As you may
know from my last post, I have recently embarked upon a level 5 module at UDOL.
The course is going well and once again I have to post to my personal blog.
This time the question is:
Watch the
news on television. Most bulletins will contain stories on research that has
been carried out to report the current state of affairs in a particular field.
Spend some time investigating news sites on the Internet (e.g.
http://www.news.google.com) in order to learn more about the research that
relates to news stories. Pick a current news story of your choice related to
business. Study the story carefully and decide what further questions the
report raises.
The news
story that I have decided to look at it the liquidation of the outsourcing
company Carillion. The company were founded in 1999, growing to become a
household name in construction. The company was defunct in January 2018 after
being unable to find funding to support its business plan, informing the London
Stock Exchange that it intended to enter liquidation. On the 15th January
2018, PwC were announced at the liquidator who would be taking over at
Carillion.
There are
many questions that this story poses. These stories are not just about the
Construction/Subcontracting industry but also the Auditing and Financial
Services industry also.
Some of
these questions include:
Construction/Sub-contracting
Industry
·
Should there be a government bail out?
·
How much profit should sub-contracting companies make?
·
Is enough done to investigate a company’s financial security
before awarding government contracts?
·
What should happen to the contracts once a company ceases to
trade?
·
Which projects require bailouts?
·
Should company bosses get executive bonuses when a company is
failing?
·
Would publicisation offer a better value for tax payers money
considering the expense of company failure?
Auditing/Financial
Services Industry
·
Is there enough competition within the industry?
·
Should the so called ‘big 4’ auditing firms be broken up into
smaller companies?
·
Should companies be legally allowed to supply financial services
and auditing services to the same company?
·
What conflicts of interest exist between large companies and
auditing firms?
·
Should bi-company auditing take place?
·
Would compulsory switching of auditors reduce competition
·
Is government intervention required in this industry?
·
Were KPMG at fault or was Carillion entirely at fault?
·
Should the audits have found the issues that lead to the collapse?
Is a change
required in the criteria of financial audits?
https://www.ft.com/content/a4dd80be-f9f1-11e7-a492-2c9be7f3120a
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44201251
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