Grant Thornton defends audit of troubled Liverpool Council March 29, 2021 Grant Thornton has defended its audit work on Liverpool Council after a government report found the council was not providing best value for money to council taxpayers. A recent report into Liverpool Council found a litany of failures, including around a “rotten culture” of dubious contracts and backroom bullying. Official records of the council were [...]
Non-executive directors ‘can’t just turn up and take a fee’ says FRC March 26, 2021 Non-executive directors are responsible for running a business, and cannot simply turn up and cash in, the audit watchdog said yesterday. The comments made by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) followed the publication of a keenly-awaited report on audit reform by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). As part of the reforms, [...]
Deloitte paid to draft parliamentary answers and media lines on test and trace March 25, 2021 The government has been using Deloitte to help ministers draft parliamentary questions and media lines to defend the ‘test and trace’ system. Since the pandemic began, Deloitte has won public sector contracts worth £323m, according to figures from the Good Law Project. Buried in those contracts are details of help with PR and communications, with [...]
Hiring for lawyers at highest since pre-pandemic March 25, 2021 Recruitment for lawyers is at its highest level since before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, new labour market data for England and Wales has found. Professional legal recruitment took a big hit during the UK’s first national lockdown, resulting in hiring levels in Q2 2020 falling by 74.3 per cent quarter-on-quarter. Year-on-year vacancies across [...]
Burford Capital restores dividend following record year for realised gains March 24, 2021 Burford Capital has restored its dividend to its pre-pandemic level of 12.5 cents per share, and plans to pay out a full dividend in June, despite not paying an interim dividend in December 2020. The litigation founder enjoyed a record year for realised gains. The group saw asset realisations up 72 per cent this year [...]
Manpower CEO: Remote working isn’t unsustainable but it’s certainly not desirable March 24, 2021 Reports on the death of office working have been exaggerated, according to Manpower CEO Jonas Prising. However, so too has the backlash against remote working exemplified by the bosses of Barclays and Goldman Sachs (who labelled the work-from-home era an abheration). So, one year on from the Prime Minister’s orders to “work from home if [...]
Surging services demand boosts UK business activity rebound in March March 24, 2021 Surging services demand boosts UK business activity rebound in March
Deloitte offers up to £2,000 ‘thank you’ bonus to firm’s non-partners March 24, 2021 After taking austerity measures last year to navigate the pandemic, Big Four firm Deloitte plans to hand out ‘thank you’ bonuses to all firm employees. ‘Thank you’ payments of between £500 and £2,000 will be paid to all UK staff below partner level at the end of April, with the amount paid determined by the [...]
Barrister banned for six months for lewd sexual language towards trainee March 23, 2021 A barrister has been suspended from practice for six months after making lewd sexual comments towards a trainee who at the time was undertaking a mini-pupillage. The Bar Tribunals & Adjudication Service (BATs) found Robert Kearney, a veteran criminal barrister, had “failed to act with integrity” when he was in a position of trust. BATs [...]
Linklaters offers voluntary redundancy to all legal secretaries and PAs in London March 22, 2021 Law firm Linklaters has offered voluntary redundancy to all 225 legal secretaries and business team personal assistants in London. It is understood there will be no compulsory redundancies, nor are there targets or plans to make redundancies at the firm compulsory. In a statement Linklaters said: “This is a voluntary programme which we are offering [...]
