Grant Thornton fined £3m for ‘numerous’ audit failures July 8, 2020 Grant Thornton has been fined £3m for “firm-wide failures” to comply with ethical standards between 2014 and 2017, as regulatory scrutiny increases on the Big Four. The auditor failed to meet ethical standards between 2014 and 2017, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) said today. And the accounting giant also failed to ensure its audit of [...]
Head of audit review calls for urgent reform after Wirecard scandal July 2, 2020 The head of the review into the auditing industry has called on the government to press on with an overhaul of the sector, after a Big Four firm failed to uncover fraud at Wirecard. After a series of allegations against Wirecard, EY, which has been the firm’s auditor since 2009, said it was unable to [...]
Accenture to cut up to 900 UK jobs as coronavirus bites July 1, 2020 Consultancy firm Accenture is planning to axe up to 900 jobs in the UK as the firm tries to cut costs to deal with the coronavirus crisis and an uncertain future. Accenture is a US firm headquartered in New York, but it employs more than 10,000 people in the UK. The job cuts are part [...]
Wirecard auditor EY prepares for backlash over scandal June 29, 2020 EY has reportedly told partners how to prepare for any backlash over its audits of Wirecard, the German firm which filed for insolvency last week. In an internal note to senior partners, seen by the Financial Times, the auditor advised they tell clients the “objective” of the fraud at Wirecard was to “deceive investors and [...]
Happy returns: Can employees refuse to go back to work? June 18, 2020 As London comes out of hibernation and employees begin to return to work, companies are being confronted with the true scale of the challenge of running a business in the middle of a pandemic. Employees, meanwhile, are feeling anxious that their workplace might remain unsafe. But is turning to the law the best way to [...]
EY’s UK offices to close for one day to force staff to take holiday June 17, 2020 EY is set to shut most of its offices for a day this summer to encourage staff to use up their annual leave, as employees remain reluctant to take holiday during lockdown. The accountancy firm told its employees about the scheduled day off in a memo this week, first reported by Financial News. It came [...]
Former FRC chairman Simon Dingemans joins Carlyle June 15, 2020 The former chairman of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) who stepped down last month has taken a new role at private equity firm Carlyle. Simon Dingemans, who left the accounting watchdog in May, will join Carlyle as a managing director in charge of UK buyouts, first reported by the Financial Times. He will also reportedly [...]
IP lock-out: Is Britain handing the EU the keys to a billion-pound industry? June 8, 2020 We are getting close to crunch point in the Brexit negotiations. Last week saw the culmination of the final round of talks between the EU and the UK ahead of the 30 June deadline to agree an extension to the transition period. Given the glacial progress so far, a sudden breakthrough appears highly unlikely, with [...]
PwC to reopen UK offices from 8 June following coronavirus lockdown easing June 3, 2020 Big Four accountancy firm PwC said today it would reopen offices across the UK from 8 June as the coronavirus lockdown eases. The firm said it would open its London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Reading, and Bristol offices from next Monday. Kevin Ellis, PwC UK chair and senior partner, said: “Just because we can work from [...]
Tilney and Smith & Williamson strike revised merger deal with Warburg Pincus investing in the group June 1, 2020 Wealth managers Tilney and Smith & Williamson have agreed a revised merger deal with private equity fund Warburg Pincus investing in the combined group. The deal had looked in doubt after regulatory problems and the coronavirus crisis meant an initial deadline to agree a merger was missed. Today, the pair said as part of the [...]