Criminal Barristers strike rolls into fourth week with no end in sight July 18, 2022 Criminal barristers today convened at the Palace of Westminster to mark the start of the fourth week of their strike action over legal aid fees. Striking barristers gathered inside the home of the UK’s parliament demanding to see their local MPs, as they continued to call for an immediate 25 per cent increase in the [...]
UK government strips guarantees on £400m loans paid by Greensill Capital July 18, 2022 The UK government has pulled back guarantees on £400m worth of loans paid out by collapsed financier Greensill Capital to companies linked to steel magnate Sanjeev Gupta. The withdrawal comes after the British Business Bank (BBB) – the UK’s state-owned development bank – in 2020 guaranteed £400m worth loans, given by Greensill, to companies owned [...]
UK accounting watchdog calls on top auditors to put in place measures to stop cheating on exams July 18, 2022 The UK’s accounting watchdog has called on the country’s major audit firms to put measures in place to prevent employees from cheating on exams. Following a series of high-profile cheating scandals in Canada, Australia and the US, the UK’s Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has told British auditors to set out their plans to prevent similar [...]
City bombshell: Hundreds of angry Northern Rock clients sue TSB Bank for £800m after being trapped in high-interest mortgages July 18, 2022 City A.M. was told this morning that TSB Bank is facing a legal action worth up to £800m, brought by customers who claim they were locked into mortgages with ‘excessively high’ interest rates. Today, six years to the day since TSB bought £3.3bn mortgages from Northern Rock, approximately 200 homeowners whose mortgages have been administered [...]
Grant Thornton slapped with multi-million pound fine after FRC calls out ‘serious failings’ in Sports Direct audit July 18, 2022 The UK’s accounting watchdog today hit Grant Thornton with a £2.05m over “serious failings” in its audits of high-street retailer Sports Direct. The fines come after the UK’s Financial Reporting Council (FRC) said Grant Thornton had failed to properly scrutinize Sports Direct’s relationship with an unnamed delivery company and the impact the relationship would have [...]
UK launches innovative ‘problem-solving courts’ to tackle drug and alcohol related crime July 18, 2022 The UK’s Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has opened three “innovative” new courts specifically for those with substance abuse problems, as part of its £900m plan to tackle drug and alcohol related crime. The new “problem-solving courts” – in Liverpool, Teesside, and Birmingham – will provide services including rehabilitation services and housing support, in a bid [...]
PwC set for record revenues as global chief rejects plans for split July 18, 2022 The global head of PwC has said the accounting firm is set to post record revenues of around $50bn this year, after speaking out against plans to follow in the footsteps of EY by separating out PwC’s audit and advisory businesses. In an interview with the Financial Times, PwC global chairman Bob Moritz said the [...]
UKH Hacker Young sanctioned after Laura Ashley audits July 13, 2022 UKH Hacker Young has been “severely reprimanded” and slapped with a £350,000 fine by the accounting watchdog over its audit of Laura Ashley. The Financial Reporting Council has imposed serious sanctions on the firm for its audit of the fashion retailer for the 2018 and 2018 financial years. The retailer, which had 155 UK stores [...]
Exclusive: UK becomes Europe’s leading jurisdiction for class-action lawsuits July 12, 2022 The introduction of “opt-out” claims has seen the UK become the leading jurisdiction for European class action lawsuits, according to new figures from law firm CMS, which show that more than half (54 per cent) of all class action lawsuits filed in Europe over the past five years were filed in the UK. The UK [...]
UK’s audit watchdog sets out plans to shakeup Britain’s accounting sector July 12, 2022 The UK’s accountancy watchdog has vowed to put in place a raft of new measures to increase standards in the UK’s audit sector in a bid to pave the way for the UK government’s long-awaited reforms. The UK’s Financial Reporting Council (FRC) on Tuesday published a paper outlining its plans to revise existing codes, strengthen [...]