Criminal Bar Association opens ballot on plans to escalate barristers’ strike August 9, 2022 CRIMINAL barristers are set to vote on plans to intensify their ongoing strikes by running uninterrupted strikes indefinitely. The Criminal Bar Association (CBA) will ballot its members over plans to call off its current bi-weekly strike actions and run a continuous strike from 5 September onwards. “It has become clear that a significant proportion [...]
UK audit body opens consultation on plans to update public sector accounting guidance August 9, 2022 The UK’s Public Audit Forum (PAF) has opened a consultation on revising the guidance on auditing public sector entities. The PAF, a consortium of the UK’s four national audit agencies, are calling on auditors and other stakeholders to offer their views on plans to amend Practice Note 10, which provides guidance on auditing public [...]
KPMG restarts UK government contract bids August 8, 2022 KPMG has restarted competing for UK government contracts, after the Big Four accounting firm withdrew from public sector tenders last December, following a series of high-profile accounting scandals. The Big Four accountancy firm re-commenced bidding for UK public sector contracts in early-June, after it pulled out of competing for lucrative UK government contracts at the [...]
Dominic Raab weighs up plans for further barriers to judicial reviews August 8, 2022 Justice secretary Dominic Raab is considering introducing new measures to make it harder to challenge government decisions via judicial reviews, leaked documents seen by the Guardian show. The plans could also see judges subject to new more stringent criteria in bringing forward cases, that could see courts banned from hearing cases in certain areas of [...]
Mazars discriminated against XTX Markets’ Russian owner, lawsuit says August 8, 2022 London trading company XTX Markets is suing accountancy firm Mazars over claims it discriminated against its founder, Alexander Gerko, by refusing to work with the firm due to Gerko’s Russian citizenship. The algorithmic trading firm filed its case against Mazars over the accounting firm’s refusal to provide payroll services to its subsidiary, XTX Markets Technologies, [...]
WH Smith de-risks pensions scheme via Standard Life insurance policy August 8, 2022 WH Smith on Monday said it had taken out a bulk annuity insurance policy with Standard Life, through which the Phoenix Group subsidiary will cover the costs of the retailer’s £1bn pension scheme. The high-street bookseller’s insurance policy will see Standard Life pay the pensions of the almost 13,000 members of WH Smith’s defined [...]
PwC fined over BT audit failings following discovery of £512m fraud August 8, 2022 The UK’s accounting watchdog today fined PwC £2.5m over claims it failed to properly scrutinize BT accounts following the discovery of a half-a-billion-pound fraud within the telecommunications firm. The UK’s Financial Reporting Council (FRC) said PwC and former partner Richard Hughes failed to treat BT’s management with sufficient professional scepticism following the discovery of a [...]
Law firm mergers drop to decade lows as legal sector boom slows M&A activity August 8, 2022 The past two years’ boom in demand for legal services has seen M&A activity in the UK’s legal sector drop to decade lows, research from accountancy firm Hazelwoods shows. The number of mergers between UK law firms has fallen to its lowest levels in a decade, in plummeting from highs of 278 in 2011 to [...]
EY carve-up decision delayed as partners mull plans August 7, 2022 The planned break-up of ‘Big Four’ firm EY has been pushed back to the end of the year as bosses mull the practicalities of proposals to carve up its consultancy and audit practices, according to reports.
Big Four auditors up advisory fee incomes as challengers capture larger share of audit work August 5, 2022 The UK’s challenger auditing firms are increasingly capturing a larger share of Britain’s audit market, as the Big Four increasingly generate their revenues through non audit work, new data from the UK’s accounting watchdog shows. The research shows smaller auditors upped their audit fee incomes at almost twice the rate of the Big Four, as [...]