Government faces calls for reform as data shows dominance of Big Four audit firms October 29, 2019 Data published yesterday by the audit watchdog showed that the Big Four accounting firms increased their market share of the UK audit market in 2018. The lack of competition in the sector has come under the microscope following scandals such as the failures of outsourcer Carillion and department store BHS which both received clean bills [...]
Not as easy as 1,2,3: Seven accounting errors that rocked FTSE firms January 22, 2020 Ted Baker today experienced the dubious honour of joining a list of FTSE firms that have been shaken by accounting errors in the past year. The fashion retailer revealed an accounting error was more than twice as bad as it previously thought, knocking shares down seven per cent. But it is by no means the [...]
We need business to help us get girls learning — and change the world November 17, 2020 Coronavirus has changed the world. We are facing the biggest triple threat of our lifetimes, with unprecedented economic, health and education crises. While there has been much focus on the first two, the latter cannot be overlooked. At the height of school closures due to coronavirus, 1.6 billion children were out of school globally with [...]
Watchdogs propose tougher rules to limit banking services glitches December 5, 2019 UK regulators have proposed new rules to make banks and payment firms more resilient to major problems in the wake of TSB’s IT meltdown. MPs called for regulatory changes in October after repeated technological failures by lenders such as TSB, Visa, Barclays and RBS. Read more: TSB IT meltdown blamed on data centre test failure [...]
Will the Bank of England cut interest rates? December 18, 2019 UK inflation data came out today, leaving economists to ponder whether the Bank of England would consider cutting or raising interest rates before the end of 2019 or even early into 2020. The Consumer Prices Index stood at 1.5 per cent in November, flat on October and half a per cent below the Bank of [...]
Extinction Rebellion occupies HS2 drilling rig in West London February 18, 2020 Extinction Rebellion have this morning occupied a drilling rig at an HS2 site in West London, claiming that the drilling could contaminate an aquifer which provides almost of quarter of London’s drinking water. Two members of the activist group, including Paralympian James Brown, have climbed onto the roof of the vehicle and have unfurled a [...]
Blockchain can futureproof the financial services industry August 11, 2020 How can blockchain technology transform the financial service sector at a time of turbo-charged pace of innovation? The last decade has been defined by unprecedented technological change, most notably through the widespread adoption of smartphones and an ever-increasing reliance on digital financial services. Throughout this time, shifting client needs and new generations of digital natives [...]
Government borrowing hits record £62bn in April over coronavirus measures May 22, 2020 UK government borrowing rose by a record £62.1bn in April alone as the government paid people’s wages and loaned businesses cash to survive the coronavirus lockdown, statistics showed today. Coronavirus measures like the job retention scheme to pay people’s wages and coronavirus loans for businesses pushed UK borrowing to the all-time high last month. The [...]
UK productivity creeps up but crisis continues January 8, 2020 The UK’s long-running struggle with productivity showed little sign of ending today when official figures revealed output per hour worked grew only marginally in the third quarter of 2019 following four successive quarters of falls. Productivity grew by 0.1 per cent in the July to September period of last year compared with the same period [...]
JP Morgan starts European audit review July 30, 2019 JP Morgan Chase has reportedly launched a review into its current relationship with auditors for its major European arm. The Wall Street giant has kicked off a process to look at the role currently held by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as the accountant of JPMorgan Securities. Read more: Metro Bank finance director steps down to take new [...]