Raising the standard: The male business chiefs helping the drive for gender equality May 20, 2019 Not all business leaders are joining the battle for gender equality. As more women are being pushed up the corporate ladder and trained for senior roles, some male chief executive officers (CEOs) privately admit to feeling belittled, excluded and minimised. They complain that “you can’t say what you think anymore” and it’s “PC gone mad.” [...]
End Big Four dominance using French-style joint audits, watchdog told November 1, 2018 Regulators should consider introducing a French-style joint audit system to break the Big Four’s stranglehold on the top end of the market, the industry body said yesterday. Responding to a fast-moving review of Britain’s audit sector, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) warned the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) of the [...]
All FTSE 350 firms told to meet target to fill 33 per cent of senior leadership positions with women after FTSE 100 progress November 9, 2017 A government-backed review has today expanded its call to increase the number of women at the top of companies, by urging all FTSE 350 firms to fill a third of their senior roles below board level with women. To meet that target, at least 40 per cent of appointments to senior positions over the next [...]
Domino’s Pizza denies shareholder complaints over board shake up plans January 6, 2019 Domino’s Pizza has denied rumours of shareholder unrest over changes to the company's board positions. The pizza giant has not been contacted by shareholders demanding changes to its board, City A.M. understands, despite reports a group had told chairman Stephen Hemsley to hire a new heavyweight senior independent director. A group of top 20 shareholders were [...]
Coronavirus to hit UK economy harder than financial crisis March 24, 2020 Business activity crashed at a record pace in March as efforts to contain coronavirus sent the UK economy into a tailspin, preliminary survey data has shown, putting Britain on track for an extreme recession. The IHS Markit/Cips private sector purchasing managers’ index (PMI) – a gauge of economic performance – plunged to a record low [...]
Gender diversity is starting to drive asset managers’ voting decisions November 22, 2018 More than half of asset managers actively engage with UK companies over gender diversity as boardroom equality begins to drive voting decisions Four in 10 asset managers said they had made a voting decision based on the gender diversity of the company, the Investment Association said, as it revealed that 80 per cent of survey [...]
Mark Kleinman: Chairs face revolt over independence day March 29, 2019 Who’s the odd one out on this list of veteran FTSE-350 bosses? As chairs of Babcock International, Domino’s Pizza and GVC Holdings, Mike Turner, Stephen Hemsley and Lee Feldman find themselves among the first victims of governance reforms decreeing the end of their ability to act independently after nine years on the board. In the [...]
Two-thirds of FTSE 350 board members lack cyber hack training August 21, 2017 The majority of board members at Britain’s biggest public companies have received no training in how to handle a cyber attack despite it rapidly rising up the business agenda, according to a new survey. Some 68 per cent of board members in the FTSE 350 said they have not been trained in responding to a [...]
Pension deficits of FTSE 350 UK firms rose by £12bn in last year August 30, 2017 The combined pension deficit of UK companies climbed by £12bn last year, according to research released today. Research by Barnett Waddingham has found the aggregate pension deficit of FTSE 350 firms is now £62bn, which amounts to 70 per cent of pre-tax profits for the year (£88.9bn). The firm said deficit levels were now higher [...]
Report into audit sector commissioned by John McDonnell calls for break-up of Big Four December 14, 2018 A report into the audit sector commissioned by shadow chancellor John McDonnell has called for the break-up of the Big Four audit firms. The report, published today, recommended that the audit business of accounting firms must be legally separate from everything else and says it should be a criminal offence for auditors to perform non-audit [...]