PwC partners take more than £1m each as consulting arm bolsters firm’s revenues August 18, 2022 PwC today posted “exceptional” results for the past financial year after surging demand for advice, in the face of “challenges and opportunities on multiple fronts,” bolstered the accountancy firm’s revenues The uptick in revenues for the year ended on 30 June 2022 will see partners at the accounting firm receive payouts of £920,000 – up [...]
PwC to face Hong Kong probe over Evergrande audit August 15, 2022 Hong Kong’s audit watchdog has launched an investigation into PwC over its audit of embattled Chinese real estate developer Evergrande. The city-state’s Financial Reporting Council (FRC) today said it had opened an investigation into the Big Four accountancy firm’s audit of the heavily-indebted property firm’s 2020 results. The probe comes after PwC signed off [...]
UK’s professional services sector weathers economic headwinds August 13, 2022 The UK’s professional services sector has continued to grow its turnovers in the face of major economic headwinds, new UK government data shows. The accountancy sector’s turnovers increased 3.7 per cent, from £3.41bn in May to £3.54bn in June, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) data shows. The country’s legal sector also saw its turnovers [...]
Five Chinese firms vow to delist from US markets amid long running audit dispute August 13, 2022 Five Chinese state-owned companies have said they will pull themselves off the New York stock exchange amid long-running clashes between Beijing and Washington over audit standards. The five Chinese firms have said they will delist from the Wall Street market after coming under scrutiny over US regulators claims they have failed to meet US audit [...]
UK audit body opens consultation on plans to update public sector accounting guidance August 9, 2022 The UK’s Public Audit Forum (PAF) has opened a consultation on revising the guidance on auditing public sector entities. The PAF, a consortium of the UK’s four national audit agencies, are calling on auditors and other stakeholders to offer their views on plans to amend Practice Note 10, which provides guidance on auditing public [...]
Mazars discriminated against XTX Markets’ Russian owner, lawsuit says August 8, 2022 London trading company XTX Markets is suing accountancy firm Mazars over claims it discriminated against its founder, Alexander Gerko, by refusing to work with the firm due to Gerko’s Russian citizenship. The algorithmic trading firm filed its case against Mazars over the accounting firm’s refusal to provide payroll services to its subsidiary, XTX Markets Technologies, [...]
PwC fined over BT audit failings following discovery of £512m fraud August 8, 2022 The UK’s accounting watchdog today fined PwC £2.5m over claims it failed to properly scrutinize BT accounts following the discovery of a half-a-billion-pound fraud within the telecommunications firm. The UK’s Financial Reporting Council (FRC) said PwC and former partner Richard Hughes failed to treat BT’s management with sufficient professional scepticism following the discovery of a [...]
Big Four switch: Alliance Pharma hires Deloitte as its new auditor after KPMG resigns August 8, 2022 Alliance Pharma has appointed Big Four giant Deloitte as auditor after the pharmaceutical company’s go-to for six years KMPG resigned. Deloitte will be the company’s auditor until the end of 2022 and will need to be approved by Alliance Pharma’s shareholders to be re-appointed for 2023. It was appointed following a tender process, which KPMG [...]
Big Four auditors up advisory fee incomes as challengers capture larger share of audit work August 5, 2022 The UK’s challenger auditing firms are increasingly capturing a larger share of Britain’s audit market, as the Big Four increasingly generate their revenues through non audit work, new data from the UK’s accounting watchdog shows. The research shows smaller auditors upped their audit fee incomes at almost twice the rate of the Big Four, as [...]
PwC global digital assets chief leaves to launch ‘crypto asset manager’ August 4, 2022 The head of PwC’s crypto business has left his position at the Big Four accountancy firm to launch his own “crypto asset management firm” with a view to drawing institutional investors into cryptocurrencies. The new fund, Nine Blocks Capital Management, is set to use a $75m initial investment from Hong Kong fund Nine Masts, to [...]