Patisserie Valerie appoints administrators for Grant Thornton probe July 26, 2019 Patisserie Valerie’s creditors have appointed new administrators to probe the cafe chain’s auditor Grant Thornton. FRP Advisory will take over from KPMG after the financial services firm said it could not investigate Grant Thornton due to a conflict of interest. Grant Thornton audits KPMG’s accounts. Read more: Patisserie Valerie overstated financial position by £94m The [...]
Lloyds’ away win piles pressure on Skeoch July 26, 2019 A score draw? For Standard Life Aberdeen, that’s probably an overly generous classified check after the final whistle on its £109bn fund management dispute with Lloyds Banking Group. It’s hard not to look at the result as anything other than a come-from-behind victory for Britain’s biggest high street lender instead. The £140m cash sum it [...]
MPs call for audit watchdog to reform after endorsing new chair Simon Dingemans July 22, 2019 An influential committee of MPs has called for radical reforms from Britain’s accountancy watchdog after endorsing the appointment of its proposed new chair. Parliament’s Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee (Beis) has given its approval for Simon Dingemans to take over as chair of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), but has urged the group to [...]
City Moves for 16 July – Who’s switching jobs at Seaforth Land, Invesco and ADM Energy? July 16, 2019 Today’s City Moves includes Seaforth Land, Invesco and ADM Energy. Seaforth Land Seaforth Land, the London-focused commercial real estate investor and asset manager, has appointed Lesley Chen Davison as chief investment officer. She will join the company in September 2019. Lesley joins from Delancey where she has worked since 2005 as director of banking and [...]
Deloitte fined £6.5m for role in Serco tagging scandal July 4, 2019 Big-Four auditor Deloitte was today fined £6.5m and “severely reprimanded” for its role in Serco’s electronic tag scandal. The Financial Reporting Council fine was reduced to £4.2m after the auditor admitted misconduct in connection to the scandal Serco yesterday agreed a deferred prosecution agreement with the Serious Fraud Office over three offences of fraud and [...]
IMF chief Christine Lagarde among surprise picks for EU top jobs July 2, 2019 The heads of EU member last night confirmed their preferred candidates for a raft of top jobs, setting the potential future direction of the bloc for the next five years after weeks of frantic negotiations. Germany’s defence minister Ursula von der Leyen was nominated as the new EU commission president, replacing the outgoing Jean-Claude Juncker. [...]
Out of the prison cell, into the workplace June 25, 2019 Crime is a top tier political issue for members of the public, but it has barely featured in the race for Number 10 Downing Street. Beyond the popular but reactive refrain of putting more bobbies on the beat, Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt have so far failed to spell out how they would curb rising [...]
Hargreaves Lansdown execs to defer bonuses amid Woodford fund troubles June 23, 2019 Two senior executives at Hargreaves Lansdown have echoed the actions of the firm’s boss after volunteering to defer their bonuses in the wake of an investment scandal involving Neil Woodford. Research director Mark Dampier and chief investment officer Lee Gardhouse have shelved their annual bonuses as their investment platform faces growing pressure over its backing [...]
PwC fined £4.5m for ‘lack of competence’ in Redcentric audit June 13, 2019 The audit watchdog has fined PwC more than £4.5m for a “serious lack of competence” in its audit of IT services firm Redcentric. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) slammed the auditors’ failure to exercise professional scepticism following an investigation after a £20m black hole was found in Redcentric’s accounts in 2016. Read more: PwC invests [...]
Digital tech sector now accounts for a fifth of all UK job vacancies June 12, 2019 Jobs in the digital sector now account for 20 per cent of all vacancies in the UK as the boom in the tech economy shows no signs of slowing down. There were 1.7m digital tech job openings across the country last year, with tech now a major employer across sectors in some of the UK’s [...]