BEIS audit reform proposals expected to be made public in the new year November 13, 2020 Reforms to the audit sector outlined by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) are expected in the new year, with full implementation expected in 2023. Mazars head of audit Bob Neate told industry magazine Accountancy Age he expected BEIS to deliver around 110 recommendations drawn from three major reports into auditing. The [...]
Big Tech earnings: What to expect this week as tech titans report July 27, 2021 Wall Street is gearing up for a slew of Big Tech earnings this week with Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google and Microsoft all set to deliver figures for their latest quarter. Twitter and Snap kicked off proceedings by smashing expectations last week, raising hopes that a post-pandemic advertising rebound will boost other platforms. Tesla also shrugged [...]
Asda to close stores on Boxing Day so staff can see family December 9, 2020 Asda will not open its stores on Boxing Day, instead choosing to give thousands of employees the chance to stay home with loved ones. The supermarket said the decision was made in recognition of employees’ efforts as key workers during the Covid-19 pandemic. All 631 of Asda’s stores will close for two days over the [...]
Google AI unit reports huge losses December 17, 2020 DeepMind, Google's artificial intelligence unit, reported pre-tax losses of £460.9m in 2019.
EU joins UK in rolling out sweeping new fines for tech giants December 15, 2020 US tech giants could face fines of up to 10 per cent of their revenue under new draft EU rules set to be unveiled today. The regulations, the most serious attempt at reining it companies such as Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Apple yet made by the bloc, come amid intense worldwide scrutiny on the role [...]
Competition watchdog cranks up pressure on Viagogo’s $4bn takeover of Stubhub June 11, 2020 Britain’s competition watchdog has ramped up its probe into Viagogo’s proposed $4bn (£3.2bn) takeover of rival ticketing website Stubhub. The Competition and Markets Authority said it was concerned the deal would drive up prices and reduce choice for buyers. This is in part because of the two companies’ already dominant position in the ticket resale [...]
Metro Bank to return £11.4m to customers after breaching unarranged overdraft charge rules April 20, 2020 Metro Bank is to return £11.4m to customers after it breached a legal order by failing to send texts warning people about unarranged overdraft charges. The Competition and Markets Authorty (CMA) said the bank breached Part 6 of the Competition and Market Authority’s (CMA) Retail Banking Market Investigation Order 2017 which requires banks to warn [...]
British startups slam competition watchdog over ‘power grab’ March 19, 2020 British startups have accused the competition watchdog of mounting an “old-fashioned power grab” after it called for beefed up powers to crack down on tech firms. In its annual report published today, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said there was evidence of “growing market concentration and rising profit margins” in several sectors of the [...]
Audit reform – Two minds are better than one June 2, 2021 The UK might not have won Eurovision 2021, indeed it suffered the humiliation of scoring nil points, but it has certainly led the current race on audit and wider corporate governance reform. The Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) issued its consultation ‘Restoring trust in audit and corporate governance’ in March with a [...]
CMA must investigate the online advertising market, government report states February 11, 2019 The online advertising market must face a probe by the competition watchdog amid concerns tech giants are putting the future of quality journalism at risk, a major government report has found. In its findings published today, the Cairncross Review called on the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to investigate the online advertising market to ensure [...]