The UK has shot up the corporate fraud rankings with an annual spike in incidences January 17, 2017 Fraud incidents have shot up at UK businesses during 2016, catapulting Britain towards the summit of global corporate fraud rankings. Over the last 12 months the proportion of British businesses saying they had been affected by fraud jumped from 74 per cent to 90 per cent. Read more: Rolls-Royce to pay £671m to settle corruption [...]
Saga picks KPMG as its new auditor, replacing EY after a 10-year relationship January 17, 2017 Saga has ditched Ernst & Young (EY) as auditors in favour of KPMG, the company announced this morning. EY has been the FTSE 250 firm's group auditor since September 2014, having previously been appointed auditor across the Saga's principal trading subsidiaries in 2007. Read more: Over 50 per cent growth to Saga profits Under audit directives, listed [...]
National Audit Office: Concentrix £1bn tax credit outsourcing delivered savings of less than a fifth than was expected January 17, 2017 A catalogue of errors in relation to outsourcing tax credits has been laid bare in a damning report by the public spending watchdog. Highlighting a series of shortcomings, the National Audit Office (NAO) today released its findings into HM Revenue & Customs’ (HMRC) controversial outsourcing arrangement with Concentrix. HMRC estimated £1bn of savings could be [...]
Rolls-Royce to pay £671m to settle corruption probes with three global fraud squads January 16, 2017 Rolls-Royce is in the final stages of locking down corruption and bribery probe settlements worth £671m in total with three authorities around the world, with the lion's share going to the UK's fraud squad. The British engineering company today announced today it has reached in principle a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), [...]
Mazars opts for Verity to lead the firm for the next four years January 16, 2017 Many workers in the Square Mile may be dusting off their CVs, thinking a change will assuage downbeat sentiment experienced on Blue Monday. But the head of one accountancy firm may beg to differ and is proof that sticking with one firm can pay dividends. Phil Verity has been re-elected as the senior partner of mid-sized accountancy firm [...]
Article 127 court hearing now due in February, as the government awaits answer to Article 50 legal battle January 15, 2017 A court hearing that could cause a headache for Prime Minister Theresa May, as she plans to trigger Article 50, has been postponed until early February. A case brought last year argues the government cannot leave the Single Market without triggering Article 127 of the European Economic Area agreement – and says it must seek approval [...]
Employers must act early when strike action looms: Industrial action and what can be done January 13, 2017 Strike action is continuing to cause significant disruption for commuters, business travellers and holidaymakers in early 2017 – but could it have been prevented? Southern Rail has announced that it is going ahead with three-day stoppages of its train services this month – the first started this week – and British Airways’ cabin crew held a 48-hour strike [...]
Government wants to restore faith in Britain’s businesses by shaking up corporate crime laws January 13, 2017 The government has unveiled plans to get tough on corporate crime in an attempt to hold businesses to account for any unscrupulous behaviour. The Ministry of Justice is concerned the bar is set too high for proving criminal offences such as fraud, money laundering and false accounting, meaning many prosecutions are successful. "Companies must be held [...]
Hays finance chief says Brexit uncertainty makes hiring overseas a logical choice for City firms January 12, 2017 The UK’s largest recruitment firm said City firms would choose job creation in Germany or France ahead of Britain while Brexit uncertainty remains. Hays revealed trading in the UK, which represents around a quarter of its global operations, had fallen for the second quarter in a row, down 10 per cent on a like-for-like basis [...]
The easy sell to the EU that preserves the Single Market for the City January 12, 2017 The UK is about to seriously embark on its programme towards Brexit. We have been promised that the government will exercise the country’s right under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty in March 2017, which commences a two-year period of withdrawal negotiations. Those two years will be marked by considerable political activity and, though this [...]