EY to buy Frank Hirth’s UK business, leaving some staff in limbo February 3, 2021 Big Four firm EY will acquire the UK business of tax advisory and compliance business Frank Hirth for an undisclosed fee. Around 200 employees and more than 5,000 clients of Frank Hirth will move across to EY. Four Frank Hirth employees currently working out of New Zealand have been left in limbo as a result [...]
KPMG partners take 11 per cent pay cut as Covid-19 eats into profits February 3, 2021 Partners at KPMG have had their pay cut by an average of 11 per cent, from some £640,000 to £572,000, as Covid-19 hit profits and revenue at the firm. KPMG’s chairman was paid £1.7m for the year, a decrease of 14 per cent on 2019. Partners across Big Four firms saw pay cuts in [...]
PwC’s new leader of FS: ‘The outcome of Brexit on financial services is still unknown’ February 1, 2021 Last month Isabelle Jenkins was named the new leader of financial services at PwC UK, after spending 17 years as a partner at the firm. Jenkins replaced Andrew Kail, who held the role over the last four and a half years. In her first interview as leader of financial services at the Big Four firm, [...]
Report calls on Government and FCA to ‘consider consequences’ for BoE boss Andrew Bailey over LCF collapse February 1, 2021 The Treasury and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) must consider what action to take against Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey and two officials over their handling of LCF, the author of a report about the collapsed fund told MPs today.
Challenger audit firms prep for forced audit separation January 29, 2021 Challenger audit firms are readying themselves for audit separation, a requirement not yet expected of them, but one they see as inevitable in the future. Last summer audit regulator the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) ordered the Big Four firms – Deloitte, KPMG, PwC and EY – to separate their audit units from the rest of their [...]
BEIS audit reform proposals coming ‘in next couple of weeks’ January 28, 2021 The BEIS consultation on reforms to the audit sector is understood to be coming out “in the next couple of weeks”, and is expected to be extensive. The consultation will contain detail on the minimum standards for audit committees, among other things that “UK PLC will gasp at”, Scott Knight, head of audit and assurance [...]
Regulators remind auditors to pay attention to Covid measures on corporate reporting January 27, 2021 The FCA and the FRC have issued a joint statement to remind auditors of the coronavirus-led rule changes around corporate reporting for listed companies. Now is the busiest time for auditors, when, under normal circumstances, many listed companies would publish their end of year results. But 2021 is proving especially challenging for auditors, with England’s [...]
White prevalence in senior roles drives ethnicity and gender gap at PwC January 27, 2021 PwC has for the first time published its Black, Asian and Mixed Ethnic background pay gaps, with the gap being driven by under representation of ethnic minorities in senior roles. PwC’s overall median ethnicity pay gap, including partners, decreased from 6.3 per cent in 2019 to 3.5 per cent in 2020. The firm’s median gender [...]
Major London law firms still making use of government’s furlough scheme January 27, 2021 Major law firms, some of which are based in the City of London, are still making use of the government’s furlough scheme. City firms Trowers & Hamlins, BLM and and TLT were among those still making use of the coronavirus jobs retention scheme last month, according to HMRC data published by The Lawyer. A spokesperson [...]
Difficult headlines shouldn’t scare firms off admitting they’ve got work to do on equality January 27, 2021 When it comes to equality in business, it’s fair to say that very few companies are truly where they want to be yet – being honest about this is uncomfortable but important. In November 2014 we first published our gender pay gap, and four years ago we published our ethnicity pay gap. While I was [...]