Croydon council goes bust and freezes spending as Covid costs bite November 12, 2020 Croydon council has become the first London borough to buckle under the weight of the pandemic, as it today filed a notice declaring it virtually “bankrupt”. In a letter to councillors seen by City A.M, Croydon’s finance director Lisa Taylor outlined “serious issues” facing the borough, including a potential budget shortfall of around £66m this [...]
Raab condemns ousting of Hong Kong opposition lawmakers as assault on freedoms November 11, 2020 British foreign secretary Dominic Raab has condemned the expulsion of four opposition pro-democracy lawmakers in Hong Kong as an assault on the city’s autonomy and freedoms. Hong Kong ousted four opposition politicians from the city’s legislature for “endangering security” after China passed a resolution allowing the city’s executive to expel legislators deemed dangerous to national [...]
FRC: Auditors must challenge management view of firm implications of climate change November 10, 2020 Audit watchdog the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has said auditors should test and challenge board and management’s assessment of the implications of climate change outlined in financial statements. Following a major review of how companies and auditors report on the impact of climate change, the FRC determined that boards and companies, auditors, professional associations, regulators [...]
KPMG to sell restructuring arm to win more work November 9, 2020 Audit giant KPMG is to sell its restructuring arm because conflicts of interest and regulatory scrutiny are preventing it from winning work. In an email to colleagues KPMG UK chairman and senior partner Bill Michael said that concerns relating to conflicts of interest arising from its existing work was likely to “limit the restructuring clients [...]
Building back a greener City — and a greener world November 9, 2020 It is essential, even as we readjust to lockdown over the next few weeks, to not lose sight of another of humanity’s great challenges: tackling climate change. As one of the world’s foremost financial centres, London has a huge role to play in supporting the development of a more sustainable global society, and is well-placed [...]
Deloitte fined for pension scheme audit failures November 6, 2020 Big Four firm Deloitte has been fined £362,500 for failures relating to the audit of a former client’s defined benefit (DB) pension scheme and the carrying value of the company’s intangible assets. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) described the former client as one of the largest local and regional multimedia organisations in the UK responsible [...]
UK spooks block two cyber attacks per day as hackers exploit Covid-19 November 3, 2020 UK spooks blocked an average of almost two major cyber attacks per day last year as unscrupulous hackers tried to capitalise on the Covid-19 crisis. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) handled 723 incidents between 1 September 2019 and 31 August 2020, up from an average of 602 incidents over the last three years. The [...]
Watchdog slams Grant Thornton over ‘unacceptable’ public sector audits October 30, 2020 The accounting watchdog has criticised Grant Thornton over its ‘unacceptable” record on public sector audits, after five out of six of the firm’s local audits were found to fall below the expected standard. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) singled out Grant Thornton and Mazars for criticism following a review of 15 major audits of health [...]
West Yorkshire to enter Tier 3 from midnight on Sunday October 29, 2020 The whole of West Yorkshire will enter the highest level of lockdown from midnight on Sunday following a sharp rise in coronavirus cases. Leeds, Bradford and Huddersfield will all enter Tier 3 restrictions, meaning an extra 1.5m people will be placed under the toughest restrictions in the country, Leeds City council leader Judith Blake confirmed [...]
Shaun Bailey accuses Sadiq Khan of wasting nearly £10bn of TfL cash October 29, 2020 Conservative London mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey has today accused Mayor Sadiq Khan of wasting nearly £9.6bn in Transport for London (TfL) finances since 2016. According to Bailey, the failure to deliver the Crossrail rail link on time has cost £5.2bn, while pensions have drained £828m from TfL’s finances over the period. A freeze of Tube [...]