accountancy practice clients, have merged to create the fourth largest player in the market.

It will now compete directly with CCH, the biggest supplier of tax software and information in the UK. The merged business will now have a combined client database of up to 500 UK firms.

Laurence Vogel, head of UK operations at Informanagement, said: ‘We see ourselves benchmarked against CCH rather than other competitors.

Is there potential for other mergers in the pipeline, who knows? We just want to drive the business forward.’

Informanagement is a Dutch company created by three accountants in 2001 which currently supplies to 10% of the Dutch market. It launched in the UK last year and will act as the parent company to UK Taxworld.

Informanagement has said there are no redundancy plans. It will consolidate customer service centres but both company’s will retain their names, though Informanagement will add ‘incorporating UK Taxworld’. The change will be reflected on their website later this month.

Prior to the merger Informanagement would have sat towards the bottom of the top ten players in the industry, with UK Taxworld sitting in the middle.

CCH were unavailable for comment at time of going to press.

Digita clinches Smith & Williamson for tax software

Source: AccountancyAge.com

Smith & Williamson has moved to Digita for its tax software, replacing current supplier CCH.

The firm moved from CCH, the accountancy IT provider that is part of Wolters Kluwer, to Digita Personal Tax.

Lee Drewett, senior national tax manager at Smith & Williamson, said: 'Having the best tax software and best customer service is essential for our tax practice to ensure that we continue to provide the very best taxation service to all our clients whether they be individuals, trusts or businesses.'

Digita is backed by Thomson Reuters and is part of the Sweet & Maxwell division that produces legal and publishing material. Digita also supplies software to Baker Tilly, RSM Bentley Jennison and Haines Watts.

SG comment: I suspect this is a significant win for Digita, now part of the Thomson Reuters empire. Thomson Reuters seem to be making good progress in the UK on the tax software front, having acquired both CrossBorder Solutions (Transfer Pricing software) and Digita (personal, business and trusts tax software) within the last 18 months.

Jumeirah in Dubai appoints Tax Director

Source: Tax Careers Magazine

Dubai-based luxury hospitality group Jumeirah, which encompasses the 7 star hotel, the Burj Al Arab, has appointed Mariel Yard as Director of Tax.

Previously a Senior Manager - international tax structuring with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Dubai, she was previously based in Nicosia, Cyprus, she has also held roles with Eurofreight Logistics and NCR (middle east).

Yard told Tax Careers: 'Being an inhouse tax director in such a growing and dynamic group, I'm often asked to step outside my comfort zone and become more involved in business decision-making. It takes a willingness to work hard, but offers enormous challenges.'

Yard is fluent in Arabic, English and Greek.

Tax & Treasury man gets Group FD role

Capital & Regional plc, the co-investing property asset manager, has appointed Charles Staveley as group finance director, he will join the board with effect from 1st October, 2008. Before joining the company in September 2007 as finance director, he was head of tax and treasury at COLT Telecom Group and prior to this he held roles with various other companies, including at security printer De La Rue Group plc, US-based aircraft and financial services group Textron Inc, and secure printing and industrial group Novar plc. Staveley qualified as a chartered accountant with Arthur Andersen and has additional tax and treasury qualifications.

WPP confirms tax led relocation to Ireland

Source: AccountancyAge.com

WPP, the world's second-biggest advertising and marketing group, has confirmed it plans to move its official headquarters from Britain to Ireland because of punitive changes to the British tax regime.

A WPP spokesman told Reuters on Sunday the advertising giant was likely to issue a stock exchange announcement this week on its plans to change domicile.

The decision to move offshore will be a huge blow for the Treasury, particularly as Martin Sorrell, WPP chief executive, has acted as an ambassador for British business.

WPP, who paid ₤204m in UK taxes last year and conducts almost 90% of its business outside Britain, estimates the tax regime changes would add tens of millions to its British tax bill.

SG comment: This is quite a big deal for the Treasury as WPP do have such a high profile reputation in global marketing and advertising, and was worthy of a mention by David Cameron in his Conservative party conference speech today.

High flying ex-Head of Tax joins FTSE 100 board

3i Group plc has announced that Julia Wilson, the group’s deputy finance director will join the board on 1st October 2008 as Finance Director designate. She will succeed Simon Ball, who has decided to resign as finance director, and he steps down from the board with effect from 30th November 2008. Wilson joined 3i in January 2006 as deputy finance director, with responsibility for the group’s finance, taxation and treasury functions. She was previously group director of corporate finance at Cable & Wireless, which she joined in 2000. She originally trained as an ACA in corporate tax with Arthur Andersen in London in the early-90s.

Read the full announcement on the 3i website

Henderson now looking at tax domicile change

Source: TaxGrotto.com

In response to a press article published in the UK today, Henderson Group plc has confirmed that it is considering a potential change in its tax domicile from the UK to the Republic of Ireland.

A further update will be given with the release of the Group’s 2008 interim results at 07:00 (London time) on 28 August 2008.

Established in 1934, Henderson is a leading independent global asset management firm. The company provides its institutional, retail and high net-worth clients with access to skilled investment professionals representing a broad range of asset classes, including equities, fixed income, property and private equity.

SG comment: This news feed echos my news on Shire back in May 2008. Where will it all end, Alistair?

MYOB software branding to disappear

Source: AccountancyAge.com

The publishing business that acquired accountancy software company MYOB earlier this year has announced that it is to phase out the brand.

Wolters Kluwer told Accountancy Age that by September almost all MYOB branding will be gone and by January 2009 it will be completely replaced by CCH, the company's software arm.

Cathy Wolfe, CEO of Wolters Kluwer, said: 'MYOB still exists in Australia and is best of breed there'.

WK confirmed that following the acquisition there were no redundancies in sales and that it is not planning any big cuts. 'We want to expand our strong position so there is plenty of work to go round' added Wolfe.

Wolters Kluwer's announced last week that it had launched CCH ProSystem, a hybrid of both CCH and MYOB technology.

Simon Crompton, head of CCH, said: 'The new software has opened up a complete and totally integrated suite, for strong, big, and entry level organisations'.

CCH ProSystem will be available on upgrade to all customers of both CCH and MYOB and fully implements both package models into its framework.


SG comment - I have featured this article as amongst the MYOB brands are well known tax software products PerTax (including new rewritten .NET version), SecTax (for share dealings) and TrusTax (for trusts and estates). I suspect they will keep these product names, and repackage them as CCH products.

IRIS acquires tax software company

Source: AccountancyAge.com

Product and software developer IRIS has acquired Drummohr Technology, the makers of 'Tax Assistant', for an undisclosed sum.

So far, IRIS has announced that there are no plans to merge the two companies' range of products, but will include a strategy of sustained investment and introduction of new products where appropriate.

Martin Leuw, CEO of IRIS, said: 'By adding the Tax Assistant software to the IRIS range, we are able to offer an unparalleled wealth of knowledge and experience of this specialist sector.’

In a statement Drummohr Technology said: 'IRIS' goal (is) to revolutionise the accountancy profession with a range of quality solutions to suit every size and type of practice'.

SG comment: This year so far has seen a good level of consolidation in the tax software market. The above seems a relatively small acquisition, but earlier in the year we have seen Thomson Corporation acquire CrossBorder solution, for their transfer pricing and tax accounting software products. We have also seen the accounting & tax software arm of MYOB in the UK/Ireland be acquired by Wolters Kluwer, which is the home of CCH Software.

Tesco faces new tax questions - but why?

Source: AccountancyAge.com

Tesco is facing new allegations that it set up complex structures to avoid corporation tax.

The magazine Private Eye last week published claims that Tesco had set up a financing arm in the Swiss canton of Zug.

The arm helps finance the supermarket's international business. Tax is paid on the interest on the loans it provides at a lower rate in Zug than it would be in the UK, saving Tesco £16m, the magazine said.

Tesco was quoted saying: 'This partnership is used to fund our overseas business. It is common practice for global businesses operating in other markets to fund development in similar ways. We have an open relationship with HMRC and discuss our tax arrangements and planning with them on an ongoing basis. We believe this structure is compliant with the government's controlled foreign companies legislation.'

Tesco is suing The Guardian over reports in that paper that it had avoided up to £1bn in corporation tax through a Cayman Islands structure.

SG comment: I think it very unwise for high profile publications to make allegations about Tesco's tax position. Let's look at the facts - Tesco is a multi-billion and now very international business - because of this, it employs some very bright in-house tax professionals to devise overseas structures that will mitigate the group's tax liability, all of which has to be agreed with UK HMRC. Everyone's a winner - the UK is a winner for having a fantastic and entrepreneurial employer. At the end of the day, Tesco is a commercial enterprise that will look to increase shareholder value, it is not set up to donate corporate tax to the UK treasury. The UK treasury should be thinking of ways to simplify the UK tax rules for companies, thereby stopping them from considering relocating their tax residency elsewhere. I think the Guardian are now paying the price for trying (and failing) to understand Tesco's tax position.

In-house Transfer Pricing leader moves back to consulting

Source: International Tax Review

NERA Economic Consulting, an independent international firm of economists, has appointed a veteran of Deloitte and Andersen as head of its UK transfer pricing group. Graham Poole, a specialist in advanced pricing agreements and transfer pricing for intangibles, joins the firm as an associate director. He has been active in transfer pricing for 14 years in the consumer goods, professional services, automotives, oil and gas, shipping, high-tech manufacturing, software and financial services sectors.

Before joining NERA, Poole was responsible for group-wide transfer pricing at Cadbury Schweppes, where his responsibilities included the design, implementation, documentation, and defence of transfer pricing policies in all areas of the business. He previously helped establish new practices and practice areas in transfer pricing while working for Arthur Andersen and Deloitte in the UK.

WPP take view on UK tax system issue

Source: www.tax-news.com

As if Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling didn't have enough on his plate with the ongoing credit crunch, it has emerged that yet another FTSE100 firm is considering switching its corporate HQ abroad in protest at the UK's increasingly burdensome corporate tax regime.

Sir Martin Sorrel, head of WPP - the world's second largest advertising firm - told the BBC on Monday that if the Treasury introduced proposed rules to tax dividends earned by companies overseas in the UK, it could tip the balance in favour of relocating the firm's tax residence to a jurisdiction which does not tax such income, with Ireland likely to be top of the list.

"If the measures as is are introduced, ratified, confirmed and implemented, we will be taking a very serious look at the advantages and disadvantages [of moving its tax domicile and headquarters]," Sorrel was quoted as saying.

Sorrel's comments come hot on the heels of decisions by Shire Pharmaceuticals and United Business Media to set up holding companies in Jersey and relocate their corporate HQs to Ireland to cut their UK tax bills.

He went on to point out that WPP already pays a significant sum in tax to the Treasury each year - about GBP200mn (USD394mn) - and the proposed new rules could add tens of millions of pounds to the company's annual tax bill in the UK.

"We are talking about very very significant sums of money," he noted.

UBM follows Shire's tax move to Ireland

Various tax news websites are reporting today that United Business Media (UBM) is doing the same as Shire Pharmaceuticals, incorporating in Jersey and being tax resident in Ireland, with a FTSE listing. Although some camps are calling this blatant tax avoidance, I don't blame them if it is not clear how foreign profits are taxed in the UK, particularly if 85% of your profits are outside the UK. I don't think UBM will be the last FTSE group to announce this type of restructure.

Click here for the full announcement.

Shire Holding relocation - more tax insight

Further to my article last week about Shire changing its residency to Ireland from the UK, an article from www.tax-news.com sheds a little more light on the tax background to the decision. The article also mentions that c.200 companies have relocated their HQ in the last 10 years, which seems a lot more than I thought. I suspect that this number includes US parent groups that have moved their European HQ from the UK to somewhere in Europe, and not purely UK listed groups.

To read the full article, click here

FTSE 100 Shire relocates to Ireland for tax purposes

Source: AccountancyAge.com

The Confederation of British Industry has raised concerns about the UK's anti-competitive tax regime after Shire announced it would relocate to Ireland where tax rules are more favourable for business.

Richard Lambert, CBI Director-General, said: 'We are particularly worried that an uncompetitive corporate tax system is spoiling the UK's attractiveness as a place to do business, and that other internationally-mobile firms will follow Shire's path.'

FTSE 100-listed Shire, the third-largest pharmaceutical firm in the UK, is set to pay significantly less tax by becoming a tax resident in Ireland.

The company re-assured market concerns over the change of residency, saying the change would not affect Shire's UK operations or workforce. But this will mean a loss of income for the Treasury, the Telegraph reported.

A company statement said: 'Shire has concluded that its business and its shareholders would be better served by having an international holding company with a group structure that is designed to help protect the group's taxation position, and better facilitate the group's financial management.'

SG comment: I can't think of any other FTSE listed group to announce this sort of change of residency for tax purposes, it will be interesting to see if any other UK groups follow suit.

BP uses internal tax faculty as recruitment tool

I only became aware recently that BP had set up an internal tax faculty to help with both attracting new talent into their tax team, and for longer term retention of people. The BP tax team is very large, with something like 150 in-house tax staff, so I guess having a dedicated tax faulty within the company can be easily justified.

Their Corporate Tax Director, John Bartlett, initiated this 2 years ago. Like most large corporates, they were struggling to recruit high calibre tax professionals from the external market. "The tax recruitment market had evolved and we could no longer rely on the professional firms and Revenues releasing a stream of talented individuals into industry," Bartlett said.

The tax faculty is based within BP's already established virtual university. Here tax professionals can develop their skills from classroom-based courses, self-led modules and on-the-job training.

"The financial reward package is always important but in an increasingly transparent market, it can be a given with candidates already knowing the salaries that are generally available," Bartlett says. "Now candidates want to know where the job might lead, the variety of progression opportunities and what track record the company can demonstrate of realising them for its people."

BP's programme offers career development frameworks that will seek to motivate and develop a tax professional comparable to that of practice Bartlett explains.

To date, the programme has been a roaring success, one that Bartlett describes as 'very powerful' in attracting and retaining tax staff all over the world especially lesser known tax networks including Russia, Vietnam, Korea, Azerbaijan and Indonesia.

From past experience, I know that BP have never really had a problem with retaining tax staff. Because of the massive size and scale of the global group, they have been able to offer tax professionals a career progression plan, including secondments to other parts of finance and overseas placements, which is always an effective retention tool. However BP's method is easy to replicate and other multinationals such as Shell and GE have also established their own tailored versions.

The above quotes come from the article "The tax talent pool is diminishing" by Jo Faith in the April 2008 issue of International Tax Review (www.internationaltaxreview.com)

Authorities challenge Glaxo's tax positions

Source: International Tax Review

GlaxoSmithKline, the pharmaceuticals company, is fighting two significant international tax battles with the authorities in the US and the UK. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is claiming $680 million in back taxes and interest over an intra-company financing assessment. The company reported in its annual results for 2007 that it is also in dispute with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) over transfer pricing issues.

The latest disputes with the tax authorities follow the settlement of a long-running transfer pricing dispute where – for an extended period – the IRS and HMRC could not agree on an outcome. The IRS would not accept that HMRC was the competent authority, which would have given British officials the right to be the ultimate arbiter on the issue.

The IRS is challenging deductions arising from intra-company financing arrangements for the years 2001 to 2003. GSK says it will vigorously contest the US tax authority's position.

"The issue relates to interest on intra-company financing that was taken as a deduction on the US income tax return," a GSK spokesman told International Tax Review. "We believe, supported by external professional advice, that this claim has no merit and that no adjustment is warranted. We strictly adhered to the IRS rules regarding intra-company debt and we feel very confident in our position based, in part, on external professional advice that we have received.

"Since this will potentially be a matter of litigation and we are still in ongoing discussions with the IRS, it would be inappropriate for us to discuss any more details at this time," the spokesman added.

The company said if it could not reach a settlement with the IRS, it did not expect the case to go to court before 2010. It would not comment on whether the issue of competent authority could emerge again in this matter.

At the same time, the company remains in dispute with HMRC over transfer pricing. "The dispute with HMRC is not on the same issue. We continue to be in dispute with HMRC primarily in respect of transfer pricing and controlled foreign companies (CFCs) matters for the years 1994 to date," the company spokesman said.

"HMRC has not yet formalised claims in respect of these matters and we are seeking to resolve them in discussions with HMRC. There continues however to be a wide difference between the group and HMRC positions, which may ultimately need to be settled by litigation," he added.

HMRC and the IRS declined to comment for this story.

In September 2006, GSK settled with the IRS in what was then the largest transfer pricing case in the US. The company paid the tax authority $3.4 billion in relation to various transfer pricing issues from 1989 to 2005.

Senior In-House Tax Appointments in the US

Source: Tax Careers Magazine

At Marathon Oil, Stephen Landry replaced tax veteran William Meara as tax VP. Landry, who was director of tax, compliance and reporting for Marathon, succeeded Meara on 1 January 2008. Landry joined Marathon in January 2007. Previously, he spent 22 years with Ernst & Young. He became tax partner for E&Y in 1998 and transferred to the Houston energy practice in 2000.

Viacom has appointed Jay Kushner to a newly-created role as senior vice-president of global taxation and treasury. He will report to Thomas Dooley, CFO of Viacom. Kushner joined Viacom in June 2005 as the company's vice-president and general tax counsel. Before joining Viacom, he was treasurer and general tax counsel at Young & Rubicam, a global advertising agency and marketing services company. Prior to that he led the international tax operations at PepsiCo and was an executive with Coopers & Lybrand.


SG comment: Whilst the general perception is that tax skills are easily transferable between different sectors, I think the above two appointments show that perhaps the very top tax jobs will be taken by tax execs who have deep understanding and experience of a company's sector.

Digita (software) receives stamp of approval from Vista

Source: AccountancyAge.com

Digita has become the first accountancy software player in the UK market to receive a certification from Vista.

The Certified for Windows Vista mark identifies 'products that meet a higher standard of quality and exploit the best of what Windows Vista has to offer'.

'This gives us a huge advantage in developing our software for the profession as users benefit from the highest levels of integration across Digita and Microsoft products resulting in better business performance,' said Jerry Rihll, Digita managing director

Brad Goldberg, general manager for Windows Vista Product Management at Microsoft said: 'We are extremely pleased that Digita carries the certified logo and takes advantage of the new technologies available in Windows Vista.'


SG comment: I have posted this article as Digita is also very active in the tax software market, its products include Digita Personal, Business, Trust and Corporation Tax. Their marketing material states that these UK tax products are the only products accredited by Microsoft for use with Windows, hence the above article. Digita tax software has won the LexisNexis best tax software award 3 times: 2007, 2006 and 2003.

BP settles tax in Alaska

Source: Financial Times

BP has agreed to pay Alaska $379m (£191m) to settle a dispute over its corporate income tax liabilities for 2000-02, the US state's governor announced late on New Year's Eve.

Sarah Palin said BP, Europe's second largest oil company, had agreed on December 31 to pay the money. The funds would be deposited in the constitutional budget reserve, the state's main savings account.

The terms and conditions of the dispute and agreement must be kept confidential by law, she added. "I am very pleased with this settlement and appreciate BP's willingness to work with the state of Alaska and come to a fair resolution."

BP confirmed the details of the settlement and said it was glad the matter was resolved.

The payment, on behalf of the BP Exploration (Alaska) subsidiary, is the latest blow to BP which is still under investigation by state officials for last year's oil spill in Prudhoe Bay for which the company has already paid $20m in fines.

Just before Christmas, Ms Palin signed into law a proposed tax increase on the oil industry, boosting the rate from 22.5 per cent to 25 per cent of the net value of oil.

The increase, which is expected to raise the industry's tax bill by $1.5bn next year, led BP to say it was reviewing its investment plans in Alaska.

Doug Suttles, president of BP Exploration (Alaska), said he was disappointed by the tax hike. "This will impact our business plans in 2008."

On December 26, an Alaska superior court judge ruled that BP, ExxonMobil and other oil companies could have their leases for Point Thomson, a gas and condensate field, revoked by the state because they had taken too long to develop it.

The ruling was welcomed by Ms Palin.

Coke appoints new Tax Counsel

Source: International Tax Review

William Hawkins has been elected general tax counsel and a vice president of Coca-Cola. He has worked in the company's Office of General Tax Counsel since 1998 and will now lead Coca-Cola's tax policy and strategy team.

Before Coca-Cola, Hawkins was a partner in two law firms in Washington, DC.


SG comment: I have not heard of William Hawkins before, but I remember that around the 1998 period, Coca-Cola merged in Europe with the Hellenic Bottling Company, and relocated the European Head Office to Athens in Greece, which was an interesting choice of location. As a result, a number of senior people left including Peter Culver from tax, who I believe is still UK Head of Tax for Nestle.

BHP Billiton faces back taxes bill

Source: International Tax Review

BHP Billiton has been hit with a $643 million bill for Australian tax arrears for the 2000 to 2006 tax years

The natural resources company said the demand is made up of $336 million in tax and $307 million in interest and penalties, and concerns the capital allowances the group claimed in relation to Boodarie Iron (Australia), a subsidiary that closed down in August 2005. BHP said it is entitled to the relief and intended to contest the Australia Taxation Office's opinion.

SG comment: There is a more detailed statement of this on the Australian BHP Billiton website within the Investors and Media section.

Paradigm hires new Tax VP

Source: taxcareers magazine

Paradigm, a software supplier to the global oil and natural gas exploration and production industry, has appointed Eileen Howell to its executive management team as vice-president of tax. In this role, she will manage and develop tax strategies across the world, including the examination and strategic planning of Paradigm's entity structures, staffing levels and branch operations.

Howell has more than 20 years' global accounting in the energy industry. She joins Paradigm from Schlumberger, a global oil field services company, where was oil field services US tax manager. At Schlumberger, she managed all US tax matters for the company's oil field sector and held several managerial positions in its divisions and joint ventures, including worldwide tax manager of both WesternGeco (a JV between Schlumberger and Baker Hughes) and Schlumberger Network Solutions.

Howell also worked for four years in Singapore as Schlumberger's accounting manager responsible for the Pan Pacific basin.

E&Y bags Thames Water's tax head

Source: taxcareers magazine

The former head of tax at Thames Water has joined Ernst & Young's Manchester operation - Helen Reid enlists as a senior manager.

Reid was recruited from Thames Water following four years of her career spent in the water sector. In her new role, Reid will be responsible for providing corporate tax advisory services to north-west quoted companies and large privately-owned businesses.

Her appointment is also part of Ernst & Young's ongoing investment in its UK utilities practice, and she will continue to be involved in the water industry through the firm's water network. Commenting on the appointment, Manchester head of tax Tracy Wood said: 'Helen Reid's specialist expertise in the tax advisory field will bring extra value to our clients across the gamut of industry sectors here in the North West.

'In addition, she is one of the UK's senior water specialists and will bring significant capability to the firm's fast-growing utilities water team, contributing to our UK credentials and helping us to increase our presence in the water sector.'

A graduate of Oxford University, Reid was born and raised in Burnley and lives in Manchester - she recently relocated to the North West from Reading.

GM announces tax charge

Source: Penny Sukhraj, Accountancy Age

General Motors has announced a $39bn charge in its third quarter results to remove net deferred tax assets from its books.

The Detroit-based company said that the charge, which affects the automaker's businesses in the US, Germany and Canada, would not impact operations or restructuring.

The hit on the books is the largest at GM so far, which has encountered a string of accounting irregularities since 2005.

GM's third quarter results, which are set to be reported today, are likely to show significant red ink, the New York Times reported.