New Healthcare Locums probe to include auditors
THE AUDITORS of troubled medical recruiter Healthcare Locums are to be investigated by regulators for their role in the accounting scandal that nearly destroyed the company.
The Accounting and Actuarial Disciplinary Board (AADB) said it had launched an investigation “into the conduct of certain members” of the English, Welsh and Scottish chartered accountancy institutes and BDO, the firm that audited HCL.
The probe will focus on accounts between 2008 to 2010 “to determine whether there is evidence of misconduct on the part of members or member firms of the accountancy and actuarial professional bodies,” HCL said in a statement.
HCL shares were suspended in January after it discovered severe accounting irregularities that led to its founder Kate Bleasdale being forced to resign. The company was forced to raise £60m in an equity placement in September to stay afloat.