Big Four

KPMG UK has provided greater support to its graduate training programme, driven by the necessity to overcome the detrimental impacts of COVID-19 lockdowns on the professional development of its Gen Z recruits.

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has imposed fines totalling £5.01 million on PwC and KPMG for audit failings in relation to Eddie Stobart Logistics (ESL), a logistics company listed on the Alternative Investment Market.

PwC UK has warned its 25,000 employees to brace themselves for smaller pay increases and potentially frozen salaries this year due to difficult market conditions, contradicting industry calls to address rising inflation which stood at 8.7% in May.

Carmine Di Sibio, the global chairman and chief executive of Big Four accountancy firm EY, has announced plans to step down in June next year. His decision comes in the wake of a scrapped proposal to divide EY into separate audit and consulting businesses, a move informally known as Project Everest.

The chair of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), Sir Jan du Plessis, has countered claims from senior partners at the Big Four accounting firms stating that they should increase junior auditors' pay to make the sector more appealing to young recruits.

EY has announced plans to cut 3,000 jobs in the United States, primarily in the consulting division, to address overcapacity issues.

EY UK staff have been told to prepare for cost-cutting initiatives and a wave of job losses following the collapse of its ambitious break-up plan.

EY has abandoned its current plans to split its audit and consulting businesses, codenamed Project Everest, following months of internal conflict and opposition from US executives.

Big four firm PwC has said it is reviewing its hiring and training procedures to accommodate recent school leavers and graduates affected by the lockdown and missed out on taking exams under normal conditions due to Covid.

Deloitte has lowered the temperatures in its 22 offices by two degrees Celsius over the Christmas period in order to save money on rising energy costs.

EY has announced there will be no holiday bonuses this year for its US staff.

EY global managing partner Andy Baldwin has claimed big four rivals will "at some point" have to follow suit as EY's split moves ahead. EY's UK and US partners are expected to begin voting on the split decision in their respective regions early next year after the proposal was approved by leaders in

The estimated costs of the proposed plans to break up the stranglehold of Big Four accounting firms over the auditing business have been predicted to grow to £1 billion over 10 years, according to government figures.

The start of EY's vote to split the company has been postponed as the firm's 'global framework agreement' has not been finalised yet. Voting on the proposed separation of the audit and consulting businesses, which was approved in September, was set to start this month with balloting of the big four

EY's UK partners have received a 7% boost to their payouts, an average of £54,000 to £803,000, as the big four firm announced record levels of growth for its UK business. The firm's UK revenues are up 17.2% and UK fee income increased to £3.23 billion from £2.75bn over the la