Germany to launch new enforcement agency to strengthen fight against white-collar crime August 25, 2022 Germany has set out plans to start a new country-wide financial crime authority with a view to strengthening the country’s responses to sanctions breaches and white-collar crime. The plans will see Germany’s finance ministry combine the country’s more than 300 financial crime agencies into a new federal authority, in line with plans to “curb financial [...]
PwC sued by employee over pub crawl brain injury August 22, 2022 A 28-year-old auditor, who suffered a serious brain injury on a work night out, is suing PwC over claims the firm bears responsibility for the behaviour of a manager who encouraged excessive drinking. Michael Brockie, 28, suffered a “moderate-severe brain injury” during a “pub golf” night organised by his superior, that left him with “persistent [...]
Deloitte to hire 6,000 new UK staff over next five years August 22, 2022 Deloitte today set out plans to hire more than 6,000 new UK employees over the next five years in a bid to boost the quality of its audit work. The plans will see the accounting firm recruit at least 1,200 audit and assurance professionals each year from 2022- 2027, including around 5,000 new auditors. The [...]
Less than 62,000 of UK’s one million trusts registered with HMRC just two weeks before deadline August 19, 2022 Only a tiny proportion of those who own non-taxable trusts have registered them with HM Revenues and Customs’ (HMRC’s) Trust Registration Service (TRS), just weeks before the deadline on 1 September. A total of 61,700 of the UK’s estimated one million trusts were registered with the HMRC service in the first six months of 2022, [...]
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, [...]