London’s legal sector continues to lead the world August 3, 2020 Socially-distanced juries, virtual trials, and a mass shift to remote working — these are just some of the radical steps that have been taken to allow justice to be served during lockdown. Almost every part of our economy has had to adapt to Covid-19 and the legal system is no different. One constant throughout these [...]
Robert Walters sees profit slump 80 per cent amid coronavirus July 30, 2020 Recruitment group Robert Walters suffered an 80 per cent drop in pre-tax profit in the first half of the year after all of its operations regions were “significantly impacted” by the coronavirus pandemic. The figures Robert Walters’s profit before tax slumped 79 per cent to £4.3m in the six months ended 30 June, from £20.9m [...]
Counting the human cost of Covid — and of leaving small business owners behind July 23, 2020 The daily lists of cases, tests and R numbers tell a tale of the scale of the Covid-19 crisis, but they don’t always explain the full story of the cost on people’s lives. ACCA and the Corporate Finance Network (CFN) are running a tracker poll among accountancy firms representing more than 22,000 small businesses to [...]
KPMG set to slash jobs and pension contributions in cost-cutting drive July 22, 2020 KPMG is set to cut more than 100 jobs and slash contributions to employees’ pensions in a bid to slash costs during the pandemic. The Big Four firm is expected to cut just under 200 jobs across the UK ahead of the long-awaited reform of the audit reform. Sky News first reported that partners and [...]
Grant Thornton faces legal action over Patisserie Valerie audit July 19, 2020 Grant Thornton is reportedly facing legal action over its auditing of cafe chain Patisserie Valerie, which collapsed last year following allegations of suspected fraud. Liquidator FRP Advisory has hired law firm Mishcon de Reya to explore a claim, potentially worth tens of millions of pounds, against Grant Thornton, which audited the cake shop’s accounts for [...]
Government dragging its feet on audit reform, says business committee July 14, 2020 The business, energy and industrial strategy (BEIS) committee has accused the government of dragging its feet on proposed audit reforms. The government has today published its response to the committee’s inquiry into the collapse of Thomas Cook last year. In the original findings from the inquiry last October, the committee expressed disappointment that the government [...]
G4S shares surge as it revises up earnings forecast July 13, 2020 Shares in security firm G4S have jumped nine per cent after it said a strong June has “significantly” boosted first-half earnings. In a short update, the international company said its “underlying earnings for the first six months of 2020 will be significantly above market consensus”. G4S put this down to “a resilient trading performance during [...]
Profit at Robert Walters drops 33 per cent in second quarter July 9, 2020 Global recruitment firm Robert Walters suffered a 33 per cent drop in gross profit in the second quarter of the year as coronavirus lockdowns ravaged the jobs market. The London-listed group’s gross profit tumbled 33 per cent year-on-year to £71.1m as coronavirus took hold around the world. The UK was the hardest hit market, with [...]
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 [...]