Wake up and smell.

From The Telegraph, January 2013:

His comments followed David Cameron’s pledge to crack down on avoidance, some of which the Prime Minister said had become so “aggressive” it raised “ethical issues”. Businesses which thought they could dodge their fair share of tax needed to “wake up and smell the coffee”, Mr Cameron said.

Public anger has mounted at the way global companies such as Google, Starbucks and Amazon move profits from one country to another to lower their tax rate. While the behaviour is not illegal, MPs have called it “immoral”.

But, but...

From The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, July 2010:

You would expect a huge accountancy firm to have a clear idea of the value of its time. So when the ‘big four’ firms offer their expertise for free they in particular ought to know what it is costing them – and would have reckoned up the benefits.

Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) have given donations of ‘staff costs’ worth £1.36m and consultancy work totalling almost £500,000 to political parties since May 2009, according to Electoral Commission records. Work was provided for all three main political parties.

It adds up to nearly £1.9m of services donated by the big four since 2009. The firms also ‘loan’ staff to the government: in the past year, 15 staff members from top accountancy firms have been on secondment to the Treasury, alone.

From Ethos Journal October 2011:

The key appointment [to the Number 10 Policy and Implementation Unit] was the hire of Paul Kirby in March as Head of Policy Development. A former council officer and Audit Commission director, he had hit it off with George Osborne in opposition while on secondment from KPMG. Kirby is in overall charge of making sure that all Whitehall departments do what they promise.

From Accountancy Age, January 2013:

OUTGOING Chartered Institute of Taxation tax policy director John Whiting does not foresee any conflict between his current role and his upcoming non-executive directorship at HM Revenue & Customs...

Whiting – a former president of the institute – joined the CIoT in 2009 as tax policy director before assuming his role with the Office of Tax Simplification alongside his CIoT responsibilities in June 2010. Previously, he was a tax partner with PwC for 25 years. He was awarded an OBE in 2008 for his services to the tax profession.

Alongside Whiting, HMRC also appointed RWE Npower group chief executive Volker Beckers and former Wm Morrisons Supermarkets group HR and communications director Norman Pickavance as non-executive directors.

Compiled with help of Bob E.