This week there was both good news and bad news for Ernst & Young, while yet another football club - this time Leicester City - struggled to avoid going into administration and we revealed that the prospect of a European super regulator was on the agenda.
began with good news for Big Four firm Ernst & Young. It released its global revenue results which revealed an increase of $300m to a record $10.1bn for the fiscal year ending June 30 2002.
Tuesday’s big story also involved E&Y, this time in the UK, but was not such good news, after the High Court rejected appeals from the firm to stay a Joint Disciplinary Scheme’s investigation into work carried out as auditor of the Equitable Life Assurance Society.
And there was more bad news for struggling football clubs, as cash-strapped first division football club Leicester City said it would meet with the Professional Footballers Association to negotiate a possible reduction in players’ wages as it bids to stave off administration.
On Wednesday the UK’s chief financial watchdog, the Financial Services Authority told AccountancyAge.com it would publish a list of financial institutions that breach its anti-money laundering rules, while Michael Kayser, the recently appointed FD of engineering company Amey, quit the company barely a month after joining the board.
Thursday saw Accountancy Age reveal that the prospect of a European super regulator has been placed firmly on the agenda after a senior eurocrat called for effective enforcement of auditing and accounting standards, while Porsche withdrew its plannned listing from the NYSE over Sarbanes-Oxley and Andersen was fined the maximum over its work at Enron.
The week was rounded out by the news on Friday that Britain remains an averagely taxed economy compared with its rich competitor nations in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.