Just a four day week, but plenty of intrigue and interesting developments including: two high-profile IT consultants facing penalties over government contracts, SHAC on the war path and Microsoft settling with AOL Time Warner.
, and news came in from across the pond that the man responsible for writing new auditing standards in the US will be allowed to testify against three of the Big Four facing private lawsuits, but only if he is subpoenaed to do so.
Back home, it was revealed that over the weekend the Charity Commission had instructed solicitors to enter the Manchester premises of Breast Cancer Relief to take control of the charity’s multimillion-pound funds.
On Wednesday Accountancy Age reported that whatever the outcome of the Appeal Court wrangle between Big Four firm Ernst & Young and Equitable Life, the decision will be contested at the House of Lords.
We also revealed that Capita, the firm behind the Liverpool-based Criminal Records Bureau, is to pay a £1.8m penalty for failing to process disclosures quick enough.
Thursday, Accountancy Age exclusively revealed that computer services giant EDS is facing the prospect of financial penalties for its role in the farcical implementation of the Inland Revenue’s new tax credits.
And animal rights group SHACadmitted it has been in contact with the US financial watchdog to get an early warning on who will be the next auditor of drug-testing company Huntingdon Life Sciences.
Friday, saw Microsoft agree to pay $750m (£453m) to AOL Time Warner to end the bitter 18 month long legal battle over whether Microsoft unfairly established its Internet Explorer web browser.