Hotels and restaurants fight off insolvency but figures still rise October 8, 2012 THE NUMBER of hospitality and leisure businesses collapsing into insolvency fell 15 per cent in the third quarter compared with the same period last year, but it remains one of the worst hit sectors so far this year, according to figures released yesterday by PwC. Overall, there were 1,464 insolvencies in the hotel and leisure [...]
Hotels and restaurants fight off insolvency but figures still rise October 8, 2012 THE NUMBER of hospitality and leisure businesses collapsing into insolvency fell 15 per cent in the third quarter compared with the same period last year, but it remains one of the worst hit sectors so far this year, according to figures released yesterday by PwC. Overall, there were 1,464 insolvencies in the hotel and leisure [...]
Osborne revealed small measures to rebuild confidence December 5, 2012 THE background to George Osborne’s Autumn Statement was not encouraging. Growth has been very weak this year, and it comes in the aftermath of 2011’s inflation squeeze on consumers and reflects the ongoing euro crisis. The Office for Budget Responsibility has marked down its growth forecasts significantly. Taking this year together with the next three, [...]
Powell re-elected as PwC chair March 15, 2012 Incumbent Ian Powell was yesterday re-elected as chairman and senior partner of big four accountancy firm PwC. Powell, who joined PwC as a graduate trainee in 1977, will serve another four-year term at the top of the firm from 1 July 2012. He was voted in by a ballot open to PwC’s 894 UK partners. [...]
Pension funds face long battle to plug deficits September 23, 2012 FIRMS face a longer struggle to fill the holes in their troubled pension funds, a study from PwC showed today. The average pension scheme will need some 11 years to plug the deficit, PwC predicted, up from the eight years it predicted in 2011. The time firms needed to balance their schemes’ books had shrunk [...]
Digital ads in double digit growth October 8, 2012 Digital advertising spend increased 12.6 per cent to £2.6bn in the UK in the first half of 2011, research released today shows. The Internet Advertising Bureau’s expenditure report in conjunction with PwC said mobile was the biggest driver of growth, rising 132 per cent to £181.5m, while video advertising rose 43 per cent to £70m. [...]
HP accuses Autonomy of $9bn lie November 20, 2012 FORMER bosses at British software giant Autonomy were yesterday accused of “serious accounting improprieties, disclosure failures and outright misrepresentation” by the chief executive of Hewlett-Packard (HP), after the US firm wrote off $8.8bn (£5.5bn) over last year’s purchase of Autonomy. Meg Whitman, who took the reins at HP shortly before the $11bn deal was completed [...]
Osborne’s Autumn Statement targets higher rate taxpayers December 5, 2012 George Osborne yesterday admitted that the government will miss its own growth and debt reduction targets, forcing him to extend his austerity measures for another year to 2018. Insisting that he would not change his approach, Osborne told the House of Commons that “Britain is on the right track” and “turning back now would be [...]
PwC snaps up Cole as new legal counsel March 20, 2012 THE FINANCIAL Services Authority’s outgoing head of enforcement Margaret Cole will join PwC later this year, becoming a member of the executive board of the accountancy firm. The former corporate lawyer will be PwC’s new general counsel, the firm said yesterday, returning to practice eight years after joining the City regulator. Cole will replace current [...]
After the Bank of England held interest rates at 0.5 per cent, should it soon consider a rise? November 8, 2012 YES Andrew Sentence Monetary policy has reached its limits in supporting growth via more stimulus. The challenge now is to adjust to the “new normal” – a world which has been forged by the financial crisis and the rapid growth of emerging market economies. As part of this adjustment, we need to gradually return interest [...]