City grandee John Connolly reveals Cogital’s rapid expansion, a £1bn target and plans for an IPO October 3, 2017 A rapidly expanding challenger to Britain’s biggest accounting firms will soon be beyond the reach of its Big Four rivals, its founder, the former head of Deloitte, said this morning. John Connolly, also the chair of G4S and Amec Foster Wheeler, told City A.M. Cogital is targeting more than £1bn of revenues and a potential [...]
Monarch dethroned: Rival budget airlines’ shares take off as firm collapses and Greybull gets set to lose £170m October 3, 2017 Monarch collapsed into administration yesterday, affecting the journeys of 860,000 passengers in the largest UK airline failure in history. The failure of the Luton-based company led to transport secretary Chris Grayling ordering the “country’s biggest ever peacetime repatriation” to fly back 110,000 passengers stranded abroad. The rescue operation will cost around £60m, the Civil Aviation [...]
Monarch Airlines collapses prompting “biggest ever peacetime repatriation” of 110,000 stranded passengers October 2, 2017 Monarch has ceased operations with immediate effect having collapsed into administration this morning. Around 110,000 passengers have been left stranded overseas. Authorities are promising to ensure they are flown back home in what transport secretary Chris Grayling called “the country’s biggest ever peacetime repatriation”. All flights have been cancelled and authorities are urging passengers with [...]
Carillion Middle East suitor plots takeover attempt and prized London listing September 26, 2017 At least one Middle Eastern construction firm is eyeing Carillion’s update this Friday ahead of a potential takeover bid for the struggling builder. Final touches are being put to an offer from a new suitor to buy up Carillion’s shares and give the operator access to the firm’s London listing, City A.M. understands. The bidder [...]
KPMG has been cleared of wrongdoing over its 2007 HBOS audit September 19, 2017 KPMG has been absolved of responsibility by the accounting watchdog over its auditing of HBOS in the run-up to the bank’s collapse in 2008, saying at the time there was no evidence market conditions would take such a dramatic turn. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) said today after a detailed investigation, it had decided it [...]
EY heads off competition and snares BHP Billiton audit from 2019 August 22, 2017 Big Four accountant EY has snared a lucrative victory, replacing KPMG as mining giant BHP Billiton’s auditor. BHP conducted an audit tendering process during the year in the wake of regulations forcing firms to rotate their statutory accountants. As a result, incumbent KPMG did not bid to continue its role. EY will take over from [...]
Two-thirds of FTSE 350 board members lack cyber hack training August 21, 2017 The majority of board members at Britain’s biggest public companies have received no training in how to handle a cyber attack despite it rapidly rising up the business agenda, according to a new survey. Some 68 per cent of board members in the FTSE 350 said they have not been trained in responding to a [...]
Going global: Exporting isn’t the hassle British SMEs fear July 31, 2017 The UK's decision to leave the EU has thrust the issue of international trade into the spotlight. Currently, just one in five SMEs export, and a recent study by Lloyds Bank found that the EU was a trading partner for 85 per cent of exporters over the past year. Pre-referendum, this relationship was easier, cheaper [...]
Edinburgh’s entrepreneurial ecosystem encouraging start-up activity July 26, 2017 The secret of a great recipe lies in having the best local ingredients to work with. The same lesson applies when building an entrepreneurial ecosystem – to be truly successful, cities must evolve their own unique recipe based on the best local ingredients. A talented workforce, public sector and academic support, a culture of innovation, [...]
BT and Rolls-Royce investigations: Auditors are not there to find fraud, says accounting body boss July 13, 2017 Accounting investigations into audit sign-offs of two British stalwarts are not a sign the profession is in crisis, a senior figure at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) said today. But Vernon Soare, the ICAEW’s chief operating officer, admitted there is an “expectation gap” over the role of the auditor. KPMG [...]