Last week a press article asked whether Pitcher Partners had sufficient resources to conduct the international audit needed for the Australian-UK law business. Slater + Gorden dismissed the claims behind such questions as 'incorrect and misleading'. It has appointed Ernst & Young to assess independently the answers it gives to the Commission.

Payments to employees

The two errors relate to the reporting of cash flow in the UK and appear to have been made in the consolidation of different sets of accounts into one overall set of consolidated accounts. One error relates to receips from customers and the other relates to payments to suppliers and employers.

Will other firms float?

There is a lot of interest in how law firms cope with being listed, as other practices are thought to be considering the route. Gateley became the first UK firm to become listed at the start of this month. But some of the accounting firms that floated have struggled - and the greater transparency required by being listed is seen as a challenge for organisations that used to have the privacy of partnership. Source: Lawyers Weekly