Not surprisingly the week was dominated by the Budget speech, which was largely bereft of shocks and described by accountants as both 'boring and sinister'. Elsewhere there were doubts about Sage's FTSE-100 status while two former dotcom stars fell to earth and a turkey supplier fell into the hands of PwC.
On Monday, speculation that Sage, the last technology company left in the FTSE-100, could soon lose its place on the list, began in earnest, ahead of its first-half trading statement released at the end of the week
Also on the day, our parliamentary staff reported that UK importers are facing demands for duty payments after failing to ensure that their goods do not come from Israeli settlements in the occupied territories.
Tuesday, saw receivers from PricewaterhouseCoopers take charge at listed Turkey supplier Brandons, with over 1,400 jobs and five million Christmas birds to look after.
Another corporate collapse, this time in the dotcom sector saw, UK internet pioneer Upmystreet.com granted an administration order after the High Court appointment of insolvency experts from RSM Robson Rhodes.
Wednesday was off course Budget day, and we provided a rolling news service at www.accountancyage.com/budget2003. Click here for all the news from the day.
In other news, non-Budget news, Affinity Internet Holdings beaome the second former dotcom star to bite the dust this week as administrators from Begbies Traynor were appointed to run the company, while at the London Stock Exchange, Chris Gibson-Smith, a former executive at British Petroleum, was named as the new chairman.
On Thursday saw news that Deloitte Consulting was appointing Paul Robinson as its new chief executive, following the resignation of Douglas McCracken.
And outspoken ICAEW president Peter Wyman received backing from several influential business bodies over his support for Derek Higgs’ controversial report amid criticism of the draft code on corporate governance.
Friday saw the week end with Graham Wylie, UK managing director and co-founder of accountancy software company Sage, deciding to retire with effect from the end of next month.