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A former chair of one of Britain’s biggest auditors is to step down as chairman of Interpath, the independent advisory firm, because of a potential conflict of interest involving its private equity backer’s choice of auditor.

Sky News has learnt that Interpath, which has been engaged by billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe on his cost-cutting campaign since taking a stake in Manchester United Football Club, will announce this week that John Connolly is to leave.

Mr Connolly, who has chaired the company since it was formed in 2021, is to hand the reins to Tamara Box, a former managing partner at the City law firm Reed Smith.

Insiders said this weekend that Mr Connolly was stepping down because of the impending appointment of Deloitte as the global auditor of HIG Europe, Interpath’s private equity backer.

Mr Connolly retired as senior partner and UK chief executive of Deloitte in 2011, but continues to receive a pension from the firm.

One source said that he, Interpath and HIG had agreed that his departure would avoid any potential conflict of interest arising, and that HIG needed Deloitte to be conflict-free.

The move is not without irony, given that Interpath’s formation was triggered by KPMG UK’s disposal of its restructuring arm amid growing obstacles posed by conflicts between large accountants’ audit and consulting operations.

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News of the chairmanship succession will come as Interpath reports a strong performance for its financial year ending March 31, with a roughly-15% increase in revenues and a quadrupling in operating profit over the previous year.

One person familiar with the results said they would show overall revenues of £163.6m and adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of £46.3m.

Interpath has been steadily expanding its international network, with a workforce now numbering more than 900 people.

It recently announced a change in its executive leadership, with Mark Raddan replacing Blair Nimmo as chief executive.

The firm has opened an office in Bermuda – a key location for the global restructuring sector – and acquired KPMG’s restructuring business in France.

It also recently recruited David Sawyer, an industry veteran, as a special advisor to aid its expansion into the US.

Interpath also expects to benefit from UK corporate insolvency rates which are now higher than that seen during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Among its recent appointments was acting as administrator on the pre-pack sale of CTD Tiles to Topps Tiles.

A spokesperson for Interpath declined to comment on Sunday.

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Water companies blocked from using customer cash for ‘undeserved’ bonuses

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Water companies blocked from using customer cash for 'undeserved' bonuses

Nine water companies have been blocked from using customer money to fund “undeserved” bonuses by the industry’s regulator.

Ofwat said it had stepped in to use its new powers over water firms that cannot show that bonuses are sufficiently linked to performance.

The blocked payouts amount to 73% of the total executive awards proposed across the industry.

The regulator has prevented crisis-hit Thames Water, Yorkshire Water, and Dwr Cymru Welsh Water from paying £1.5m in bonuses from cash generated from customer bills.

It said a further six firms have voluntarily decided not to push the cost of executive bonuses worth a combined £5.2m on to customers.

Instead, shareholders at Anglian Water, Severn Trent, South West, Southern Water, United Utilities and Wessex will pay the cost.

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David Black, chief executive of Ofwat, said: “In stopping customers from paying for undeserved bonuses that do not properly reflect performance, we are looking to sharpen executive mindsets and push companies to improve their performance and culture of accountability.

“While we are starting to see companies take some positive steps, they need to do more to rebuild public trust.”

The announcement came in an Ofwat update on firms’ financial resilience and bonuses.

Industry lobby group Water UK said: “Almost all water company bonuses are already paid by shareholders, not customers.

“All companies recognise the need to do more to deliver on their plans to support economic growth, build more homes, secure our water supplies and end sewage entering our rivers.

“We now need the regulator Ofwat to fully approve water companies’ £108bn investment plans so that we can get on with it.

“Ofwat’s financial resilience report provides yet more evidence that the current system isn’t working, with returns down to 2% and eight companies making a loss.

“It is clear we need a faster and simpler system which allows companies to deliver for customers, the environment and the country.”

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Google could be forced to sell its Chrome browser over internet search monopoly claims

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Google could be forced to sell its Chrome browser over internet search monopoly claims

Google must sell its Chrome browser to restore competition in the online search market, US prosecutors have argued.

The proposed breakup has been floated in a 23-page document filed by the US Justice Department.

It also calls for lawmakers to impose restrictions designed to prevent its Android smartphone software from favouring its own search engine.

If the rules were brought in, it would essentially result in Google being highly regulated for 10 years.

Google controls about 90% of the online search market and 95% on smartphones.

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Grieving parents tell Ofcom to ‘step up’ over social media content

Court papers filed on Wednesday expand on an earlier outline for what prosecutors argued would dilute that monopoly.

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Google called the proposals radical at the time, saying they would harm US consumers and businesses and shake American competitiveness in AI.

The company has said it will appeal.

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) and a coalition of states want US District Judge Amit Mehta to end exclusive agreements in which Google pays billions of dollars annually to Apple and other device vendors to be the default search engine on their tablets and smartphones.

Google will have a chance to present its own proposals in December.

A trial on the proposals has been set for April, however President-elect Donald Trump and the DoJ’s next antitrust head could step in.

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Dozens of partners take early retirement from accountancy giant PwC

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Dozens of partners take early retirement from accountancy giant PwC

Dozens of partners at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Britain’s biggest accountancy firm, will next month take early retirement as its new boss takes steps to boost its performance.

Sky News has learnt that PwC’s 1,030 UK partners were notified earlier this week that a larger-than-usual round of partner retirements would take place at the end of the year.

Sources said the round would involve several dozen partners – who command average pay packages of about £1m – leaving the firm.

PwC named about 60 new partners earlier this year under Marco Amitrano, who was appointed as its new UK boss in the spring.

Mr Amitrano is understood to have informed partners about the changes in a voice memo, although one insider disputed the idea that the numbers involved were “significant”.

The partner retirements come as the big four audit firms contend with a sizeable bill from increases in the Budget in employers’ national insurance contributions.

It emerged this week that Deloitte is cutting nearly 200 jobs in its advisory business, according to the Financial Times.

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An ongoing shake-up of the audit profession is not being restricted to the big four firms, with Sky News revealing on Wednesday that Cinven, the private equity firm, was in advanced talks to buy a controlling stake in Grant Thornton UK.

The deal, which is expected to value Grant Thornton at somewhere in the region of £1.5bn, was announced on Thursday morning.

PwC declined to comment.

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