UK financial services face talent crisis over social mobility and “boring” reputation April 21, 2019 The UK’s financial services sector is facing a talent crisis as would-be employees are put off by its reputation for being “boring”, a new survey has revealed. Research carried out by Big Four auditor KPMG showed 65 per cent of the UK population would not consider taking a job in the financial services sector. Read [...]
Business lobby groups slam competition watchdog’s calls for radical audit reform April 18, 2019 Business lobby group the CBI said reforms to the audit sector proposed today by the competition watchdog could “undermine confidence in corporate Britain”. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) today called for the Big Four accountancy firm’s audit arms to be split from their non-audit arms with separate profit pool and management in a major [...]
City Moves for 18 April 2019 – Who’s switching jobs at VGC Partners, TFoil and Lilium? April 18, 2019 Today's City Moves includes VGC Partners, TFoil and Lilium. VGC Partners London-based growth capital investor VGC Partners has appointed Andrew Lister as investment and portfolio director as the firm looks to invest from its £50m Fund II in high-growth consumer, media and technology businesses. Andrew joins from Marlin Equity Partners, where he spent over three years [...]
Major companies could be exempt from joint audit rules in competition watchdog report April 14, 2019 The UK’s competition watchdog reportedly could exclude some major companies from a new rule that would require many business to appoint joint auditors. Sky News reported that the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is set to publish its long awaited report into the audit sector this week. According to the report, the CMA has been [...]
British Steel wants £100m government loan after being frozen out of EU scheme due to Brexit delay April 13, 2019 British Steel is seeking an emergency £100m loan from the government after being frozen out of an EU-wide carbon trading scheme due to the UK's failure to secure a Brexit deal. The UK's second-biggest steel producer is in talks about securing the funding within the next few weeks, according to Sky News. Read more: Cross-party Brexit [...]
Accounting watchdog to investigate audits of outsourcer Interserve’s financials by Grant Thornton April 11, 2019 Britain’s accounting watchdog has started investigating the audits of Interserve by Grant Thornton, weeks after the outsourcer collapsed into administration. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) said this morning it is looking into Interserve’s accounts in 2015, 2016 and 2017. Read more: Interserve begins its new life as a private company Last month, Interserve finally collapsed into [...]
Banking’s data revolution needs ethics as well as innovation April 11, 2019 With 2.5 quintillion bytes of data created every day, the exchange of information has become integral to the way we live. The opportunities data analytics can create for consumers are vast – as is the commercial potential. There are now more than 4,000 data brokers worldwide. Governments across the world are grappling with questions over [...]
Startups eye bigger slices of the pie as venture deals scale up April 11, 2019 Venture capital investment into UK startups in the first three months of 2019 was around the same level as last year, as investors turned their focus to later-stage deals. More than £1.2bn has been invested since the start of the year across 161 deals, according to data published today by KPMG. Comparatively Germany was hit [...]
Confidence hits new low but spending climbs amid sunny weather April 9, 2019 Confidence in the UK economy tanked to its lowest level in five years last month, as shopping sentiment wavered in the wake of Britain’s imminent departure from the EU. Uncertainty over Brexit has pushed confidence to its lowest level since Barclaycard began recording data in 2014, with almost seven in ten respondents saying they are [...]
KPMG examining audit spin-off in wake of damning report from MPs April 8, 2019 Big Four accounting firm KPMG is reportedly planning an overhaul of its UK business in the wake of political pressure and a wave of scandals. KPMG could split its UK audit practice from its wider UK business, The Times reported. Read more: MPs call for full breakup of audit’s Big Four in wake of scandals [...]