Big Four accountant EY admits need for improved audit standards as UK revenues rise October 29, 2018 Accounting giant EY has said that standards must improve in the audit sector and welcomed an investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority into the scrutinised sector, as it reported increased UK revenue today. The figures EY’s fee income, equivalent to revenue, grew 2.7 per cent to £2.41bn for the financial year ending June. EY’s partners will [...]
BDO extends lead as top junior market auditor October 29, 2018 BDO, the UK’s sixth-largest audit firm, has hugely extended its lead as the UK’s top auditor of mid-size, Alternative Investment Market (Aim)-listed firms – more than quadrupling the gap between it and second-placed KPMG in the past half a year. New data from Adviser Rankings shows BDO now has 149 Aim-listed clients, 23 more than [...]
Serious Fraud Office chief steps back from Barclays case over conflicts October 28, 2018 The new director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) Lisa Osofsky has recused herself from the prosecution of four former Barclays bankers over potential conflicts of interest. The fraud office said she had delegated responsibility for the case to the SFO’s general counsel Alun Milford to “avoid any potential conflict” thrown up by previous private [...]
Audit watchdog boss Stephen Haddrill set to step down amid probe October 28, 2018 The chief executive of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), Stephen Haddrill, is reportedly preparing to step down amid a government probe into the watchdog’s operations. Haddrill is planning to leave within months, Sky News reported. He has led the FRC, which monitors and regulates the audit sector, since 2009. Citing an anonymous source, Sky said [...]
Audit re-appointments waved through by shareholders despite year of failures in sector October 25, 2018 Shareholders overwhelmingly vote to back the re-appointment of company auditors despite widespread controversies in the sector, new research shows. Analysis of annual general meeting votes in 2018 by outsourcing firm Equiniti has found that the average votes in favour of re-appointing an auditor ranged from 97.6 per cent to 99.5 per cent across the FTSE [...]
Goldman Sachs-backed flexible working startup Coople raises $21m October 25, 2018 On-demand staffing startup Coople has today announced the close of its latest funding round at $21m (£16.3m), backed by One Peak Partners, Goldman Sachs Private Capital and Harbert European Growth Capital. Based in Zurich and in London, Coople's platform matches workers looking for flexible jobs based on their experience, star rating, location and availability with registered companies [...]
Santander chair on shortlist to lead new government-backed audit review October 22, 2018 The chair of Santander UK has been shortlisted to lead a new, government-backed review into the future of Britain’s audit sector, following a series of scandals. Baroness Vadera, a former investment banker and key ally of Gordon Brown, whom she served as a minister, was named by the Times as a candidate to lead the [...]
Audit’s perfect storm: How bean counters found themselves at the centre of a public uproar October 21, 2018 On the the surface, there is little reason for audit to get the blood pumping. The reality, however, is quite different, and threatens to present the sector’s biggest players – sprawling multi-nationals used to finding that all news is good news when you count the beans – with the toughest challenge they have seen in [...]
Legal Q&A: I want to extend the lease on my flat, and have been reading about changes to leasehold legislation. Will the changes benefit my situation or should I wait? October 19, 2018 The Law Commission has recently published a Consultation Paper on proposals for a major overhaul of the existing leasehold regime, where people who own property on a long lease may extend their lease or buy the freehold. Among the proposals are several which could benefit you as a leaseholder looking to extend your lease, including: [...]
Accountants can save the world (really) October 18, 2018 Last week, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a landmark report due to be presented to governments at the Conference of the Parties in December this year. Its conclusions are stark – global carbon emissions must start to reduce well within 12 years if we are to prevent potentially catastrophic climate change [...]