Regulation

The Financial Reporting Council has issued the first finding from its two-and-a-half-year investigation into the accounts of Quindell, imposing discounted fines of £780,000 on former auditors who it said had failed to “exercise sufficient professional scepticism”.

The government was accused yesterday of “pulling its punches” and “shilly shallying” over introducing a ban on cold-calling for personal injury claims. The comments came after work and pensions secretary Esther McVey appeared to fudge the commitment the government had previously given in the House of Lords.

A sole practitioner who misappropriated over £170,000 from four vulnerable clients in her role as court-appointed deputy has been struck off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. She admitted all the allegations against her, apart from dishonesty, arguing instead that she “got into a muddle”.

There has been a “significant decrease” in unauthorised businesses operating in the holiday sickness market, the Claims Management Regulator has reported. It comes as MPs debate the government’s surprise u-turn late last year to legislate for a ban on cold-calling.

More than half of firms of licensed conveyancers expect their workloads to increase over the next year, according to their regulator. Some 53% of firms expected volumes of work to increase over the next year, with only 10% anticipating a fall.

A law firm regulated by the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives is aiming to supervise the training of solicitors in what is understood to be the first move of its kind. In a separate development, a law firm regulated by the Bar Standards Board has started a pupillage scheme, in what might well also be a first.

The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) is set to become the second accountancy body that enables its members – 90,000 of them in the UK – to provide probate services. If approved by the Legal Services Board, it will follow the lead of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

Former Labour cabinet minister Peter Hain has launched a blistering attack on leading UK/US law firm Hogan Lovells over what he said was its role in the Gupta family scandal in South Africa. The veteran anti-apartheid campaigner said he has asked the Solicitors Regulation Authority to withdraw Hogan Lovells’ authorisation and discipline “leading partners”.

Solicitors setting up an alternative business structure this month in Marlborough, Wiltshire, have chosen to be regulated by the Bar Standards Board. It is understood to be the first time a BSB-regulated ABS has been created without barrister involvement.

Howard Kennedy has become the latest large London practice to face action from the Solicitors Regulation Authority after four solicitors and the firm itself were referred to a disciplinary tribunal over alleged accounts rules breaches.