Lords told big four auditors pose systemic risk to British economy November 2, 2010 THE dominance of the “big four” auditing firms poses a systemic risk, the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee was told yesterday. Managing partner of auditor BDO Simon Michaels said: “If one of the big four were to exit the market, without a plan B, there could be chaos.” The lords were asking about the [...]
Pace of staff recruitment slows down November 2, 2010 STAFF appointments rose at the weakest rate for 14 months in October, with the pace of recruitment slowing in both permanent and temporary staff placings. The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG Report on Jobs – published today – found overall demand for staff was reported to have increased at the weakest rate for [...]
Lords query lack of audit competition November 1, 2010 THE House of Lords’ Economic Affairs Committee will today question industry representatives on whether lack of competition among auditors could have contributed to the financial crisis. Representatives from RSM Tenon, Grant Thornton, Mazars and BDO will face questions in the afternoon on whether the dominance of the “big four” auditing firms – Deloitte, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS November 1, 2010 RBC Capital Markets The corporate and investment bank has hired Mark Sartori as head of European trading and sales trading, and Calum MacInnes as head of European sales. Sartori, pictured, was most recently at Macquarie Securities, where he was head of financial institutions. He has also worked at Fox-Pitt Kelton, Cazenove and Credit Suisse. MacInnes [...]
The housebuilder who is ready to take the long road back to recovery October 31, 2010 DESPITE the generally depressed state of the housebuilding and residential property market, Taylor Wimpey’s chief executive Peter Redfern says he is pretty pleased with business. But sitting in the boardroom of his London office, his mood appears more reflective than upbeat. “Prices are very stable at the moment,” says Redfern. “Stable is good for us. [...]
Three cheers for the stars of the Square Mile October 28, 2010 LAST night was truly an exciting and exceptional occasion: City A.M.’s inaugural awards celebrating the best and brightest of London’s business, financial and investment communities. Our inaugural awards ceremony saw more than 450 guests in their finery roll up at the Grange Hotel at St Pauls. Our winners, unique in that each was initially chosen [...]
CITY WELCOMES A DOSE OF FESTIVITY AND OPTIMISM October 28, 2010 “AN EVENING of festivity and optimism” was the way in which our editor Allister Heath introduced City A.M.’s inaugural awards ceremony last night, and the evening did not fail to live up to expectations. After years of gloom-mongering and banker-bashing, what better way to acknowledge the role of the City in bringing the economy back [...]
TONIGHT WILL BE A NIGHT FOR HEARTY CELEBRATION October 27, 2010 THIS evening will see 450 guests in their finery roll up at the Grange hotel at St Paul’s, as City A.M. proudly hosts its first ever awards ceremony honouring the UK’s business stars and City luminaries. The award winners will come from a diverse range of sectors, from investment to retail banking, fund management and [...]
KPMG faces probe into BAE audits October 26, 2010 The accounting regulator said it will investigate consultancy firm KPMG over its audits of defence firm BAE Systems, which was fined earlier this year for questionable payments to secure contracts. Audits covering the ten years between 1997 and 2007 will be investigated, as well as “commission payments paid by BAE,” Britain’s Accountancy and Actuarial Discipline [...]
KPMG probed over BAE audit October 25, 2010 AUDITORS at KPMG are to be investigated over their work for the arms-maker BAE Systems, an industry watchdog said yesterday. The Accountancy and Actuarial Discipline Board (AADB) will probe KPMG in relation to BAE’s payments through offshore companies between 1997 and 2007. The investigation follows on from BAE’s long-running corruption case linked to Saudi Arabian [...]