Topshop owner Arcadia collapsed with debts of hundreds of millions of pounds January 26, 2021 Troubled retailer Arcadia collapsed with gross liabilities of more than £550m, according to documents prepared by Deloitte, Arcadia’s administrator. Reports prepared at the end of November 2020 revealed Topshop – Arcadia’s flagship brand – and Topman failed with gross liabilities of more than £550m, the Telegraph revealed. Discount brand Outfit owed £80m. The Telegraph [...]
PwC employee killed in car accident while out jogging January 25, 2021 Jack Ryan, who was a senior digital marketing manager at PwC, was struck by a car and killed while out jogging earlier this month. Ryan was hit at Battersea Bridge by an individual driving a Range Rover on 13 January, the Birmingham Mail first reported. Medics tried to save Ryan, but the 29-year-old was pronounced [...]
EY to slash business travel to hit net zero target by 2025 January 25, 2021 EY would like to be “carbon negative” in 2021, and hopes to achieve net zero at the firm by 2025, in a push to play a role in tackling climate change. The Big Four firm said its ambition to become carbon neutral underscored its commitment to the environment and to tackling “one of the most [...]
EY staff told to work 16 hour days, weekends, and berated for getting food poisoning January 19, 2021 It’s all work and no play for EY staff in the Hong Kong office, as employees were pressured to work until 11:30pm each week night and at the weekend during the busiest period. An email from one manager at the Big Four firm in Hong Kong told staff they should be working 16-hour days during [...]
Isabelle Jenkins named PWC’s new leader of financial services January 18, 2021 Isabelle Jenkins has been named the new leader of financial services for PwC UK after spending 17 years as a partner at the firm. Jenkins replaces Andrew Kail, who held the role over the last four and a half years. He will take up a new role as the CEO of Legal and General retail [...]
EY gender pay gap shrinks as ethnicity pay gap widens January 14, 2021 Ernst & Young has reported a 32.4 per cent gender pay gap among its staff, as at April 2020, and a nearly 37 per cent ethnicity pay gap. EY UK chairman Hywel Ball said the gender pay gap at the Big Four firm had improved by 4.7 per cent in the last year, which was [...]
Singapore audit reform stresses need for UK action, IIA warns January 13, 2021 Recent changes to rules surrounding audit in Singapore have highlighted why action on audit reform in the UK is crucial, the CEO of the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors has warned. CEO John Wood said reform of the UK’s audit sector was necessary to protect the UK’s leading reputation in corporate governance. The Singapore stock [...]
Private equity bidders eye KPMG’s restructuring arm January 6, 2021 Private equity firms are eyeing up KPMG’s restructuring arm, as the Big Four firm prepares to offload its restructuring operations in the UK. Intermediate Capital Group and Towerbrook Capital Partners are preparing to submit initial bids for the business ahead of a deadline later this month, Sky News reported. The division is rumoured to be [...]
Sacked PwC accountant avoids strike-off after drunkenly groping sleeping woman on plane December 17, 2020 Ex-PwC accountant James Phipps has avoided being struck off by a disciplinary body, despite serving time in jail in the US for assaulting a sleeping woman on a plane. Phipps was on a transatlantic British Airways flight in 2018 when he groped a sleeping woman’s breasts and then threw a book at her when she [...]
PwC partners take 10 per cent cut as profits suffer December 17, 2020 Partners at PwC have suffered a 10 per cent cut to their earnings as the impact of the coronavirus hit the Big Four firm’s profits. Profits at the audit giant fell by 8 per cent to £938m in the firm’s latest financial year, as Covid-19 impacted on the business from March, with distributable profit per [...]