The amount of women at executive committee level has remained at 17% for more than two years in FTSE 100 businesses despite the number of women in large corporates increasing at all other levels, according to research by the Cracking the Code team, a collaboration between KPMG, Why Women Work, YSC and the 30% Club

CIMA has opened talks with both CIPFA and ICAS about offering their members routes to CIMA membership and the chartered global management accountant (CGMA) designation, with further details to be made available later in the year

A Law Commission review of prepayments in retail insolvencies is recommending that consumers paying a cash deposit of £250 or over within six months of a retailer going bust should be moved up the priority list when it comes to getting their money back

Pensions specialist  Rowanmoor Group, operator of small self-administered schemes (SSAS), has been acquired by Embark Group as part of its move to create a full-service retirement provider

A record number of ACA students have passed ICAEW’s professional level exams with 5,491 students sitting this year’s exams – the highest sitting to date with PwC candidates topping the list in terms of top performance

The National Audit Office (NAO) has published a scathing report into the design and procurement of a proposed five-year £800m contract to deliver NHS services in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, which collapsed after just eight months because it ran into financial difficulties, after £8.9m had been spent on setting it up

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has slapped a £2.6m fine on Towergate Underwriting Group Ltd for failings in relation to its protection of client and insurer money, plus a £60,000 fine on Timothy Philip, the firm’s former client money officer and finance director of one of its intermediate parent companies

Mazars has announced it is to acquire Corality Financial Group, specialising in financial modelling, model audit and training, in a bid to ramp up its services for the infrastructure finance market and extend its international reach

Baldwins Accountancy firm, based in the Midlands, has expanded into the North East by adding chartered accountants, Evolution, to Baldwins Accountancy Group

Veteran high street retailer Marks and Spencer (M&S) has suffered the embarrassment of having to re-issue its first quarter results just hours after the initial release, when analysts’ questions revealed a double counting error, reversing the previously positive news on group sales

The decision to leave the EU could cost accountancy firms between 3% and 5% of turnover in the next five years, depending on which trading deal the UK signs although they are effectively predominantly operating in the UK, according to forecasts by IRN Research

The Persons with Significant Control (PSC) register is designed to increase transparency over legal ownership of companies but it could encourage secrecy due to jurisdictional issues, warns Michael Cantwell, partner at hlw Keeble Hawson