Mayfair art dealer Mark Weiss gets green light to inspect Sotheby’s exchange over $10.7m fake Frans Hals painting November 26, 2018 A Mayfair art dealer who is locked in a legal battle with Sotheby's over a fake Frans Hals painting today won the right to inspect internal documents shared between the auction house and art experts. The New York-based auction house is suing Mark Weiss Ltd for repayment of the $10.7m (£8.3m) selling price after the painting, purported [...]
Boss says BDO still on the lookout for deals as it confirms ‘advanced’ merger talks with Moore Stephens November 26, 2018 The managing partner of BDO said the firm is still on the lookout for further mergers and acquisitions, after it confirmed plans to join forces with audit sector rival Moore Stephens. The firms have confirmed they are in “advanced” merger talks, which they say would “improve competition and quality” at the top end of the audit [...]
Stress in the City: How the UK’s top law firms manage employee wellbeing November 26, 2018 The legal world has been rocked by the recent suicide of a US partner which has led to an examination of the high-stress, long-hours culture prevalent in elite law firms. The widow of Sidley Austin partner Gabe MacConaill, who killed himself last month, wrote a heartbreaking open letter in the American Lawyer magazine detailing the [...]
BDO and Moore Stephens merger will create Britain’s fifth-largest accountancy firm November 25, 2018 BDO is preparing to merge with smaller accountancy rival Moore Stephens, in a move that will create a new fifth-largest auditor in the UK, bumping Grant Thornton off the spot. Partners at BDO, which currently holds the number six position, has approved a merger with Moore Stephens, currently the ninth-largest professional services firm in Britain, [...]
Big Four investigate their own clients on behalf of software giants November 23, 2018 The UK's top four accounting firms have been accused of a conflict of interest by investigating their own clients' use of software on behalf of technology firms. The so-called Big Four – PwC, KPMG, EY and Deloitte – carry out software audits on their clients on behalf of vendors such as Microsoft, SAP and IBM to see if firms [...]
Johnston Press administrator says creditors will face a ‘significant’ cash shortfall November 23, 2018 The administrator of struggling publishing company Johnston Press has said there will be “a significant shortfall” of money for creditors after being sold out of pre-pack administration last week. Alix Partners, the company’s administrators, warned in their first report that although funds would be available to secured bondholders and to unsecured creditors, there would still [...]
Breaking up is hard to do, so why not put a ring on audit? November 23, 2018 Never have there been more eyes on audit. Sir John Kingman is examining the Financial Reporting Council and how audit can best be regulated. The Competition and Markets Authority is investigating competition and choice in the listed audit market. The BEIS Select Committee announced last week that it too will scrutinise audit, and the Audit [...]
KPMG faces tribunal for its work for mattress firm Silentnight November 22, 2018 Audit firm KPMG and one of its partners face a tribunal over work for mattress firm Silentnight, the accountancy watchdog said today. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) today delivered a formal complaint against the firm and restructuring partner David Costley-Wood. The FRC alleged that KPMG and Costley-Wood acted for Silentnight “in circumstances where their professional judgment [...]
Outgoing Grant Thornton boss defends firm’s audit quality as Patisserie Valerie probe is launched November 22, 2018 The outgoing head of accountancy firm Grant Thornton has admitted she had made mistakes in her leadership, but stood by the quality of the firm’s auditing, amid fresh questions over Patisserie Valerie. Sacha Romanovitch, who will step down at the start of next month after 28 years at the firm, took the dramatic decision last [...]
Noel Edmonds launches legal case against Lloyds Banking Group as he enters the I’m A Celebrity jungle November 22, 2018 Former Crinkley Bottom resident and Deal or No Deal supremo Noel Edmonds is set to take his fight with Lloyds Bank into the Australian jungle. Edmonds is set to use his I’m A Celebrity TV platform to blast the bank, which he blames for the failure of his business. His lawyer, Jonathan Coad of Keystone [...]