How would you like to pay for that, madam? October 17, 2018 | City Talk The global payments industry is dramatically improving due to technology. Mobile has changed everything. Payments are getting faster and smarter. Competition is intense. And payments are revolutionsing markets in the developing world even faster than in the developed world. In just the next seven years, the McKinsey Global Institute estimates that widespread adoption and use [...]
Claire’s weighing up store closures amid retail woes October 15, 2018 Fashion accessory retailer Claire’s has tonight strongly denied reports that it is mulling store closures as part of a turnaround bid to revive the firm. The high street retailer’s boss said this evening that there were no plans to trigger an insolvency process – known as a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) – despite earlier reports that [...]
Outrage-induced regulation will not fix the broken audit market October 12, 2018 The audit market is broken. Don’t take my word for it – ask Rachel Reeves, the Labour MP who chairs the BEIS select committee, or Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable, or even the Conservative business secretary Greg Clark, who last month ordered an inquiry into competition in the sector. With such cross-party concerns, it should not [...]
A transition agreement would be enough to calm business nerves October 9, 2018 Two reports published yesterday paint radically different pictures of the future for post-Brexit Britain. This quarter’s Deloitte CFO survey makes for troubling reading. Concern over Brexit is at a record high, with 79 per cent of CFOs expecting a deterioration in the business environment, and just 12 per cent thinking now is a good time to [...]
Pressure mounts on the CMA to break up accountancy’s Big Four October 1, 2018 The UK’s competition body has been told to “bare its teeth” and investigate breaking up the Big Four accountancy firms, as it prepares to announce a decision on whether it will investigate the sector. Three senior politicians from across the main parties have called on the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to find ways to [...]
City Moves for 1 October 2018 – who’s switching jobs at Deloitte, Cambridge Economic Policy Associates and Bailey Montagu Executive Search? October 1, 2018 Today's City Moves cover advisory, consulting and executive search. Take a look at these movers and shakers: Deloitte Deloitte has appointed Chris Graves as a partner in its advisory corporate finance practice. Chris will lead the firm’s technology, media and telecoms (TMT) mergers and acquisitions (M&A) team. Chris joins Deloitte today from GP Bullhound, the [...]
Taxpayers to foot £65m bill from Carillion redundancies September 25, 2018 Taxpayers are set to cough up £65m in redundancy payouts following the collapse of outsourcer giant Carillion. The liquidated construction services company, which bucked under the weight of a £1.5bn debt pile in January, has so far paid out £50m of the total £65m after thousands of workers were made redundant. The figures also [...]
Labour mulls break-up of Big Four accountancy firms September 21, 2018 The Labour party is weighing up radical plans to break up the Big Four accountancy firms, amid mounting pressure on the UK’s scandal-hit auditors. Shadow chancellor John McDonnell vowed to end what he described as a “cartel” among the country’s largest bean counters in the run-up to his party conference this weekend. “They have demonstrated [...]
A summer to forget: KPMG reputation dealt another blow after admitting to compliance report misconduct September 19, 2018 Scandal-hit KPMG has admitted to misconduct over compliance reports made for a unit of the Bank of New York (BNY) Mellon Group in another fresh embarrassment for one of the Big Four accountancy firms. The UK’s accountancy watchdog said today that KPMG and one of its partners Richard Hinton accepted they had fallen short of standards [...]
PwC UK chairman resists calls for Big Four breakup as firm posts record revenues September 17, 2018 The chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers UK said the Big Four accountant has learnt from its mistakes and improved processes, after it raised revenues despite settling two regulatory investigations in the past year. Kevin Ellis, PwC’s UK chairman and senior partner, told City A.M. he stands by the company’s opposition to breaking up the Big Four accountancy firms, [...]