Search Results for: accountancy

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has touched the lives of all Ukrainians, destroying businesses, livelihoods and families, with accountants and practices not escaping the burden of the war. While some accountants have fled, and even abandoned the profession, those who remain must contend with a complicated landscape of jurisdictional, tax and staffing woes.…

The Big 4 accounting groups (Deloitte, EY. KPMG and PwC) have joined with 161 major international accountancy and business companies, partnerships and organisations to call for a coordinated approach by promoters of international sustainability standards. A joint statement developed by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) said the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), the US Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) and the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) should work closely together.…

The Malawian government has cracked down on 20 private universities and tertiary education colleges it says lack formal permission to operate, ordering that they close with immediate effect.

Formal applications must be made to the Malawi National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) for operational licences should any of the blacklisted institutions want to resume operations.…

Clothing and textile companies are facing a major change in how they report their performance in future, with international and national initiatives pushing them to generate and declare data on their social and environmental performance. Draft mandatory requirements are being consulted upon in the European Union (EU) and the United States, with optional reporting rules being developed by an International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB).…

The British accountancy regulator, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), has fined PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) GBP1.75 million (USD2.11 million) and PwC partner, Richard Hughes, GBP42,000 (USD50,681) for failings in auditing GBP513 million (USD619 million) in adjustments that telecoms giant BT made in its 2017 accounts to allow for a massive fraud discovered in Italy in July 2016. …

Serious concerns have been raised by Accountancy Europe and other accounting organisations about the speed proposed European Union (EU) sustainability reporting standards are being developed by the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG). The association and others are also worried about the amount of data demanded in planned mandatory EU sustainability reporting.…

Accountancy giant Ernst & Young (EY) has been fined USD100 million, the largest penalty that the US Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) has ever imposed on an audit firm, after at least 49 employees were caught cheating on professional exams. The SEC said on June 28 that it was fining EY not only over the cheating on tests needed to obtain and maintain Certified Public Accountant (CPA) licenses, but also for covering up and withholding evidence of the misconduct (including internal reports), from the SEC’s enforcement division during its investigation.…

The first woman to chair the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA), Gabriela Figueiredo Dias, of Portugal, intends to boost trust in accountants and auditors worldwide, whose profession has been undermined by public scandals, some highlighting conflicts of interest.

Speaking to Accounting & Business, she said another goal of her three-year term of office, which began on January 1, (2022), would be to formalise IESBA ethical standards for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting and help the sector deal with disruptive technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI).…

While the torrent of international sanctions imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine on February 24 have slowed, the breadth and complexity of these measures have continued to challenge compliance officials in banks and other financial services.

An American Bankers Association (ABA) paper released this month noted that the sanctions deluge had been “unprecedented in its speed, complexity, and global impact”.…

AML/CFT experts continue to assess the increasing potential of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to scrutinise the mass of data screened by AML obliged organisations, such as banks, financial institutions and casinos, boosting effectiveness – a key goal of FATF.   …