Changes to the small companies audit exemption introduced in 2015 have only been taken up by a third of eligible companies although for those early adopters savings are an estimated £4.6bn overall taking into account time and money spent on audit services and internal financial activity

FTSE 250 company Saga, which provides holidays, insurance services and financial products for the over 50s market, has chosen KPMG to replace EY as its auditor

In our monthly roundup of developments in audit and governance, Legal & General ends 31-year PwC term, Sports Direct probe launched, GSK moves £20m audit to Deloitte

Monetary punishments for the misdemeanours of banks must be supported by meaningful changes to the audit oversight and corporate governance, says Emile Woolf FCA

The Department for Education (DfE) has been criticised for the  ‘truth and fairness’ over the reporting of academy finances in the  year end accounts for 2015-16 as well as a £291m overspend over building projects, reports Sara White

Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline has severed its 16-year relationship with PwC and has appointed Deloitte as its new external auditor for its £20m-plus audit after a competitive tender process which did not include the incumbent firm

The accounting regulator has fined the former CEO of the liquidated RSM Tenon Group and issued a formal disciplinary complaint against the firm’s auditor, PwC over the audit of the accounting firm, and its former finance director in relation to the preparation, approval and audit of the financial statements for the year ended 30 June 2011

Grant Thornton UK has teamed up with international law firm Lewis Silkin to launch a new data and cyber security audit service, which the firms say will help global organisations ensure they are compliant and minimise risks in the face of increasing data breach risk and regulation

FTSE-listed Ferrexpo, a Swiss-based iron-ore producer operating in Ukraine, is to change auditors and has appointed Deloitte to succeed current incumbent EY, who have handled the audit since 2007

FTSE 100 insurance giant, Legal & General Group plc plans to switch auditor from the incumbent PwC to KPMG after over three decades with the Big Four firm in a three-way pitch

PwC has picked up the audit contract for Rolls-Royce Holdings plc after a 26-year long audit relationship with Big Four rival KPMG

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) has hit Deloitte’s Brazilian firm with a record $8m (£6.3m) civil penalty for ‘some of the most serious misconduct it has ever uncovered’, including the issuing of materially false audit reports and attempting to cover up audit violations by improperly altering documents and providing false testimony