Five former Carillion executives banned by accountancy regulator
Five former executives at the collapsed government contractor Carillion have been banned by the UK’s accountancy regulator, effectively ending the career of its former finance chief, after they “acted recklessly”.Before Carillion collapsed into compulsory liquidation in January 2018 – one of the biggest corporate failures in UK history – it was a large multinational construction and facilities management services company and employed 43,000 people around the world.Richard Adam, a former finance director at Carillion and Zafar Khan, his successor in that role and previously Carillion’s financial controller, have already been fined £232,830 and £138,960 respectively by the Financial Conduct Authority for misleading investors.The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) said on Tuesday that Adam, 69, would be excluded from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales for 15 years, which amounts to a ban, and effectively spells the end of his career.The FRC also imposed a financial sanction of £222,019, reduced from £550,000, to take into account the FCA’s fine and a settlement discount.
Khan, 58, has been banned for 10 years and received a financial sanction of £60,228 from the FRC, reduced from £225,000.Both received a severe reprimand.The FRC said both men had accepted their misconduct in respect of several areas of Carillion’s business, including certain transactions, big UK construction contracts and a supply chain finance facility, that affected the company’s reported financial performance between 2013 and 2016 and the half year to 2017.The regulator also secured admissions from three unnamed senior accountants, who it said had “acted recklessly and failed to act with integrity” when preparing information for Carillion’s financial statements.The first was banned from working as an accountant for eight years and received a financial sanction of £45,000, while the second was banned for five years and the third for two years; the latter two received a £26,000 penalty.
All three were also issued with a severe reprimand.The fines were reduced as part of settlements.Penrose Foss, the FRC executive director of investigations and enforcement, said: “The substantial sanctions imposed on these five individuals reflect the gravity of their failure to discharge their respective obligations to act with integrity in preparing financial information in the context of a large, listed company.“It is critical that any individual who is responsible for preparing accurate financial information, whatever their level of seniority, undertakes their duties with integrity.This is a fundamental requirement for every organisation.
”Carillion collapsed with £7bn of debts, resulting in 3,000 job losses and causing chaos across 450 projects and public-sector schemes, including schools, roads, prisons and the expansion of Liverpool Football Club’s stadium,The construction of two new hospitals was also delayed, and projects ran hundreds of millions of pounds over budget,In July 2017, Carillion issued a profit warning and announced an expected provision against its construction contracts of approximately £845m,In September 2017, Carillion announced a further provision of £200m and a first-half loss of £1,15bn.
In November 2017, Carillion issued another profit warning and indicated it would breach its banking covenants the following month.
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At a recent tasting, I got chatting to a winemaker from Australia’s Clare Valley as I bravely made my way through his wares: a ripe, leathery shiraz and a deep, dark cabernet sauvignon that put me in mind of blackcurrant bushes. These were serious wines – and good value, too. A generation ago, such gutsy New World reds were all the rage, but now, lamented the winemaker, gen Z was more interested in lighter, cooler-climate wines, lower on the alcohol and brighter on the palate.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link
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The weather lately has been as temperamental as peas in pods. But peas are even harder to read than the sky: some pods contain sweet things no bigger than peppercorns, which explode when you bite them; the contents of others, however, are closer to small ball bearings, their size very likely a sign that all the natural sucrose has been metabolised and transformed to pea starch. The best thing for the tiny ones is to snack on them alongside a bit of cheese, whereas the path for big ones is the same as for dried peas, so pea and ham soup or a long-simmered puree.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link
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Asparagus butts are a particularly tricky byproduct to tame because they’re so fibrous. I usually cut them very finely (into 5mm-thick discs, or even thinner), then boil, puree and pass them through a sieve (as in my green goddess salad dressing and asparagus soup), but even then you’ll still end up with a fair bit of fibrous waste. Enter asparagus-butt butter: a recipe that defies all odds, making the impossible possible by transforming a tough offcut into an intense compound butter that’s perfect for grilling or frying asparagus spears themselves, or for eggs, bread, gnocchi or whatever you can think of. The short fibres brown and caramelise in the butter, and in the process become the highlight of the dish, rather than the problem.This transforms an unwanted byproduct into an intense expression of the plant’s flavour
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Spring’s first asparagus always feels like a celebration, but there’s so much more to cooking those spears than just butter and lemon. Here, those tender stems combine with bold Indian flavours in two playful dishes. The thoran, inspired by Keralan home cooking, involves stir-frying asparagus with coconut, mustard seeds and curry leaves to create something warm and comforting (my friend Simi’s mum always used to drizzle it with a little lemon juice to give the flavours a lift). The chaat, meanwhile, tossed with tangy tamarind, yoghurt, spices, crunchy chickpeas and sweet pomegranate, is a delicious snack or side. Together, they show how versatile asparagus can be: easy to cook, vibrant and moreish even in unexpected culinary traditions
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