News Article - 10 November 2008
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Insolvency increased during the third quarter of 2008 in England and Wales, new government figures have shown.

Individual insolvencies numbered 27,087, a rise of 8.8 per cent compared with the second quarter, while company insolvencies reached 4,001, up 10.5 per cent during the quarter and up 26.3 per cent compared with a year ago.

In addition, the total number of administrations, receiverships and company voluntary arrangements rose by nearly two thirds (64.7 per cent) compared with the third quarter of 2007.

Catherine Matthews, a partner at the insolvency firm Tomlinsons, told the BBC: "The increase over the year is fairly evenly spread among the different types of procedure.

"But there is a definite trend towards procedures instigated by directors as they try to deal with their problems themselves."

Last week, the Bank of England attempted to aid business growth and the economy by cutting its base rate to three per cent, its lowest value since 1955.

The 1.5 per cent cut was the largest reduction since March 1981.

Article keywords: Female accountants take a greater interest in being promoted than their male counterparts, a study has shown.<br/><br/>According to findings by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and financial group Robert Half, almost half of women said that promotion opportunities were important in determining job satisfaction, compared with 40 per cent of men.<br/><br/>In addition, the majority of respondents to the study did not feel that working abroad is not particularly significant in relation to their career opportunities - only seven per cent said that overseas work was important to their job satisfaction.<br/><br/>&quot;Today's finance professionals can now afford to be selective in who they choose to work for and are looking for clear career progression opportunities, salary advance and job satisfaction, and will look to move elsewhere if their current employer does not deliver, &quot; said Phil Sheridan, UK managing director of Robert Half International.<br/><br/>Some 12 per cent of respondents said that their firm's environmental policy was important, while 11 per cent wanted an informal work social life.<br/>

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