This week was dominated by the pre-Budget report, presented by the chancellor to the House of Commons on Wednesday afternoon. But the week also saw a bids for struggling Leicester City Football Club and earnings results from Ernst & Young, while WorldCom settled its $9bn fraud case with the SEC.
On Monday a consortium, led by Gary Lineker, put a bid to Leicester City Football Club administrators, to buy the cash-strapped First Division club.
And three directors of DIY retailer Wickes were acquitted of charges of fraudulent trading relating to the £18.3m overstatement of company profits in the mid-1990s.
Tuesday saw Ernst & Young announced a fee income increase of 4% to £754.4m for the financial year end June 30 2002.
Also on Tuesday, an independent judicial inquiry was launched into Customs’ disclosure, investigation techniques and case management after the collapse of a major trial in Liverpool.
On Wednesday it was vintage Gordon Brown. The chancellor’s speech presenting his pre-Budget Report to MPs was aggressive and confident. To catch up on all the news, views and comment go to our special pre-Budget report.
Further ashore, WorldCom settled its case with US regulators over an alleged fraud in its accounts. The bankrupt company had been accused of inflating its income figures since 1999 by as much as $9bn (£5.8bn)
Thursday saw Accountancy Age reveal that the economy may be on the brink of a downturn, but most finance directors have more faith in Gordon Brown seeing us through the troubles than anyone else.
Sister publication Finanial Director magazine, released its annual FTSE-100 FD salary survey which showed that finance directors have seen their salaries rise by an average of 12% over the past 12 months with more FDs than ever now earning total pay packages worth over £1m per year.
Friday, a new survey of chief executives working in the financial services industry found that the red tape burden has grown substantially over the last three years.