Deloitte handed PPE contract 4 months after it started work November 18, 2020 The Cabinet Office awarded a £3.2m contract to big four auditor Deloitte to help procure personal protective equipment (PPE), four months after it had started working with the government. According to a critical report from the National Audit Office (NAO), Deloitte was handed the multi-million pound contract on 21 July 2020, with the contract effective [...]
Brexit to bring blow to UK Covid-19 recovery – KPMG November 18, 2020 Brexit could hamper the UK’s economic recovery from the coronavirus, with the UK economy not expected to reach pre-Covid levels until late 2022, according to KPMG forecasts. The manufacturing sectors hardest hit by Brexit, including textiles, chemicals and electrical manufacturing, could see output at the end of 2021 between 6% and 12% lower than in [...]
KPMG rubbishes ‘conspiracy theory’ it helped private equity business dump Silentnight pension liabilities November 17, 2020 KPMG has refuted claims it helped US private equity firm HIG Capital force the insolvency of Silentnight so it could acquire the business without the burden of Silentnight’s £100m pension scheme. Speaking at a tribunal today Mark Phillips QC, who was representing KPMG, said the idea that the big four auditor had jeopardised Silentnight’s ability [...]
Watchdog lambasts accountants for ‘basic’ cash flow mistakes November 17, 2020 The Financial Report Council (FRC) has lambasted the accountancy industry for basic errors in cash flow statements. The watchdog said it continues to identify errors in cash flow statements, and as a result has published a review on the subject that examines many of the issues faced in their preparation, and provides information on how [...]
Ban EY from public contract bids following professional misconduct, urges charity November 17, 2020 The government should consider banning big four auditor EY from bidding on public contracts for three years following a number of recent scandals, charity Spotlight on Corruption has said. The charity has written a 17-page letter to government that accuses EY of “grave professional misconduct” that “renders its integrity questionable”, and suggests there should be [...]
Covid revealed that compliance is broken — now let’s build back better November 17, 2020 We’ve all been a little lonely during lockdown, but a word to the wise — if a new match on a dating site asks you to transfer some money to them, don’t do it. It’s probably a fraudster. Professional money launderers have been getting creative during the pandemic. With the usual avenues closed to them, [...]
HMRC criminal actions against rich individuals jump 40% in 2019/20 November 16, 2020 The number of arrests, dawn raids or interviews carried out by HMRC in respect of corporate and high net worth individuals jumped 40% last year. Criminal actions launched by HMRC’s Offshore Corporate and Wealth (OCW) unit increased to 70 in the 2019/20 tax year, up from 50 in 2018/19, according to a freedom of information [...]
Auditor independence rules prompt PwC to sell data software to private equity house November 16, 2020 Big four auditor PwC has sold its in-house data capture software to private equity house Souter Investments as auditor independent rules mean the firm cannot effectively grow the business. The software enables PwC to digitalise and search large volumes of complex legal derivative contracts for clients. It takes contracts from clients and converts them into [...]
BoE warns insurers are being ‘optimistic’ in Covid-19 estimates November 13, 2020 Insurers risk being optimistic in estimating losses from Covid-19 related claims and should stress-test their underlying assumptions, the Bank of England has warned. In a letter to insurers today, the BoE set out its findings from a review across the general insurance sector on reserving, managing exposures and dealing with uncertainty over contracts in light [...]
BEIS audit reform proposals expected to be made public in the new year November 13, 2020 Reforms to the audit sector outlined by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) are expected in the new year, with full implementation expected in 2023. Mazars head of audit Bob Neate told industry magazine Accountancy Age he expected BEIS to deliver around 110 recommendations drawn from three major reports into auditing. The [...]