Show Notes

KPMG to fine staff £100 for late time sheets — The Guardian — The accounting company said it would impose the penalties if staff were late to file their time sheets, which record how long employees spend on tasks. 

British politician pledges to break up 'cartel' of big four accounting firms in radical overhaul — Business Insider — Leader of the Labour Party, John McDonnell, told the Financial Times that the big four firms which include EY, KPMG, Deloitte and PwC form a "cartel" that needs to be addressed. 

KPMG partners receive bumper payouts despite Carillion fallout — The Guardian — KPMG, the auditing firm that gave Carillion a clean bill of health, has reported a leap in profits that will result in the average pay of its 635 partners soaring from £519,000 to more than £600,000 each. 

Is There Really Such A Thing As An Independent Audit? — Forbes — FloQast CEO and former Big Four auditor Mike Whitmire examines some of key issues impeding auditor independence in the profession and suggests significant changes that could dramatically improve audit quality. 

Square Revives Request to Start a Bank — Wall Street Journal — The new unit, to be capitalized with $56 million, would primarily offer loans, deposit accounts and prepaid cards to small businesses 

Real-Time Payments Gathering Steam For Workers — PYMNTS — Earnin – which facilitates real-time payroll payments – announced Dec. 20 that it has raised $125 million in equity financing. The Earnin app allows people to be paid “the minute they leave work,” and claims to serve employees working for 50,000 employers from all 50 states. 

Flux raises $7.5M Series A to bring its digital receipts platform to more banks and merchants — TechCrunch — Flux bridges the gap between the itemised receipt data captured by a merchant’s point-of-sale (POS) system and what little information typically shows up on your bank statement or mobile banking app. 

The Case for the 6-Hour Workday — Harvard Business Review — The key takeaway: "Organizations are spending big money on digital transformation, but they could reap an immediate, and far more cost-effective transformational benefit just by changing the way they work, instead of what they use to work." 

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