kpmg's audit practice has 200 partners and about 5000 staff, and the paper said it had nothing to doo force a break—up of the big four accounting firms. the ftse has not moved much. if you remember, first night had a 20% drop after a big fire at a warehouse, and they have recovered that. the pound looking a bit weak against the euro. in the oil prices at $70.7 per now, time for a look at the weather. quite big contrasts at the moment. southern parts of the uk have been so southern parts of the uk have been so far quite cloudy, at least here in there, with spots of rain, but in the north, a case of clear blue skies. let me show you the satellite image. this is the area where we have the thickest cloud. look at all that sunshine — east anglia, the north midlands, merseyside, the lake district, scotland and northern ireland. not a cloud in the sky, and temperatures are nudging up to around 18 celsius in one or two spots. around the midlands later this afternoon, we will see showers developing, some of them pretty heavy. there could be thunder. showers may continue into tonight in southe

follows a string of company failures, including the outsourcer carillion, which had been audited by kpmg him come back to the business. julian dunkerton left the fashion chain a year ago and has since blamed its new management for a collapse in sales and profits. the current board urged investors to reject his comeback, saying it would be "extremely damaging," but by the thinnest of margins, investors have indicated they would like dunkerton to return. we're a quarter of the way through 2019 already, and still none the wiser about what will happen with brexit. and in its quarterly survey of business leaders, the british chambers of commerce reports increasing anxiety over brexit adding to concerns about weakening economic conditions on the world stage. it says that cashflow problems are rising for the first time since 2012. and that the growth in sales by companies that export their services overseas is at its worst for a decade. suren thiru is head of economics for the british chambers of commerce. welcome to the programme. top of your list of concerns as this slowdown in the growth of

deloitte, ey, kpmg and pwc conduct 97% of big companies' audits while also providing them with otherling for a full structural break—up of the firms. it's a big day for the australian economy. once upona once upon a time it was known as the wonderfrom down once upon a time it was known as the wonder from down under. the government is due to unveil its 2019 budget later. we've also got an interest rate decision from the country's central bank, leaving its cash rate at 1.5%. let's go to our asia business hub where rico hizon is following the story. sally! well, the budget can be a wonderfrom down sally! well, the budget can be a wonder from down under because sally! well, the budget can be a wonderfrom down under because it sally! well, the budget can be a wonder from down under because it is set to deliver the first surplus budget in 12 years plus a flow of pre—election sweetness on the back of strong coal and iron experts. the morrison government expected to dish out about $6.5 billion in tax cuts and cash handouts in a bid to win back voters ahead of a likely may election. there is

constance hunter of kpmg is still with us. scott, explain what is going on here. bullish on amazon this morning after the call. all of their businesses outperform slightly on revenue. a lot of people were nervous on that. they absolutely crushed profitability. one of the things we've been articulating in our research about amazon is what is more dangerous, amazon not making money or that makes more money than god at this stage? they are making so much money, and they are reinvesting into the business. one of the main places that is going to go is delivery times, consumables, particularly from the likes of a walmart or kroger. carol: if you look at their impact on the retail and consumer footprint, it is staggering. i do wonder about them spending more to do this in an environment of rising competition. all martin and other retailers have gotten better about faster deliveries. can they compete enough? is it worth the upfront cost they are putting up right now? scott: that is an excellent question, and a question i have been answering all day. we won't know for a wh

accounting firm kpmg has been fined £6 million, "severely reprimanded" and told to undertake an internalng council said it related to the 2008 and 2009 audits of equity red star, a firm based at the lloyds of london market. an independent body should oversee the rail network, according to britain's railway companies. in submissions made to a government—appointed review into rail, the firms also said long—distance routes should be serviced by more than one company. the rail delivery group added that control of commuter routes could be handed over to local authorities. we've had the latest snapshot of the economic health of the eurozone through — and despite a very challenging period — it looks like the area will avoid being dragged into a recession. although the us—china trade war, brexit and a downturn in germany's factory sector have loomed large, today's data shows the eurozone beats forecasts with 0.4% growth. spain grew by 0.7% in last quarter and france managed 0.3%. also, today's figures out showed that unemployment across the eurozone has hit its lowest level in over a decade. the

diversity and inclusion consultancy who have worked with clients like microsoft, the uk armed forces, kpmgthat it has brought this conversation into the open and people are having, notjust to acknowledge it by publishing, but they are having to look into it. what we are saying is this conversation is great because we think the problem is around culture and we think it is about actually providing flexibility and agility so that people can not have to work part—time, which is one of the reasons for women earning less. that they are actually able to develop and can move, women can move through the workforce. and that actually, decisions that are made around pay are more transparent and open. so if we can just get this transparency of people talking about it and changing the culture, then great. but it suggests that at the moment people are not taking the action that we need at the moment. before we go back to look at some of the solutions that you just alluded to, can you just explain very briefly why this is even a problem? some viewers may think, well, if men and women make different choice

chris, the big four, kpmg, deloitte, pwc and ey, they do more or less more 01’ pwc and ey, they do morek, so what are mps hoping to do about that? i suppose, 0k, what are mps hoping to do about that? i suppose, ok, the first point is this is important to everybody. it's not just about accounting because as we have seen come if there is a major audit problem that causes a major organisation to collapse, it affects not only the organisation, it affects the employees, customers, it affects the suppliers and obviously it affects the investors. anybody with a pension plan potentially, so it is important and it's around these two key issues, the technical competence of the execution of the audit, secondly, the ethical relationship between the audit firm and their client and how far they are prepared to go. simple calculation is chief executives want to look good. they need good financials, so what is the extent to which the audit firms are prepared to go to help them achieve that and to keep their client? chris, briefly, time is tight, but we talk about this conflict—of—interest, so why has i

accounting firm kpmg has been fined £6 million, "severely reprimanded" and told to undertake an internalversee the rail network, according to britain‘s railway companies. in submissions made to a government—appointed review into rail, the firms also said long—distance routes should be serviced by more than one company. the rail delivery group added that control of commuter routes could be handed over to local authorities. google first — and its not making as much money as expected? no, although we have found out that from the parent group cut athey still made steels that make the still made steels that make the still made steels that make the still made a sales totalling a cool $36 billion. that is around 28 billion p. analysts were expecting that it would make $37 billion. so around $1 billion of forecast, really. what is going on? wire sales falling? it has the largest seller of internet ads, but apparently it is because of the traditional business model. people pay every time someone clicks on these, but the paid clicks have reduced. michelle fleury is at the new york stock. google is

kpmg's audit practice has 200 partners and about 5,000 staff, who could move to a stand—alone entityare waiting for about any progress in the brexit talks. as discussed, brent is above $70 a barrel. up more than half of 1%. we will keep an eye on that because it could make things more expensive. a pound would buy you a dollar and 30 cents. that's all the business news. a campaign is being launched to raise awareness of a system to help people alert the police if they're in danger but unable to speak. the "silent solution" system, prompts the caller on a mobile to press 5—5 if they call 999 and can't talk to the call handler. peter cooke reports. just one of the 20,000 silent calls made to 999 in the uk every day. but many callers using a mobile are unaware of a system to inform police, without speaking, that they might be in danger. it enables someone who is too scared to make a noise or speak to press 55 when prompted. the system has been operating in the uk since 2002, but officials say it's not widely known to the public. the prompts, the questions and the automated system allow t

the firms, ey, pwc, kpmg, and deloitte, have come under scrutiny after audits failed to identify problemsefore they collapsed. the competition and markets authority is expected to publish its proposals for a reform of the sector in the coming weeks. those are some of the main stories. we've got to show you this as well. this is romeo, once thought to be one of the world's loneliest frogs. until recently it spent ten years in isolation, but an aquarium, scientists at an aquarium have found him his own juliet scientists at an aquarium have found him his ownjuliet on an expedition toa him his ownjuliet on an expedition to a remote bolivian forest. i don't know which one is romeo and juliet. hold on, i think that became quite clear. laughter. didn't it? that was all good timing, wasn't it? when they were cleared for diseases they we re they were cleared for diseases they were introduced and clearly, as dan has said, they are getting on very well. a happy ending, not romeo and juliet ending. we wish them all the best. laughter. iwish i had juliet ending. we wish them all the best. laughter. i

david: still with constance dnter of kpmg and sue by rajappa ofadra society generale. >> i don't thinki think we've got a situation where we've probably gotten china to agree to purchase certain things from us from the agricultural front, on the energy front, and our bilateral trade deficit with china will then be reduced. it is not going to reduce our overall trade deficit. we are not addressing some of the major things that the ustr regard to with intellectual property and access to markets. when we see real progress, it will be when you no longer have to have a 50-50 partnership with a chinese company to enter certain markets. it will be when there is more intellectual property right protection. versusue this time previous negotiations is twofold. one, we use to use pressure from our allies and all negotiate together to pressure china. going the bilateral route weakens our negotiating stance. the second thing is a used to be china's view was it was in their interest to pursue these types of reforms, and there is the big question mark about whether china still believes it is in their

markets, on bloomberg kpmg's local head dutch global head of -- this is bloomberg. ♪ ♪ this is bloombergthe bloomberg business flash. alcoa is cutting its forecast for global aluminum demand this year, blaming weakness in china. they are trimming their out luke for growth. that's outlook for growth. they are posting their first quarterly loss since 2016. bloomberg learned that canada's candid t -- canopy growth is looking to buy -- the directors include former house speaker john boehner and brian mulroney. the world's largest casino company posting better than expected earnings. -- in its biggest market, macau, rising more than theaccounting for 50% of sands resonate -- revenue last year and almost as much of its profit. tom: it is absolutely extraordinary, the numbers, the scale, the scope of the indian elections. there is no description to the reston test western world. mumbaisubramaniam is in and gets us to the end of may. the headlines are a pole official was killed, i get the drama. explain the belief in the fairness of this election of almost a billion people. india has gone throug

diversity and inclusion consultancy who have worked with clients like microsoft, the uk armed forces, kpmgonly by publishing, but by looking into it. we believe the problem is around culture and we think it is about actually providing flexibility and agility so that people can do not have to work part—time, which is one of the reasons for women earning less. that they are actually able to develop and can move, women can move through the workforce. and actually, decisions that are made around pay are more transparent and open. so if we canjust are more transparent and open. so if we can just get the transparency of people talking about it and changing the culture, then great. but it suggests that at the moment, people are not taking the action that we need at the moment. before at some of the solution that you alluded to, can you just explain very briefly why that is even a problem? some viewers may think, well, if men and women make different choices about their careers and some of those men end up doing thejobs their careers and some of those men end up doing the jobs that are their caree

mps say deloitte, ey, kpmg and pwc currently dominate big companies' audits.llows the collapse of construction firm carillion, which was audited by kpmg. rachel reeves is the chair of the business, energy and industrial strategy select committee. just explain how you think this break—up is so necessary. i have touched on the idea of a bit of a conflict, but just touched on the idea of a bit of a conflict, butjust explain why you are looking at it. the key issue is the poor quality of the to many audits carried out by the big four. the regulator says that 27% of audits don't meet the standards that are required. and we see a whole range of issues. first of all, the lack of competition in the centre, with just four lack of competition in the centre, withjust four big lack of competition in the centre, with just four big firms providing the majority of audits to uk listed businesses. the conflict—of—interest, so that instead of providing the challenge that an audit should, too often, the big four accountancy firms are also looking to win consultancy work from the

follow a string of company failures, including the outsourcer, trillian, which had been ordered by kpmgamaging, but by the thinnest of margins, investors have indicated that they would like dunkerton to return. almost every day, more gloom from a retailer. one a nalyst we day, more gloom from a retailer. one analyst we have been speaking to describe the story about bonmarche asa describe the story about bonmarche as a lifeline, although it's a buyer, for day, spoke about a store by store profitability assessment. it is morejobs, though, isn't it? 19005 it it is morejobs, though, isn't it? 1900s it employs, and the warning was of a material reduction in staff. just last month they warned that they were going to lose between 5- £6 that they were going to lose between 5— £6 million this year, and that is probably reflected in the offer that filip ude has actually made, 11.a p per share compared to a closing price of 18p yesterday. the board are considering whether to let him doa are considering whether to let him do a full takeover. it is not the only bad news in retail today. we have hear