Accountants hit out at Clegg’s tycoon tax March 11, 2012 INDEPENDENT accountants have shot down deputy prime minister Nick Clegg’s call for a “tycoon tax”. Addressing his party faithful at their spring conference in Gateshead, Clegg attacked “multimillionaires avoiding tax by moving their money around” and claimed that many pay less than 30 per cent or even 20 per cent tax. Yet tax experts at [...]
KPMG to unveil next UK chair March 11, 2012 The audit and consulting group KPMG is due to announce its next UK chairman today. The race to succeed John Griffiths-Jones as leader of the firm’s UK operations has been whittled down to the last three: global head of transactions and restructuring Simon Collins, Alan Buckle, who has been supervising various European and global activities, [...]
KPMG’s chair to be announced March 8, 2012 The audit and consulting group KPMG has told its employees that it intends to announce its next UK chair on Monday who will later this year succeed John Griffith-Jones. There is said to have been no clear leader in the race, which is down to the last three: Simon Collins, Alan Buckle and Oliver Tant.
Employment lifts as firms grow bolder March 7, 2012 STRONG jobs figures published yesterday raised hopes that the economic recovery is finally underway. Permanent staff placements by recruitment firms grew for the second month running in February, according to the KPMG and Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) report on jobs, though temporary placements fell. Overall demand for staff rose at the fastest pace in [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS March 6, 2012 Peel Hunt The independent full-service broking and advisory house has announced the appointment of Charles Batten. Batten is a highly regarded name in UK mid and small cap corporate advisory with over 30 years’ experience in M&A, corporate broking and equity capital markets at Lehman, Dresdner Kleinwort and Investec. He said: “Since the buy-out in [...]
Regulator probes KPMG audit March 5, 2012 The Accountancy and Actuarial Discipline Board has begun probes into KPMG’s auditing of Lloyd’s of London car and motorcycles insurer Equity Red Star and actuaries who advised it. In 2010 the firm, a UK subsidiary of Insurance Australia Group that insures one in four motorcycles on UK roads, crashed to a £240m loss after failing [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING March 4, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES EU TO PUSH QUOTA FOR WOMEN DIRECTORS The EU’s executive is to press ahead with plans for quotas to increase the proportion of women on corporate boards, triggering a protracted fight between Brussels and national governments. Viviane Reding, justice commissioner, will announce the first step towards European-level legislation, a year after she threatened [...]
Solvency II to hit wider economy March 4, 2012 Insurance industry regulations Solvency II will damage the pensions industry and wider economy, KPMG warned today. Increased capital requirements could make the return on annuities fall to an unacceptable level, making the business uneconomical for insurers. The economy may suffer as insurers move investments away from areas like infrastructure, KPMG said.
Audit watchdog to cut fees after making savings March 4, 2012 THE spending watchdog for England’s local authorities has said today it will cut audit fees by 40 per cent. The Audit Commission, which will be abolished this year, said outsourcing and internal cost-savings meant audit fees for most local public bodies will fall by £250m over five years. The savings will come in part from [...]
BACK IN THE SADDLE FOR PROPERTY’S EPIC CYCLE March 4, 2012 AS MEMBERS of the property world flock into Cannes today for a week of networking at the industry’s MIPIM conference, 86 of their peers are taking a slower route through the French countryside by taking part in the six-day Aedas Cycle to Cannes charity ride. Executives from firms including Land Securities, Capital and Counties, and [...]