Accountingweb

Tom Herbert opens the podcast with two tech stories from Companies House and HMRC. First, he unpacks a security flaw at Companies House that left confidential details linked to more than five million companies exposed, explaining what happened, how Companies House responded and how serious the breach was. He then turns to HMRC’s decision to reintroduce multi-factor authentication for agents from June, following a series of cyberattacks on agent accounts, looking at why the measure was introduced and later withdrawn, why it is now returning, and the general reaction. Richard Hattersley then tackles one of the biggest questions in the profession’s M&A boom: what is the endgame for private equity-backed firms? He explores the possible exit routes, from sales to larger private equity houses and further consolidation, to initial public offerings, outside buyers such as banks or tech vendors, or even a wave of management buyouts if private equity interest collapses. The team weighs up each one and how realistic it