11 September, 2020
Governance week: Rio Tinto, ESG, climate risk, Aussie audit
Fallout for Rio Tinto The equivalent of going nuclear in governance is clearing out a company’s leadership. This week investors managed to detonate a bomb under Rio Tinto when the chief ex...
4 September, 2020
PwC loses top spot in the FTSE 100 audit rankings to KPMG
For those intrigued by the arcane world of audit a small earthquake has just occured. PwC, for some time the UK’s most significant auditor of FTSE 100 companies, has lost its top position. Resear...
27 July, 2020
Audit keeps failing—here’s why a fundamental change is needed
A massive shakeup of the UK’s audit industry is on the cards. The Big Four, which audit all of the FTSE 100 and 21 of the FTSE 250, have been told by the accounting regulator
14 July, 2020
FRC scrutiny of audit quality reveals “unacceptable” level of issues
There is fresh criticism of auditors this week, as regulators report a third of audits inspected during the past year required a level of improvement that is “unacceptable”. Audit firms have al...
6 July, 2020
FRC issues principles for separation of audit from other services
A landmark in the reform of the UK audit market has been reached with the Big Four firms put on notice that the “operational separation” of audit from other services must take place by the end of ...
12 June, 2020
BDO client increase sees it overtake KPMG in UK auditor rankings
Change may be under way in the audit market, albeit tentatively. BDO, an audit firm outside the global Big Four, has become the second largest firm by number of listed clients in the UK, overtaking KP...
28 January, 2020
UK government could introduce shared audits for large companies
Is the government heading towards introducing shared audits for the UK biggest companies? That’s the suggestion made in The Sunday Times at the weekend. It’s difficult to tell exactly ...
3 September, 2019
Auditor resignations indicate new attitude to client selection
The audit profession in Britain is at a turning point as Westminster—Brexit permitting—considers new regulation. It seems firms may be responding by clearing the decks: the press has spotted a ...
23 May, 2019
Mazars wins Goldman Sachs audit deal amid debate on market reform
Mazars, the professional services firm, has clinched one of the most significant audit contracts outside the Big Four firms after being appointed auditors of Goldman Sachs in Europe. There is nothi...
18 April, 2019
