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Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
ICAEW report finds audit quality holding steady in 2024
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) has released its 2024 audit monitoring report, revealing that 67% of audited files were rated as either good or generally acceptable. This marks a slight decline from the 71% recorded in 2023, although the report notes that the average audit quality is likely to be higher due to the targeted selection of complex or challenging audits. The proportion of audits requiring significant improvements remained stable at 10%, the report said. The ICAEW's quality assurance team conducted visits to 401 firms, reviewing 790 audits selected for their complexity. The report highlights that direct year-on-year comparisons of audit quality are not possible, as different firms—excluding the Big Four—are reviewed on longer cycles. Among the Big Four, 90% of audits were rated good or generally acceptable, with only one audit identified as needing significant improvement. The report clarified that audits requiring significant improvement do not necessarily indicate an incorrect audit opinion. Nick Reynolds, ICAEW Professional Standards Head of Audit, said: "Though we can't compare results year-on-year, the majority of audits we reviewed continued to remain good or generally acceptable." Reynolds further explained the challenges faced by some firms, particularly in attracting and retaining skilled audit staff, which affects audit quality. Larger firms tend to have better recruitment outcomes and, consequently, stronger audit quality results. "We'll continue to support our firms to help them build and maintain high standards," he added, mentioning the release of a new training film titled "Crossing the Line." To provide further insights, the ICAEW will be hosting a series of free webinars to discuss the findings from the monitoring visits in greater detail. The ICAEW, which registers approximately 2,000 firms for audit work, is the UK's largest recognised supervisory body for monitoring non-Public Interest Entity (PIE) audit quality. "ICAEW report finds audit quality holding steady in 2024" was originally created and published by The Accountant, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Russian soldiers' ‘drone-proof' thermal coats actually mark them for attack
Credit: Telegram/ ombr_63 Russian soldiers are struggling to hide from Ukrainian drones, despite being given coats and blankets designed to hide them from thermal and night vision sensors. The garments are intended to mask body heat, making soldiers harder to detect with night-vision and infrared optics. However they are constructed with faulty technology, and troops are often given inadequate training in how to use them. Rather than concealing body heat, the coats create cold spots against a warmer natural environment, making bold black targets for Ukraine to strike. 'This is no invisibility cloak,' Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former British Army colonel and chemical weapons expert, told The Telegraph. 'In fact, because of the contrast, it makes them more acquirable than less.'Ukrainian drones, often operated by special forces or intelligence units, combine thermal imaging with real-time targeting technology allows Ukraine to conduct precise strikes even at night, taking out hidden or camouflaged Russian positions. Russian soldiers are now being sent towards the enemy believing the equipment will keep them safe from attacks. Credit: X/@FedorovMykhailo But video footage and photographs taken in Lyman earlier this week show soldiers standing out more than ever as Ukrainian drones hover low behind soldiers moved towards positions held by the Ukrainian army's 63rd Mechanised Brigade with coats draped over their shoulders before a barrage of first-person view (FPV) drones descended on 'funny occupiers in the Lyman region… put on anti-drone raincoats and thought that now they are safe,' the brigade said after the attack.A different Russian assault group used higher-quality thermal blankets but lacked proper training on how to use them could be seen with their legs, arms, or heads peeking out from the covers, suddenly highlighting where they were standing. Nick Reynolds, research fellow for land warfare at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), said that there have been 'instances of incompetence by Russian personnel who clearly do not understand how to use their equipment'. Mr de Bretton-Gordon added: 'It does highlight how difficult it is to hide on today's battlefield... They need to cover their whole bodies.' Details found online showed Russian versions of the suits on sale for just $47 USD. Improvements in Ukrainian technology are also making it even harder for Russians to hide.'Thermal cameras on drones are both improving and becoming cheaper as manufacturing processes improve,' explained Mr soldiers have previously used thermal camouflage suits, reportedly to much better effect than their Russian adversaries. The suits, which weigh 2.5 kilograms, are made by a variety of multilayer materials, in particular polymers, microfibres, and fabrics interspersed with metal particles. 'Our goal is to disguise the military and equipment from the enemy as reliably as possible,' Vitalii Polovenko, the deputy defence minister, said last year. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
NATO should steal a page from Russia's air war against Ukraine
Ukraine's missiles have kept Russian aircraft away from the battlefield. Russia has responded by battering Ukraine's defenses with glide bombs dropped farther away. Increasing glide-bomb production should be a critical priority for NATO. One of the surprises of the Ukraine war has been the marginal role played by Russian airpower. Expectations that Russian fighters and bombers would blast a path for the ground troops — as US airpower did in Desert Storm — were disappointed. Instead, Ukrainian anti-aircraft missiles have kept Russia's air force at bay. But Russia has hit on a way for its air force — known as the VKS — to make a difference while staying away from the battlefield — massive glide bombing. And that approach seems to be successful enough that a British think tank is calling for NATO air forces to be ready to do the same. "Glide bombs gave the VKS teeth without the need to first achieve air superiority or gain the ability to penetrate Ukrainian airspace," wrote analysts Jack Watling and Nick Reynolds in a report for the Royal United Services Institute, a British think tank. Ironically, Russia's airpower woes have become NATO's worries. Since 1941, the warfighting concept of America, Britain and other Western nations has been to maintain relatively small armies backed by copious amounts of airpower. The concept eventually worked in World War II. It might have worked in the Cold War to repel a massive Soviet ground invasion of Europe. But the air war over Ukraine raises doubts about this approach. If Ukrainian S-300 and Patriot anti-aircraft missiles can destroy Russian planes, then couldn't Russian missiles do the same to NATO planes? Ukraine claims 369 Russian warplanes have been shot down as of February 2025, with most claimed by missiles rather than Ukraine's small fleet of fighter jets. That's why Western experts are paying close attention to how Russia has managed to make its air force relevant to the ground war. Much like the Russian war machine in general, the Russian air force is now emphasizing brute-force tactics that rely on massive amounts of bombs rather than accuracy. Instead of running the gauntlet of Ukrainian air defenses as they drop their bombs, Russian jets safely orbit up to 60 miles behind the Russian front line — out of range of Ukrainian long-range surface-to-air missiles — and lob glide bombs. These are low-budget guided weapons that mate a conventional iron bomb with a satellite-guidance system, and aerodynamic fins to control the bomb's trajectory. Russian UPMK glide bombs lack in accuracy compared to their Western counterparts such as the US Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM). But Russia doesn't care. The giant FAB-1500 — a 1.5-ton glide bomb — or the 3.4-ton FAB-5000 have such a large blast radius that even a near miss will destroy Ukrainian trenches and bunkers. It's the same sort of approach long practiced by Russian artillery: saturation bombardment to pulverize enemy defenses and rattle soldiers inside before the assault troops go in. Ukrainian troops have yet to find an effective defense against glide bombs; moving air defenses forward to fire at a launch aircraft also risks systems like Patriot that are in short supply. Instead, "they have been pushed to completely avoid observation of their positions, to disperse or seek concealment underground, and to rely on uncrewed or autonomous systems to keep and kill the enemy at arm's length," Watling and Reynolds wrote. The Ukraine war has shown the biggest shortcoming of precision-guided munitions: they are so expensive that nations only procure small numbers, which are quickly depleted during a long war. Because glide bombs use cheap components — old-fashioned iron bombs and inexpensive navigation systems — Russia can easily mass produce them. "The rise in UMPK glide bomb production from 40,000 units in 2024 to 70,000 units anticipated in 2025, has significantly increased the number of Ukrainian troops killed during defensive operations," RUSI noted. RUSI recommends that NATO increase its stockpiles and manufacturing capacity for stand-off weapons like JDAMs and the Joint Standoff Weapon made by Raytheon (JDAM bombs cost around $20,000 each). In addition, NATO air forces need more long-range air-to-air missiles: Russian fighters have had success in suppressing Ukrainian airpower by using long-range missiles such as the R-77-1, with a range of more than 62 miles. Given the ferocious consumption of munitions seen in Ukraine, procuring mass quantities is only viable if the price is right. "Increasing stockpiles and the capacity to produce long-range air-to-air munitions and stand-off strike weapons at as low a cost as possible should be critical priorities for the force," RUSI argued. The Ukraine war offers one bit of consolation for NATO. The fact that Russia had restored some effectiveness to air force suggests that NATO's emphasis on airpower is still relevant. "The disproportionate impact of the VKS, despite the generally poor performance of Russian airpower, validates the importance placed on air power across NATO," RUSI concluded. Michael Peck is a defense writer whose work has appeared in Forbes, Defense News, Foreign Policy magazine, and other publications. He holds an MA in political science from Rutgers Univ. Follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn. Read the original article on Business Insider
