The news that KPMG has snapped up the audit of Rentokil Initial from rival PwC brings with it renewed concerns around the independence of firms providing additional services as well as opining on financial statements. Under the arrangement KPMG would undertake all the statutory responsibilities associated with an external audit, while also ‘delving deeper’ and [...]

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The Managing Partners’ Forum was established in 1995 and is “dedicated to enhancing leadership and the status of the management team in professional firms worldwide.” They recently released the inaugural Global 500, a ranking of the top 500 professional services firms in the world by fee volume. The Big Four are at the top of [...]

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Congress wants financial reporting simplified for easier understandability. I can’t honestly say their desire for more regular updates on what the industry is doing to modernize itself is a bad thing, however. Seems like a good prod for the stiff collars at the helm. Here in Canada, there are rumors the federal government may tie [...]

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BeancounterBlog discusses the recent détente between movie stars and the IRS. Seems the IRS feels all those really expensive gifts that celebrities get should be taxable, and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association agrees. Celebs will now be “issued appropriate informational tax forms by the HFPA and will be responsible for satisfying their income tax obligations.” [...]

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The Russian tax authority has accused PricewaterhouseCoopers of providing “false audits” to the former oil giant Yukos. I’m sure we’ll find out sooner or later whether these accusations have any merit, but for the time being any government institution in Russia is most definitely not getting the benefit of my doubt. Putin and his regime [...]

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