Three-quarters of new FRC panel members being ex-Big Four causes interest concerns May 5, 2021 The majority of individuals recently recruited to the FRC’s advisory panel have at some point worked for a Big Four firm, raising concerns about their objectivity when it comes to making recommendations that are in the public interest. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) recently announced 19 new appointments to its advisory panel, a body established [...]
Treasury minister trumpets City of London resilience post-Brexit May 4, 2021 City minister John Glen has trumpeted the City of London’s ability to adapt post-Brexit, saying there has only been a “modest” amount of jobs lost since the 2016 referendum. Glen said a great number of “journalists and academics” had been proved wrong about the expected mass movement of jobs from the City to other European [...]
Government spends £624m on consultancy contracts during pandemic May 4, 2021 The government has awarded contracts worth at least £624m to private firms for consulting, marketing and research purposes during the pandemic, despite criticism it has been too reliant on private firms during the crisis. In total some £30.2bn in contracts have now been awarded by the UK government in response to Covid-19, the latest figures [...]
Highest paying companies in the UK revealed April 30, 2021 Banking, consulting and technology firms dominated the list of the UK’s highest paying companies, according to the latest data from Glassdoor. City of London-based Man Group has topped the rankings as the best paying financial firm in the UK, with median base salary of £85,312. Total compensation – meaning salary and bonus – at active [...]
EY hands £1,100 pandemic ‘thank you’ bonus to non-partners April 30, 2021 EY will hand out payments of around £1,100 to non-partners next month as a thank you for the work carried out during the Covid-19 pandemic. Some 17,000 UK staff will receive the one-off payment, which is in addition to EY’s normal salary review and bonus that take place in October. EY is the second of [...]
Schroders’ assets under management edges up £9 billion in three months to new record April 29, 2021 Assets under management (AUM) at Schroders jumped £9bn in the first three months of the year, up to £672bn in total – a record high for the group. In a previous trading update the asset manager said the rise in AUM showcased “the benefits of active investment management and our ability to deliver a good [...]
LinkedIn: Barclays, Tesco and NatWest ranked top three UK workplaces April 28, 2021 Barclays has been crowned the best company to work for, followed by Tesco and NatWest, according to LinkedIn’s list of the 25 top workplaces in the UK. The list ranks workplaces on their capacity to build and sustain a long-term career and have been compiled based on actions taken by the platform’s 30m UK members [...]
EY quits as auditor of P2P lender Kuflink over governance concerns April 27, 2021 EY has resigned as auditor of peer-to-peer lender Kuflink after finding a litany of problems at the group, including worries about its general oversight. The Big Four firm stepped down as auditor on 16 February, according to a letter on Companies House, which said Kuflink had “significant work” to do on multiple aspects of its [...]
Big Four and challengers ask for leeway on difficult audits to avoid public criticism April 27, 2021 The Big Four and the challenger audit firms have asked the accountancy watchdog for more leniency when it comes to more difficult audit jobs, for fear of public criticism if they make a mistake. Audit firms have asked the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) to pause quality inspections of their work for a year if they [...]
Deutsche Bank board member investigated over alleged insider trading April 19, 2021 Germany’s financial regulator has reportedly filed a criminal complaint against a Deutsche Bank board member over alleged insider trading of Wirecard shares. BaFin has filed a complaint against Alexander Schutz over suspicions he used insider information in 2019 and 2020 when trading Wirecard shares, the Financial Times reported. Munich prosecutors told the newspaper they had [...]