Richard Hawes and Matt Cowlishaw, partners at Deloitte, have been appointed as joint administrators to QDS Contracting Ltd, a Guildford-based specialist engineering contractor which has collapsed putting almost 100 jobs at risk

PwC is the last of the Big Four to publish its revised pay gap data by gender and ethnicity to include partners, with the results showing a mean gender pay gap of 43.8%

Women’s exercise leggings and action cameras such as GoPros have been added to the basket of goods and services used to calculate inflation, while prepared mash potato returns to the list for the first time in 30 years, according to information from the Office for National Statistics (ONS)

Central banks should think carefully about the implications for financial stability and monetary policy before issuing digital currencies to the general public, according to a report from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), which suggests bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies are ‘poor imitations of money’

The government has already spent £400m on Brexit preparations and the final bill for getting ready for leaving the EU could top £2bn, according to research from the think tank the Institute for Government (IfG)

As well as advising clients on how to be compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which comes into force on 25 May, accountants must also ensure that their firms are prepared. Adam Prince, vice president of compliance, product management at Sage, provides five tips on what accountants can do to be compliant by the deadline

It has been revealed that Carillion paid out £6.4m in fees to various advisers, including EY, KPMG and PwC, the day before asking government for a £10m bailout which was refused, forcing the outsourcing giant to apply for insolvency the next day

Auto enrolment pension contributions are set to double for employers from April and companies will have to pay a minimum contribution of 2% from the 2018-19 tax year

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has added its weight to growing calls for companies to pay close attention to their corporate behaviours, with the publication of a discussion paper on transforming culture in financial services

Beth Hale & Nick Hawkins of CM Murray LLP examine the pros and cons of non-disclosure agreements (NDA) in employment contracts in light of recent scandals and consider how they these legally binding documents can protect businesses and minimise disputes

Local councils have had their government funding almost halved and are now under immense financial pressure, according to a report by the National Audit Office (NAO) which warns that one in 10 councils with social care obligations are at risk of exhausting their reserves in the next three years

Although the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) is successful in influencing IFRS standards it must broaden its limited scope to review the impact of technological change and sustainable finance, according to the group’s stakeholders