Unlocking potential: A call to action for Social Mobility May 9, 2024 The macro challenge: worsening global income inequality We have an income inequality crisis and the trend is worsening. Income inequality, that is the unequal distribution of income throughout a population, has become a ubiquitous challenge on a global scale; it is one of the Social Megatrends in the realm of ESG and sustainability. The UK [...]
PwC and EY handed multimillion-pound fines for London Capital & Finance audits May 7, 2024 Three firms, including PwC and Ernst & Young (EY), have been handed fines by the accounting watchdog for their audits of London Capital & Finance (LCF), a minibonds firm which took money from almost 12,000 investors before collapsing in 2019.
Accounting watchdog: We must regulate so there is ‘a net benefit for UK PLC’ May 7, 2024 The head of the country’s accounting watchdog has said the agency must regulate in a manner that has “a net benefit for UK PLC”.
Grant Thornton fined by audit watchdog for failures with local authority pension fund April 8, 2024 The failures included two uncorrected material errors which appeared in the version of the pension fund’s audited financial statements
Man who bought private jet with bankrupt Thurrock Council money is sued for fraud March 8, 2024 Man accused of cheating the bankrupt Thurrock Council out of millions of pounds in order to buy luxury goods, is now being sued.
Regulator hits KPMG and partner with near £2m in sanctions over M&C Saatchi scandal March 4, 2024 The accountancy regulator has fined KPMG and a partner over its audit of advertising agency M&C Saatchi. Back in 2019, the Big Four firm resigned as the ad giant’s auditor amid an accounting scandal which saw the company set aside £6.4m after it had spotted an error in its accounts. The business had also overstated [...]
Former Financial Reporting Council employee ordered to pay regulator after employment case dismissed February 28, 2024 Mr R Hartigan took the FRC to the Employment Tribunal (ET) last year after he was dismissed in September 2022 because he made a single protected disclosure.
Audit watchdog set to shake-up stewardship code to focus on ‘growth’ February 27, 2024 The audit watchdog is set to shake up the so-called stewardship code governing the UK’s top investors as pressure mounts on regulators to strip back red tape and support “growth and the UK’s competitiveness”.
Audit fees for London-listed firms skyrocketed by 75 per cent since 2017 February 26, 2024 Over the last five years there has been a significant increase in the fees paid by London-listed companies to auditing firms, due to the increase in both financial reporting requirements and auditing standards. According to a report by the Quoted Companies Alliance, its sample of 220 listed companies across the main market, AIM and Aquis, [...]
Sir Jon Thompson: Ex-FRC and HS2 boss among ‘new high-calibre directors’ at Frasers February 26, 2024 The appointments come as Frasers has been embarking on a series of acquisitions and share purchases, with the most recent being Hornby last week.