Retail bosses call for £6bn corporation tax hike to fund business rates cut February 5, 2020 Retail bosses are preparing to urge the Treasury to increase corporation tax in order to cut business rates by £6bn in a bid to save the UK’s struggling high streets. The recommendation to the government will be made in a report by a sub-committee of the Retail Sector Council, due to be shared in the [...]
Why Legal & General is trying to slay the chair and CEO role February 4, 2020 Blackrock’s Larry Fink is a big fan of using shareholder muscle to influence corporate culture. From climate change to “profit with purpose” he’s vowed to exercise his fund’s substantial clout in pursuit of “sound corporate governance” and “an unwavering focus on long-term sustainability”. Fink’s eyebrows may have risen a little, then, upon discovering that fellow [...]
Audit resignations jump as sector faces regulatory pressure February 3, 2020 The number of audit firms to resign from jobs jumped last year as the sector comes under increasing regulatory pressure. Resignations have risen 21 per cent to 229 in 2018/19, up from 190 the previous year, according to the latest research by Thomson Reuters. The spike in resignations comes as audit companies are increasingly in [...]
Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct resolves chunk of €674m Belgian tax bill January 30, 2020 Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct has resolved a large chunk of a €674m (£570.2m) tax dispute with the Belgian authorities. The retailer – which recently rebranded as Frasers Group – said €491m of the disputed VAT had been accounted for and authorities in Belgium had withdrawn the claim. Ashley’s company said it would “continue to fully engage [...]
BT executive appointed by government to scrutinise tech regulation January 26, 2020 A senior BT executive will run a new body that looks at regulation in technology and artificial intelligence (AI). Cathryn Ross, the group’s director of regulatory affairs, will chair the government’s new Regulatory Horizons Council, first reported by Sky News. The body, which is still being set up, will scrutinise whether tech regulation is keeping [...]
Audit regulator proposes challenger firms get larger share of the work January 25, 2020 The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has proposed a regime to the government that would see challenger firms outside the so-called big four auditors be given a substantial proportion of the audit work of major British companies. The accounting regulator has drawn up plans behind closed doors that would require all but the very biggest FTSE-350 [...]
Not as easy as 1,2,3: Seven accounting errors that rocked FTSE firms January 22, 2020 Ted Baker today experienced the dubious honour of joining a list of FTSE firms that have been shaken by accounting errors in the past year. The fashion retailer revealed an accounting error was more than twice as bad as it previously thought, knocking shares down seven per cent. But it is by no means the [...]
Exclusive: EY plans major private equity push as audit reform looms over sector January 19, 2020 Big Four firm EY is planning a major private equity push as it grapples with potential regulatory changes that could dramatically alter the face of the firm, City A.M. can reveal. Its transaction advisory division is understood to be looking to boost its capabilities in the private equity sector, with the goal of winning more [...]
Treasury freezes Hezbollah’s UK assets January 19, 2020 The Treasury has designated the entire organisation of Hezbollah as a terrorist outfit, freezing all its UK assets. The Lebanese party’s military wing was previously designated as a terrorist organisation by the Treasury, however its wider operations were not. The call to place Hezbollah on the terror black list follows home secretary Priti Patel’s decision [...]
M&C Saatchi merges with sister agency Lida after accounting crisis January 16, 2020 M&C Saatchi today announced it will absorb sister marketing agency Lida, as the troubled advertising firm looks to recover from a catastrophic accounting crisis. The media giant said the newly merged agency will offer a range of fields, including tech, partnership marketing, customer experience and data analytics. A period of voluntary redundancy at both M&C [...]