PwC offers muted support for audit market caps and increased oversight November 15, 2018 Britain’s biggest auditor has offered equivocal backing to a range of sector reforms, including a cap on market share for firms and more independent oversight of audit appointments. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the largest of Britain’s Big Four auditors, told the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) a limit on the number of top firms any single auditor [...]
The probate debate: How will you be affected by the changes to the unpopular death tax? November 15, 2018 While most of us will be familiar with – or at least have heard of – inheritance tax (IHT), probate fees are a little-known extra cost that many families are forced to confront when their loved ones pass away. Both IHT and probate fees are often referred to as the “death tax” – although the [...]
Here are the six (yes, six) reviews the audit sector is currently facing November 14, 2018 As 2018 continues to be the annus horribilis of audit, bean counters are finding that sector reviews are, as the saying goes, like buses. With news this week that MPs are going to launch their own super-inquiry, the sector now faces six reviews. If that seems like more than you’ve got to grips with, here’s a [...]
The pressure is on to fix the broken audit market November 14, 2018 Accountancy may be “an art, not a science”, but there needs to be less “Jackson Pollock”. That’s according to the Labour MP Rachel Reeves, chair of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee, who has made it her mission to fix the broken audit market. The Big Four firms (PwC, Deloitte, EY, and KPMG) are [...]
Red Bull caught by the horns in trademark row November 13, 2018 Fans of Red Bull may insist it reigns supreme, but the beverage-maker and sports-backer faces several challengers in the energy drinks market. One such challenger-brand is called Big Horn. In a blow to Red Bull, on Monday the High Court sided with Big Horn over a trademark dispute. Red Bull claims Big Horn has infringed [...]
The six big ideas that could fix auditing November 13, 2018 With nearly all the major expected responses to the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) probe into the audit sector released or leaked, consensus on how to fix the scandal-hit sector is scattered – and there’s no silver bullet. Here are six suggestions the CMA has been sent by auditors, industry bodies, stakeholder groups and academics [...]
Grant Thornton breaks ranks with call for independent audit appointment body, as BDO backs market caps November 13, 2018 Grant Thornton, the UK’s fifth-largest audit firm, has broken ranks with other mid-tier accountants by calling for the introduction of an independent body to appoint auditors to top listed firms. The firm told the competition watchdog that caps on market share would not work, putting it at odds with close competitors such as BDO, which [...]
Beleaguered audit watchdog boss may be forced out within weeks, says senior MP November 13, 2018 Stephen Haddrill, the beleaguered boss of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) may be forced to resign within weeks after a report into the widely-criticised audit sector regulator is released, a top Labour MP has said. Rachel Reeves, chair of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Select Committee, said Haddrill, who has announced his intention [...]
Interview: Rachel Reeves drags audit into the light November 13, 2018 Rachel Reeves doesn’t fit the typical mould of a select committee chair. Where her counterparts leverage their positions of parliamentary power to try to forcibly move their party’s position (see Nicky Morgan), or to launch populist crusades to fix society’s ills (see Damian Collins), Reeves has taken a less attention-seeking approach to the chair, and [...]
Former Stobart boss Tinkler denies £5m expenses were claimed improperly November 12, 2018 Former Stobart Group chief executive Andrew Tinkler today denied accusations he improperly claimed £5m in expenses when he was head of the infrastructure firm. In the first day of a High Court trial centring on whether Tinkler was unfairly dismissed, lawyers for Tinkler said the claim that he breached his duties in claiming £5m of [...]