Ad boss Sir Martin Sorrell says S4 Capital’s results delays are unacceptable and embarrassing’
Ad industry veteran Sir Martin Sorell has said month long delay in the release of marketing firm S4 Capital’s results are “unacceptable and embarrassing,” after promising to make “significant changes” to the firm.
The WPP founder decried the delays to the publication of S4 Capital’s results, after Big Four auditing firm PwC failed to sign off its accounts.
In a presentation, the firm vowed to make significant changes across the company, in a bid to ensure similar incidents “never” happen again.
The firm blamed the delays on staff turnover, control weakness, and a lack of detailed documentation, relating to revenue and cost of sales.
In response to the delays, the firm said it would be “upskilling” its finance team, and strengthening its processes, as it said it had taken a full debriefing from PwC.
In particular, the issues were “concentrated” on issues linked to S4 Capital’s 2018 acquisition of Dutch production company MediaMonks and its “rapid expansion” in 2021. Sorell subsequently used MediaMonks to acquire dozens of other companies.