Plans to relax accounting rules for small UK firms ‘risks rise in economic crime’

Critics say proposals an own goal' for government in combating money laundering, tax evasion and fraud

The government has been accused of watering down efforts to combat economic crime after putting forward proposals that could reduce transparency around small company accounts.

It said it was reviewing the kind of reporting burdens faced by the UK's smallest businesses in the hope of reducing the cost and time required to produce public accounts to a level of detail that it claimed was only needed for larger companies".