Ernst & Young at risk over Lehman "accounting gimmicks"
Deceptive financial practices and lax auditing lay at the heart of the 2008 collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers that helped to trigger the global economic crisis, says a US court examiner’s report.
Dyson sets out Tory innovation plan
A fortnight ahead of the 2010 Budget, inventor and vacuum cleaner magnate Sir James Dyson raised the political profile of R&D tax credits by including them in a package of reform proposals to stimulate manufacturing and innovation.
Gas workers may strike over bullying
British and Scottish Gas workers are being balloted for strike action over claims of macho management and bullying by their employer.
Lehman’s chief denies involvement in accounting fraud
Lawyers for Lehman’s chief executive Dick Fuld say he had nothing to do with the ‘repo 105’ transactions used to hide the bank’s losses.
RIP Chester City: bad news for football debtors
Forget the suspense surrounding the Premier League title and relegation battles, several football clubs this month are fighting for their very survival. And having lost its big play-off in the High Court against HMRC, Chester City has been put out of business.
Pension funds attack allowance changes
The National Association for Pension Funds (NAPF) has called on the government to review its plans to reduce the amount of tax relief available for those with income of more than £150,000 a year, arguing that the changes would be expensive to implement and undermine pension provision for less well off employees.
'Phoney' Budget will be warm up to the real deal, advisers warn
Professional advisers are preparing themselves for a damp squib of a Budget, as the date for one of the most political Chancellor speeches in recent years rapidly approaches.
FSA dishes out £49k fine to Gloucestershire IFA network
The FSA has fined a director of Gloucestershire-based IFA network, Financial Ltd, £49,000 for management failings resulting in poor compliance monitoring on pension switching advice.
The regulator took action against Charles Palmer, director of IFA network Financial Ltd, for the failings which resulted in poor compliance monitoring on pension-switching advice during a period of rapid expansion. The FSA said there were shortcomings in the way the firm organised its business and how responsibility for monitoring advisers was allocated to senior management.
Finance giant Sir Brian Pitman: 1931-2010
Sir Brian Pitman, the former chairman and chief executive of Lloyds TSB and one of the most respected bankers of his generation, has died suddenly at the age of 78.
Pitman played a huge role in shaping the UK retail banking market over the past six decades. He died in hospital on Thursday morning after suffering a heart attack on Monday. He leaves a wife, Barbara, two sons, Mark and David, and a daughter, Sally.
CRM systems criticised for poor customer analysis and profiling
While more than half of business leaders acknowledge that meeting customer needs is critical to developing sustainable competitive advantage, a mere one in ten CRM users believe their system is up to accurately analysing and profiling them.
Morrison's CFO outlines expansionist plans for supermarket chain
Morrisons, the UK's fourth-biggest supermarket chain's pre-tax profits, jumped nearly a third after 12 months of industry leading sales growth."2009 was a vintage year," said finance director Richard Pennycook. "We strongly outgrew the market for the second year in a row."
The firm was the fastest growing of the big four retailers over the key Christmas period and Pennycook said its sales were growing 2.5%, ahead of the market. Sales increased 6% to £15.4 billion in the year to 31 January.
Rebecca Benneyworth’s Budget lecture live on AccountingWEB in association with Lexis Nexis
Watch the UK’s first Budget lecture by Rebecca Benneyworth live on AccountingWEB on 24 March and be the first to advise your clients on the changes that will affect them.
Want to know what the Chancellor’s Budget means for your clients? Tune in to AccountingWEB’s live stream from 2 – 4pm on Wednesday 24 March – right after Darling’s speech – for Rebecca Benneyworth’s Budget Summary lecture in association with Lexis Nexis.
TED Talks: Evan Williams on listening to Twitter users
Evan Williams, the co-founder of Twitter reveals that many of the ideas driving that growth came from unexpected uses invented by the users themselves.
Tories pledge to support 'a new generation of British Facebooks'
A new generation of Facebooks set up by UK entrepreneurs and new market incentives for SMEs are among the bold claims included in the Conservative Party's technology manifesto.
Signs show Cloud becoming big
A survey and a set of predictions have come out this week that, taken together, paint a fascinating picture of the growing complexity and diversity of Cloud-based services as they develop. They demonstrate that the Cloud is now being applied right across the spectrum of business use.
Salesforce.com hit by outage - Twitter flooded by SF.com abuse/support
Twitter was flooded by Salesforce.com users yesterday as SF.com's North American service suffered a major outage - with Tweeters posting a mix of frustration and support for the provider.
E&Y at risk over Lehman's 'accounting gimmicks'
Deceptive accounting practices and lax auditing lay at the heart of the 2008 collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers that helped to trigger the global economic crisis, says a US court examiner’s report.
Manufacturing must retrain to stay competitive
The manufacturing and process industry has called on the government to invest directly in retraining its workforce to cope with new technology in order to help pull the sector out of recession and ensure that it remains competitive in world markets.
Proskills, the Sector Skills Council for the industry, has got together with the British Printing Industries Foundation and the Unite union to argue that, unless current skills are updated to cope with changing market requirements, the sector will have trouble in maintaining its reputation for innovation.
Terry Watts, Proskills’ chief executive, said: “With the industry advancing in new technology, and manufacturing showing signs of recovery, we need to be able to support and sustain this growth if the UK is to remain competitive. There is money to be made and saved by investing in skills and new technologies.”
This was because investing in people was a powerful tool in enabling organisations to motivate and retain them, while ensuring that UK business remained at the cutting edge globally, he added.
Video: Lord Sugar's business basics - Part three: Competing with the big boys, your first employee and expanding operations
Continuing our series of video clips, Lord Sugar, star of BBC TV's The Apprentice and the government's enterprise champion, draws on his experience to offer advice to entrepreneurs looking to start and grow a successful company. Next up; competing with large competitors, taking on your first employee and how to expand your business.
As an independent retailer how can I compete with bigger businesses?
What should I bear in mind when taking on my first employee?
Should I grow my business by acquisition, funding or organically?
How to turn prospects into paying customers
Multi-millionaire entrepreneur Jonathan Jay describes how the marketing funnel can help increase customers and boost profits.