Two surveys released this week suggested that UK businesses may be facing tough economic times in the coming year, while it was not a good week for finance chiefs, with one former CFO being arrested on money-laundering charges and one FD losing his job before it even started.
On Monday latest statistics revealed thatbusiness failure rates continued to climb.
A total of 4,754 companies failed, up 655 from 2001. And the first nine months of 2002 saw 14,198 failures, an increase of 1,481 compared to 2001. Figures from D&B later in the week confirmed this pessimistic outlook.
Tuesday saw it emerge that former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow would be arrested for fraud. Fastow handed himself over to the FBI on Wednesday and was charged with money-laundering, fraud and conspiracy in relation to the collapse of the energy giant.
On Wednesday Peregrine CEO Gary Greenfield told AccountancyAge.com the $1bn lawsuit filed against its former auditor Andersen was a ‘solid course of action’ and had not been filed lightly.
Thursday, Accountancy Age revealed a test of faith for independent regulator the Accountancy Foundation, after it emerged CIMA council members would consider earlier than any other institute whether their body should continue backing the body.
It was also day that Ric Piper would want to forget. The former finance director at WS Atkins, was told not to bother to turn up for work at his new job as Trinity Mirror FD, the day before he was due to start, after a shock profits warning at the engineering consultancy sent its share price crashing by 72%.
The week ended with news on Friday that yet another football club – this time second division club Barnsley – had collapsed due to a high wage bill and from fallout relating to the demise of ITV Digital.