By: Maria Ward-Brennan

Professional Services Editor Maria Ward-Brennan is the Professional Services Editor at City AM, focused on law, Big Four, and other management and accounting consulting firms. She edits the Beyond The Billable newsletter and column. She was previously a litigation reporter at The Lawyer. Contact her via email at maria.ward-brennan@cityam.com or on X @MariaW_B.

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FTSE 100 Live: Stocks jump; oil dips below $100 as Trump says Iran deal close

May 6, 2026

Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. Brent crude dipped below $100 at Wednesday lunchtime after Donald Trump has hailed “great progress” towards a “final agreement” with Iran, prompting a rally in the FTSE, Asian markets and Wall Street. In a sudden reversal late last night, President Trump said he will pause [...]
Forvis Mazars UK CEO: We have what others are trying to buy

May 6, 2026

Forvis Mazars UK boss tells Maria Ward-Brennan that the firm’s integrated, global structure is what competitors are now trying to acquire through mergers and investments Forvis Mazars has built an integrated firm from the ground up, something others are now trying to purchase, says its UK chief executive, who added that building integration from scratch [...]
KPMG faces staff uproar as job cuts expose communication breakdown

May 6, 2026

Big Four audit firm KPMG is facing something of an internal comms meltdown, City AM understands, amid complaints of a lack of communication during a ‘mismanaged’ redundancy round. In late March, it was reported that KPMG UK was set to axe more than 500 staff in the latest redundancy round at the Big Four giant. [...]
Motor finance provider faces administration amid £9bn redress fallout

May 5, 2026

Blue Motor Finance is reportedly on the verge of administration after a series of financial setbacks and pressures stemming from the City regulator’s planned £9bn motor finance redress scheme. The independent motor finance provider is said to be facing a redress bill of over £50m, having lent over £1bn to over 120,000 customers – as [...]
Elon Musk settles lawsuit over Twitter takeover for $1.5m

May 5, 2026

Tech tycoon Elon Musk has finally put one of his longest-running legal battles to rest after reaching a $1.5m (£1.2m) settlement with the US regulator. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a civil lawsuit against the billionaire, alleging violations of securities laws in the run-up to his 2022 purchase of Twitter. Musk, who [...]
United Utilities taps shareholders for £800m as it unveils investment plans

April 30, 2026

One of UK’s largest listed water company United Utilities is making a submission to the regulator to increase its investment capacity in a bid to fuel expansion plans. The FTSE 100 firm is calling for Ofwat to lift its AMP8 budget, the five year investment period running until 2030, to £11.5bn from £9bn, to match [...]
City law firms clamp down on the equity cookie jar

April 30, 2026

Law firms are tightening access to equity partnerships to protect profits, increasingly reserving the equity pool for top performers, writes Maria Ward-Brennan. As the Big Four giants dominate the headlines with internal changes, the firms are seeking to regain control of their expanded equity pools amid profitability problems. These giants are looking to mirror what [...]
Private equity investment fuels major overhaul of Grant Thornton’s associate scheme

April 29, 2026

Professional services giant Grant Thornton is launching a “brand new associate programme” for its 2027 cohort of associates, City AM can reveal, as private equity investment from Cinven sets the firm’s ambition for significant growth. The firm voted in favour of an investment from private equity firm Cinven in 2024. Speaking to City AM, Abigail [...]
Meet the startup backed by Peter Thiel that wants to ‘hold journalists to account’

April 28, 2026

Founder Aron D’Souza spoke to Maria Ward-Brennan about his Peter Thiel-backed startup, which aims to hold journalists accountable by providing real-time ratings and investigations into their reporting practices. There exists a lively debate about the extent to which AI could replace journalists, but before it does that – could it develop a hold over the [...]
Golden partnership perks? Not anymore, say the Big Four

April 27, 2026

As the Big Four giants grapple with profitability challenges, the traditional partnership model is undergoing significant change to prevent the profit pool from being diluted. The traditional dream at professional services firms – joining, working hard and climbing the ladder to partnership within an LLP structure – now looks very different at the Big Four [...]

Oxford Street pedestrianisation brings ‘staggering’ shopping boost

Women’s football doesn’t need to become men’s football to succeed

The Capitalist: City AM reporter gets royal trashing by AI slop

By: Maria Ward-Brennan

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