EC proposals to reform the audit market are seriously flawed, says PWC chairman September 27, 2011 LEAKED European Commission proposals for regulatory changes to the audit market hit the front page yesterday. They represent a significant market intervention and while they have not changed substantially from a Green Paper published last year, if implemented they would risk undermining quality and confidence in the audit market. Of course, this is an important [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 22, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES EU TO SPEED RECAPITALISATION OF 16 BANKS European officials look set to speed up plans to recapitalise the 16 banks that came close to failing last summer’s pan-EU stress tests as part of a co-ordinated effort to reassure the markets about the strength of the 27-nation bloc’s banking sector. A senior French official [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 19, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES SIEMENS SHELTERS CASH AT ECB Siemens withdrew more than half a billion euros in cash deposits from a large French bank two weeks ago and transferred it to the ECB, in a sign of how companies are seeking havens amid Europe’s sovereign debt crisis. The German industrial group withdrew the money partly because [...]
FRC changes audit rules September 1, 2011 COMPANIES will have to put their contract for a new auditor out to tender once every decade or explain why they have not, under new proposed corporate reporting rules published yesterday. But the Financial Reporting Council scrapped plans to stop companies printing hard copies of annual reports as part of the overhaul, after opposition from [...]
INDIAN CITY OASIS SEEKS WINE-LOVING RESIDENTS August 31, 2011 BENGALARU is becoming one of the most important global centres for technology and India’s most developed city. So the IT capital formerly known as Bangalore was the obvious choice for the latest multimillion-pound scheme from Vinay Kapoor, the president and chief executive of Westcourt UK, who contributed to the design and development of the World [...]
Cameron calls for Gaddafi to stop fighting August 22, 2011 David Cameron has called on Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to stop all fighting today as gunfights continued in the capital Tripoli. The prime minister returned early again from holiday, this time a break in Cornwall, to deal with the escalation in the rebel conflict in Libya that is coming increasingly close to the end of [...]
Metrodome buys Psycho rights owner for £1.6m August 11, 2011 BREAKFAST at Tiffany’s rights owner Hollywood Classics has been snapped up by Metrodome in a deal worth £1.6m. Metrodome will gain access to 600 independent movies as well as 100 classic films from studios including Universal, Paramount, Twentieth Century Fox, Warner Bros and the UK Film Council. Highlights include the Godfather and Alfred Hitchcock classic [...]
Positive earnings news buoys markets July 19, 2011 Markets tipped into the black today after days of sell-offs prompted by ongoing sovereign debt fears. UK stocks climbed on a raft of company news as quarterly earnings data proved largely positive. The FTSE 100 ended 0.7 per cent higher at 5,789.99 as banks and miners were bought widely after selling yesterday left them looking [...]
Audits still fail to challenge firms, FRC says July 18, 2011 AUDITORS of major UK companies are still failing to challenge the information given to them with sufficient scepticism, a new report today shows. Less than half the audits reviewed by the Financial Reporting Council in the past year were rated good, while 13.5 per cent required significant improvement. The FRC’s Audit Inspection Unit (AIU) also [...]
Audit data slammed by investors July 4, 2011 INVESTORS frequently fail to read auditor and audit committee reports as they don’t see their findings as meaningful, a survey published by PwC today shows. Investment professionals challenged the timing of audit reports, arguing it was not effective to announce companies’ preliminary results before they were audited. They also argued that closed-door talks between auditors [...]