Lords to quiz Big Four auditors over their role in banking crisis July 27, 2010 THE HOUSE of Lords has launched a wide-ranging review into the role of the Big Four accountants in the financial crisis. The economics affairs committee will probe auditors PwC, Ernst & Young, KPMG and Deloitte over whether they could have done more to alert investors to the risks in the banking system. The review piles [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS July 26, 2010 Deloitte The accountancy giant has appointed Nick Sanderson to head up its real estate corporate finance advisory business. Sanderson joins Deloitte as a partner from Japanese bank Nomura, where he was a managing director and head of real estate investment banking. He has also previously worked at Lehman Brothers and UBS and has 10 years [...]
City doubts over Euro stress test results July 22, 2010 EUROPE’S much-vaunted stress tests have met with deep scepticism in the City ahead of the publication of the results today, with concerns rife that the test criteria will prove too lax to settle anxieties over the health of the region’s banks. Market observers yesterday levelled criticism at the Committee of European Banking Supervisors for watering [...]
Accountants told to step up audit quality July 20, 2010 BRITAIN’S big four accountants were criticised by an independent review this morning for the “disappointing” quality of their audit work. One in ten audits produced by the major firms fell below the proper standards, the Audit Inspection Unit (AIU) said. Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers – along with smaller competitor PKF – were [...]
London shops boom but UK sales stutter July 18, 2010 LONDON shops enjoyed June sales 14.4 per cent higher than a year ago, according to research out today. The shopping boom far outstrips the rest of the UK, where like-for-like growth was just 1.2 per cent, and represents the strongest sales growth in the capital since October 2006. Research by KPMG and the British Retail [...]
UK should reform its electricity markets to attract investment July 18, 2010 BRITAIN must reform electricity markets if it is to secure the private investment needed to meet its carbon emissions targets, according to a study by KPMG. The report, out today, said the government’s investment in low-carbon generation was inconsistent and clearer planning was needed to show how emissions targets will be met. “Nuclear represents the [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS July 18, 2010 Artemis Investment Management The fund management group has hired Giles Parkinson as a new investment analyst, tasked with supporting William Littlewood in managing the £567m Artemis Strategic Assets Fund, launched by the firm just over a year ago. Parkinson joins from Newton Investment Management, where he has been a research analyst for the past four [...]
Ocado reels as rival IPO fails July 14, 2010 OIL and gas group Fairfield Energy last night pulled its upcoming stock market flotation in a move that further undermines the chances of online grocer Ocado floating at a sky-high valuation of £1bn. Fairfield was hoping to raise £330m as part of its flotation but on Tuesday it became clear that the group’s advisers were [...]
Brief sunny spell for retailers July 12, 2010 SUNNY weather and summer clearance sales gave retail sales a much-needed boost last month, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) will say today in its monthly survey. Retail sales values rose 1.2 per cent on a like-for-like basis on June 2009 while total retail sales values were up 3.4 per cent. However, in the three months [...]
Job market is still on the up July 6, 2010 RECRUITMENT firms continued to see rising demand for workers across all sectors last month, showing that the impact of the Budget spending squeeze has yet to filter through to the public sector job market. Both permanent and temporary staff placements grew in June, according to a monthly job report published by accountancy firm KPMG, with [...]