Daily Insight: Grant Thornton audit role; X-ray vision for accountants!
First, Happy Easter from Daily Insight's resident chick (above)! Now to the serious stuff...
Leading UK accountancy firm Grant Thornton is pulling out of the big-group audit market. It has decided to stop bidding for listed-company contracts because of the big four's dominance in the area.
Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC don't want regulators to intervene in the market. But this move looks unlikely to help matter for them. Probably quite the reverse. According to the Financial Times, "the big four’s share of FTSE 350 auditing has increased from 95 per cent to 98 per cent over the past five years". This is in spite of efforts by the EU and UK to reform the landscape.
Sacha Romanovitch, Grant Thornton chief executive, is quoted in the FT as saying: "Structures in the [FTSE 350] market make it impossible for us to continue to succeed in it. If this space is dominated by four players and there does not seem to be market appetite to change, let’s focus on areas where we can [succeed]. You have to have that strategic clarity.”
Accounting women in Finance
And that leads us nicely into the Women in Finance feature by Accountancy Age because Sacha is at number 10 on the list. And it's no surprise really, having been with the firm for 27 years and rising to the top.
"Early into her tenure as CEO she implemented the shared enterprise business model in the style of the John Lewis partnership – sharing ideas, responsibility and profits across the entire workforce of the organisation and capping her own salary at 20 times the firm’s average. The decision was supported by 99 per cent of partners in a vote.
"She also introduced Grant Thornton’s Vibrant Economy initiative, which has seen the firm holding forums across major UK cities to cultivate growth and communication across sectors," says Accountancy Age.
HMRC adopts a Northern Powerhouse
HMRC is heading to Manchester. The government has agreed to lease a building at the city's New Bailey development. It will house servants from 2022.
Steven Boyd, of the HMRC says: ‘The New Bailey development will provide HMRC with a state-of-the-art facility fit for a modern tax authority. Signing the lease is a significant, long-term commitment to the Greater Manchester region."
An X-ray vision for accounting
So I came across an interesting article in the Harvard Business Review yesterday. And it leads me to ask this question. What is the common factor linking radiologists and accountants?" Well it's a worry about artificial intelligence taking their jobs in the future...
But here's the deal... "The only radiologists whose jobs may be threatened are the ones who refuse to work with AI. There are substantial medical and productivity benefits to be gained from integrating AI with radiological practice," says the article.
"The productivity improvements may even mean that radiologists can spend more time doing what many of them find most fulfilling: consulting with other physicians about diagnoses and treatment strategies."
So there you have it. Have a great weekend ... and a great future!
