Taxpayers to foot £65m bill from Carillion redundancies September 25, 2018 Taxpayers are set to cough up £65m in redundancy payouts following the collapse of outsourcer giant Carillion. The liquidated construction services company, which bucked under the weight of a £1.5bn debt pile in January, has so far paid out £50m of the total £65m after thousands of workers were made redundant. The figures also [...]
And BDO makes five? Don’t count on it, says firm’s global chief December 11, 2018 The global boss of professional services firm BDO had said it has no ambitions to join the ranks of the Big Four, as it aims for dominance of the mid-market across its operations. The firm, Britain’s sixth-largest auditor, revealed its global fee income hit $8.99bn (£7.16bn) for the past year – a 10.7 per cent [...]
Insolvency Service to meet Frank Field over refusal to reopen BHS investigation November 11, 2018 Frank Field, chair of the work and pensions committee, will meet the Insolvency Service (IS) later this month after it refused to reopen its investigation into the collapse of BHS. The IS concluded its investigation, which saw Sir Philip Green escape a boardroom ban, in March but accounting watchdog the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has [...]
Ollie Phillips: England’s exciting back line can trouble any team in crucial Six Nations January 17, 2019 Eddie Jones announcing his squad for the Six Nations yesterday marks the start of a make-or-break period for the England coach. England can’t feel their way into the competition, with defending champions Ireland up first in Dublin on 2 February, so Jones has named 35 fit and in-form players. With big challenges ahead in this [...]
The future of news: could tax breaks make online news sustainable? March 3, 2019 Sarah Cartwright’s news kiosk is as much a fixture in Sloane Square as the high-end boutiques that have surrounded it since her grandfather began selling newspapers from a wooden box there in 1892. But the kiosk may do well to survive another decade, let alone a century. “Print is dead,” she says. The Cairncross Review [...]
Ollie Phillips: Eddie Jones needs players to buy into his methods fully in defining year for England January 24, 2019 England are in Portugal on their pre-Six Nations training camp, which means the players will be being put through their paces by Eddie Jones. Jones is an interesting character – intense and hard to judge. He likes to challenge those he works with, so it’s bound to be testing time ahead of the opening match [...]
Private equity group Abraaj closes London office as cost-cutting continues September 11, 2018 Dubai-headquartered private equity giant Abraaj is closing its London office as part of cost-cutting measures ahead of the sale of its fund management unit. Liquidator PwC confirmed the closure of the company's Mayfair base and said it is part of normal money saving activities during an insolvency process. Read more: TGI Friday’s private equity owner Electra ends buyout talks The [...]
Government refusal to extend pay gap reporting rules to Big Four branded ‘disappointing’ January 22, 2019 The government has been accused of letting the Big Four audit firms “evade reporting on their pay ratios” by excluding firms with their business model from new legislation. The government’s small business minister refused to say whether new rules on executive pay transparency would be extended to partnerships during a grilling by MPs today. Members [...]
The City is the goose that lays the golden eggs December 3, 2018 The Financial Conduct Authority has taken its boldest step yet into the debate about banks' Brexit contingency plans. In a letter to lenders the City watchdog warned that it will not accept “steps being taken which could expose clients or markets to unacceptable risks.” Specifically, the FCA warns that they will intervene if they suspect [...]
EY boss hits back at calls to break up Big Four September 13, 2018 The global chief executive of EY has hit back at criticism of the Big Four financial services firms, which have been slammed for the lack of competition in the audit market following high-profile corporate collapses. The company, which today announced boosted global revenue of $34.8bn in the financial year to the end of June, came under [...]