PwC fined £4.5m for ‘lack of competence’ in Redcentric audit June 13, 2019 The audit watchdog has fined PwC more than £4.5m for a “serious lack of competence” in its audit of IT services firm Redcentric. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) slammed the auditors’ failure to exercise professional scepticism following an investigation after a £20m black hole was found in Redcentric’s accounts in 2016. Read more: PwC invests [...]
Shipping firm hit with £850,000 fine for paying bribes in Angola June 3, 2019 A shipping firm was today fined £850,000 for bribery in Angola that secured it contracts worth $20m (£15.8m). FH Bertling, which was the UK arm of German shipping company Bertling and is now in liquidation, paid bribes of more $350,000 to a local state oil company official. After an investigation starting in 2014, the Serious [...]
Deloitte boosts UK partner promotions by more than 40 per cent June 3, 2019 Deloitte has promoted 78 to its partnership in the UK, an increase of more than 40 per cent on the previous year. Of the new UK partners, 32 (41 per cent) are women, up from 11 in 2018, taking the firm’s female partners to 223, 21 per cent of the partnership. Fifty four of the [...]
Law firm DWF announces revenue bump in first results since listing June 3, 2019 Law firm DWF said today it grew revenue 15 per cent in 2019 in its first trading update since it went public in March. DWF became the first law firm to float on the main market of the London Stock Exchange, raising £95m in a listing that valued the business at £366m. The firm said [...]
What does Boris Johnson have in common with Oscar Wilde? A brief history of private prosecutions June 3, 2019 Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson has been told that he will face court as part of private prosecution brought against him for his conduct in the Brexit campaign. Suddenly, this obscure legal mechanism is in the public spotlight. Indeed, many people may not even have been aware that private prosecutions still existed in modern Britain. [...]
HMRC cracks down on number spoofing scams in fight against fraud June 1, 2019 HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has put a block in place on numbers that were using spoofing tactics to impersonate genuine tax officials. Fraudsters had been using so-called number spoofing so that when calling people it would appear as HMRC’s actual phone numbers on their display. Read more: City of London Police apologises after diamond [...]
City of London Police apologises after diamond and carbon credit fraud case collapses May 29, 2019 The City of London Police apologised today after the trial of eight defendants accused of fraudulent carbon credit and diamond sales collapsed. The trial was abandoned after the credibility of the prosecution’s expert witness Andrew Ager, who had been used in more than 20 previous trials, was called into question. It emerged in cross questioning [...]
Facebook-backer Index Ventures leads $4m series A for UK legal startup May 28, 2019 Seedlegals, which helps UK startups automate the fundraising process, has secured $4m (£3.2m) in funding from one of the world's most successful venture capital firms. San Francisco and London-based Index Ventures led the series A funding round, putting Seedlegals among the likes of Facebook, Just Eat and Slack in its portfolio. Additional participation was provided by Kima Ventures, [...]
The future eminence of our legal sector rests on more than Brexit May 23, 2019 Ever since the referendum, we have seen dire warnings that London risks losing its place as a global business hub. We have read countless stories of other European cities pitching for our international financial services sector, and there are now concerns that the continental courts are gearing up for an assault on its preeminent status [...]
Goldman Sachs taps Mazars for European audit in blow for Big Four May 20, 2019 Goldman Sachs has appointed Mazars to audit its London-based European operations, making it the first large bank in the UK to shun the Big Four. Read more: Big Four could force judicial review into proposed audit reforms The US investment bank has selected the Paris-headquartered auditor, which is the eighth-largest in the UK by fee [...]