London flexible office occupancy rates recover to pre-pandemic levels December 22, 2022 Flexible office spaces in central London have seen their occupancy rates recover to pre-pandemic levels, new data shows. A majority (86 per cent) of the world’s top 30 flexible workspace providers have seen now seen occupancy rates in their central London offices surpass levels of 60 per cent, a survey by Knight Frank shows. A [...]
East London construction firm fined over collapsed floor that left builder injured December 22, 2022 The UK’s health and safety regulator has fined a London construction firm £66,667 over its failure to prevent a builder falling through the floor of a half-built building in Croydon. East London construction firm Lusson Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety regulations after an overloaded floor collapsed at a building site on Croydon’s [...]
Insurance trade body seizes control of subsidiary by flooding City association’s board December 22, 2022 The world’s largest insurance trade body has made a push to take control of one of its subsidiaries, following an ongoing spat between the two groups. The takeover bid saw the head of the Personal Finance Society (PFS) hit out at its parent organisation, the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) over claims it had acted “unilaterally” [...]
Deloitte fined £1.25m over failings in building supplies firm’s audit December 22, 2022 The UK’s accounting watchdog today fined Deloitte and one of its senior auditors over failures in auditing the accounts of building products manufacturer SIG plc. Britain’s Financial Reporting Council (FRC) fined the Big Four accountancy firm £1.25m, discounted to £906,250 for admissions and early disposal, over its failure to apply sufficient professional scepticism in auditing [...]
UK’s audit watchdog calls on top accounting firms to boost measures against exam cheating December 21, 2022 The UK’s accounting watchdog has called on Britain’s seven largest auditors to improve the measures they have in place to prevent cheating on exams, following a series of international cheating scandals involving the world’s biggest audit firms. In a letter seen by City A.M., the UK’s Financial Reporting Council (FRC) called on the country’s top [...]
Fees paid to FTSE 100’s auditors hit record sums of more than £1bn December 20, 2022 The UK’s top 100 listed companies paid more than £1bn to their auditors for the first time in 2021/22, following a steady uptick in audit fees linked to a tougher stance from the UK’s accounting regulator. FTSE 100 companies paid a record £1.01bn to their auditors for both audit and non-audit services, in the year [...]
Despite Brexit: Octopus’ Bulb deal could trigger EU involvement, says lawyers December 19, 2022 Octopus Energy's takeover of Bulb could breach EU state aid rules, according to senior competition lawyers.
Crypto exclusive: Nexo users do not have ‘unfettered’ right to withdraw holdings, exchange says December 19, 2022 Crypto exchange Nexo has said its customers do not have the “unfettered” right to withdraw their cryptocurrencies from its platform, as it seeks to defend itself from a High Court lawsuit. Instead, Nexo said its customers only have the right to “request” withdrawals, as the exchange said it retains the right to reject any customer [...]
UK appoints five new innovation experts to drive post-Brexit technology boom December 18, 2022 The UK government has appointed five, industry leading experts to make use of post-Brexit freedoms by driving innovation in cutting edge sectors that will be vital to Britain’s future growth. The five new experts will work with the government’s chief scientific advisor, Sir Patrick Vallance, to review existing rules and develop a pro-innovation, regulatory approach. [...]
18-year-old Brit arrested in international raid on hacker-for-hire sites December 15, 2022 An 18-year-old in Devon has been arrested by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) following a series of international raids on DDoS-for-hire websites. The international operation – dubbed Operation PowerOFF – saw the FBI, NCA, Europol, and Netherlands Police shut down 48 of the world’s most popular DDoS-for-hire sites. DDoS-for-hire sites – also known as [...]
