Red-faced KPMG says sorry for internal payments error April 30, 2012 ACCOUNTANT KPMG has been forced into an embarrassing apology to staff after the company failed to pay its staff on time. In an ironic twist, KPMG – which is accustomed to dishing out advice to firms on how to manage their own accounting systems – has been caught out itself after an administrative blunder left [...]
WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS April 26, 2012 Avoca Capital The European credit investment manager has appointed Stephen Holland as director of sales and marketing. Holland will spearhead Avoca’s growth in North America. Most recently he was business development manager for Abbey Capital, a Dublin-based hedge fund. He has also served as head of sales for Bank of Ireland Asset Management. BlackRock The [...]
Female accountants see gender as barrier April 22, 2012 HALF of female accountants consider their gender to be a barrier to success despite the fact that the pay gap between men and women is narrowing. According to accountancy recruiting firm Marks Sattin, 51 per cent of women – compared to 12 per cent of men – believe that their gender inhibits career progression. The [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS April 19, 2012 Grant Thornton UK The business and financial adviser, and UK subsidiary of Grant Thornton International, has reappointed Scott Barnes as chief executive. He was first given the role in 2008 and has led the firm’s restructuring during the financial downturn. He will remain in the position through to 2015. Yorkshire Building Society The UK’s second [...]
UK unemployment edges down April 18, 2012 The UK unemployment rate edged down in the three months to February, official statistics showed. The number of people without a job on the ILO measure fell by 35,000 in the three months to February to 2.65m, the Office for National Statistics said. The jobless rate fell to 8.3 per cent, compared with forecasts that [...]
KPMG chairman: Four big ways we could really improve audit quality April 15, 2012 WHEN the European Union launched its plans to reform the audit market across 27 countries, the proposals referenced the word “quality” no less than 113 times. Robust audits were held to be the key to re-establishing trust and market confidence following the 2008 financial crisis. It seemed a laudable objective to ensure that auditors (alongside [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS April 11, 2012 HIG Europe The private equity firm has announced that Carl Harring has joined its London office as a managing director. He arrives from HgCapital, where he led a number of small and medium-sized European leveraged buyouts. He previously spent nine years at Apax Partners. Optos The medical retinal imaging firm has announced that Louisa Burdett [...]
Warm weather aided UK retail sales in March April 10, 2012 RETAIL sales continued to recover in March, after the warm weather encouraged consumers to hit the high street for seasonal merchandise, according to industry figures published today. The latest monthly survey from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) showed that total retail sales rose 3.6 per cent in March from the same month last year, and [...]
The man with the Big Four in his sights April 9, 2012 THERE is much that separates BDO, Britain’s number six accountancy firm, from the so-called Big Four. One of the lesser known differences is that Simon Michaels, the managing partner of BDO, didn’t go to university, instead taking a training place at the accountant immediately after his A-Levels in 1987. It certainly hasn’t held him back. [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS April 9, 2012 Oriel Securities The UK corporate and institutional stockbroker and advisory firm has announced the appointment of David Knox as head of equities. Knox joins in June from JP Morgan Cazenove, where he served as head of equity research and a member of the executive committee. GW Pharmaceuticals The AIM-listed pharmaceutical company has announced that David [...]