UK accounting watchdog probes PwC over Kier and Galliford Try audits February 7, 2022 The UK’s accounting watchdog is investigating PwC’s audits of two of Britain’s biggest construction companies. Big Four accountancy firm PwC is being investigated by the UK’s Financial Reporting Council (FRC) over its audits of construction giants, Kier and Galliford Try, according to The Financial Times. The FRC’s probe into PwC’s audit of Galliford Try comes [...]
HMRC’s investigations into UK’s biggest firms generate £69 in extra tax revenue for every £1 invested February 7, 2022 HMRC investigations into big firms generate significantly higher returns than investigations into small and mid-sized businesses, according to figures from Pinsent Masons, which said the investigative unit’s high returns will see the taxman focus on large corporate tax dodgers going forwards. The UK tax collector’s investigations into big firms generated £69 in extra tax revenues [...]
Abrdn forced to delay £1.5bn Interactive Investor takeover due to global paper shortages February 6, 2022 Edinburgh headquartered asset manager Abrdn has been forced to delay a shareholder ballot on its plans to launch a £1.5bn takeover of online investment platform Interactive Investor, because of an international paper shortage. Abrdn had hoped to let shareholders vote on its plans to takeover Interactive Investor ahead of its results. However, the Scottish asset [...]
New data reveals the top 10 dealmakers of 2021 February 6, 2022 New data, shared with Morning Wire has revealed the UK’s top dealmakers of 2021. The figures come on the back of a record year for mergers & acquisitions, which saw the completion of more than $5 trillion worth of deals. JP Morgan’s James Robinson ranked as the UK’s top investment banker, after topping MergerLink’s charts [...]
Private equity acquisitions of professional services firms up 179 per cent in 2021 February 6, 2022 Private-equity funds have increasingly begun to buy up professional services firms, as they face mounting pressure to deploy their capital quickly in the face of economic uncertainty. The number of private-equity backed acquisitions of UK professional services firms more than doubled over the previous year, from 19 in 2020 to 53 in 2021, according to [...]
Top economist says Bank of England’s failure to tackle inflation quickly will worsen cost-of-living crisis February 6, 2022 One of Britain’s top economists has accused the Bank of England’s of failing to act quickly enough to stop inflation from worsening the cost-of-living crisis. Gerard Lyons, a former economic advisor to both Gordon Brown and Boris Johnson, accused Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey of failing to “nip inflation in the bud” and taking [...]
UK consultancies are hiring fewer Oxbridge and Russell Group uni grads than a decade ago February 6, 2022 The UK’s management consultancies are hiring fewer Oxbridge graduates and fewer Russell Group university graduates than they were a decade ago, figures from the Management Consultancies Association (MCA) show. The proportion of young management consultants from the UK’s top-ranking Russell Group universities has dropped from heights of 73 per cent in 2011, to rates of [...]
Trowers & Hamlins and Bird & Bird give new lawyers a pay rise – but fail to match their US rivals February 6, 2022 Canada law firms Trowers & Hamlins and Bird & Bird have both hiked salaries for freshly qualified lawyers. London firm Bird & Bird has given its newly qualified (NQ) associates a 24 per cent pay rise after upping its NQs salaries by £17,000 from £71,000 to £88,000, according to figures from LegalCheek. The [...]
Meet Julien Martinet: The savvy lawyer who poached an entire team from law giant Hogan Lovells February 5, 2022 Julien Martinet this week hit the headlines for leaving Hogan Lovells, one of the biggest law firms in the world, to start his own specialist litigator, Swift Litigation – and taking his entire team of lawyers with him. Martinet’s departure from Hogan Lovell’s came after former Boies Schiller Flexner partner Natasha Harrison left the New [...]
Money and mental health czar Richard Lloyd named FCA boss while search for Charles Randell successor kicks off February 4, 2022 The Treasury announced this afternoon that they have started the search for the next Chair of the FCA. While the search for Charles Randell’s permanent successor kicks off, Richard Lloyd OBE will act as interim chair of the FCA from 1 June, with Aidene Walsh will become interim chair of the PSR from 1 April. Richard Lloyd [...]