HSBC’s $94m-a-year audits may not be enough to woo Big Four accountants November 22, 2021 Fears that the UK’s biggest lender will struggle to attract the Big Four accounting firms have been stoked as HSBC prepares to tender the audits of its accounts next year, according to reports. The heads of HSBC reached out to the Big Four auditors but found they were reluctant to bid for the bank’s audits [...]
EY faces mounting staff backlash over sexual harassment case November 18, 2021 EY has come under fire from its own workforce for allowing a partner to retain his job after sexually harassing a junior female colleague on a company ski trip, according to reports. The accounting giant told staff it would do more to tackle inappropriate behaviour, following the case of Neil Hutt, a transactions partner who [...]
After 12 years: PwC likely to be replaced by EY as Aviva auditor November 18, 2021 Aviva has proposed EY as its new auditor from 2024, replacing PwC after 12 years.
Prospect of watered down UK audit reforms draws criticism November 17, 2021 Audit groups and investors have warned the government that scaling back long-awaited corporate governance and audit reforms could lead to more corporate scandals, according to reports. In a letter to business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng, the chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors, John Wood, said stronger regulation of internal controls were fundamental to [...]
Top accountancy firms more likely to hire white applicants November 12, 2021 White applicants are more likely to be successful when applying for jobs in the top UK accountancy firms, over those from ethnic minority or lower socio-economic backgrounds, according to a new report. The report, published today, by charity Access Accountancy looked at the socio-economic backgrounds of people who applied for jobs at ten accounting companies, [...]
Australian treasury accused of pressuring ex-KPMG partner to omit $10bn gap in report November 8, 2021 A former KPMG partner has claimed he lost his job after being pressured by an Australian public servant to change a document that found a $10bn gap in the Treasury’s finances, according to reports. In a parliamentary hearing today, Brendan Lyon said he received “professional, ongoing attacks,” from public servants and that the Australian treasury [...]
Investors warn Big Four of AGM rebellions over climate accounting November 2, 2021 An investor group managing around $4.5tn worth of assets have issued a warning to the top four auditing giants to start including climate risk into their audits, or risk rebellions at AGMs, according to reports. In a letter seen by Reuters, which first reported the news, the investors told the Big Four auditors that unless [...]
KPMG gave ‘untruthful defence’ in tribunal over £13m Silentnight fine October 13, 2021 The UK accounting watchdog has today denounced KPMG for knowingly giving an “untruthful” defence over its conflict of interest in the 2011 sale of Silentnight, for which it was fined £13m. The verdict of the Financial Reporting Council’s (FRC) disciplinary tribunal marks the first time ever that the body has found an accountancy to have [...]
Audit reform: FRC asks for power to cap Big Four’s audit clients October 12, 2021 The chief executive of the UK’s accounting watchdog has asked ministers for the authority to enforce a cap on the number of large companies that any one accountancy firm can audit, in an attempt to break up the dominance of the Big Four firms. Sir Jon Thompson went on to question the likelihood of the [...]
‘Bat from Wuhan’: PwC chief apologises for ‘racist and offensive’ staff event September 28, 2021 The chief executive of PwC Australia has issued an apology for “racist and offensive” behaviour by two human resource staff members during a trivia event hosted by the Big Four company. The virtual game of trivia in which one PwC HR executive allegedly dressed as a “bat from Wuhan”, while another mocked Chinese accents, took [...]