Carillion collapse: Fail to learn and ‘I don’t think we’ll have a profession in 20 years time’, says accounting chief May 16, 2018 Big Four giants Deloitte, PwC, EY and KPMG face extinction if they fail to learn the lessons from the failure of contracting giant Carillion, the head of Britain’s leading accountancy institution warned this morning. Carillion’s mid-January collapse is a “watershed moment” for accountants both big and small, Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales [...]
Bank of Cyprus offloads UK subsidiary for £103m to ‘Cynergy’ consortium July 10, 2018 The Bank of Cyprus has agreed to sell its UK banking operations to a consortium of investors in a £103m deal. The all-cash sale, which will complete by the end of the year, comes as Bank of Cyprus refocuses its efforts on the Cypriot economy. The lender was bailed out in 2013 by European authorities, [...]
How would you like to pay for that, madam? October 17, 2018 The global payments industry is dramatically improving due to technology. Mobile has changed everything. Payments are getting faster and smarter. Competition is intense. And payments are revolutionsing markets in the developing world even faster than in the developed world. In just the next seven years, the McKinsey Global Institute estimates that widespread adoption and use [...]
Beaufort Securities administration could cost £100m April 18, 2018 The administration of collapsed stockbroker Beaufort Securities could cost as much as £100m, its administrator warned. Audit firm PwC confirmed that in the worst case scenario the administration process could cost anything between £80m and £100m over four years. The High Court appointed PwC’s Russell Downs, Douglas Nigel Rackham and Dan Yoram Schwarzmann as joint [...]
The UK’s 2017-18 budget deficit hits an 11-year low August 21, 2018 The UK recorded its largest July surplus for 18 years last month, standing at £2bn, as ONS figures revealed robust deficit reduction in Britain’s finances. July’s surplus was double that from a year ago, with economic growth and high employment credited with fuelling the increase, handing Chancellor Philip Hammond cash he can put towards his [...]
Blockchain Tech: Opportunity or Threat? July 31, 2018 Last week PwC, this week Deloitte – another strong signal cutting through all the noise – concluding in their new 'New Tech on the Block" report that "those who do not consider the possibilities [of Blockchain technology] are at risk of falling behind" and "by contrast early adopters of the technology will have the ability [...]
Private equity-backed floats outperform the market April 30, 2018 Private equity-backed initial public offerings (IPOs) are trading on average 43.9 per cent above their offer price compared to 26.6 per cent for non-private equity flotations, research has shown. According to a report from The British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (BVCA) in association with PwC, private-equity backed IPOs are significantly outperforming floats not [...]
Brexit shows it’s time for an economic shake-up from the Tories January 28, 2019 The Brexit weather forecast remains distinctly foggy in all areas as we enter yet another crucial week in Westminster. Will we ever see daylight and opportunity out of this sickening political morass? As I said to the BBC Question Time audience last week, I think this parliament ranks as the most dismal in living memory. [...]
The longevity dividend: How to make the most of our ageing society October 1, 2018 It is well known that the UK is ageing. In 1976, only 14 per cent of the population was aged over 65, today it is 18 per cent, and in 2036 it is estimated to be 25 per cent. Over the same period, the median age is expected to rise from 34 to 43. The [...]
Maplin job losses continue as administrators fail to find a buyer March 22, 2018 Maplin's administrators have announced further job losses this morning after failing to find a buyer for the business. The retail chain, which employs more than 2,000 people, was put into administration at the end of February. PwC has been handling the process, and today said a further 66 redundancies had been made at Maplin's head [...]