Carillion: Five years on, MPs and industry leaders demand audit reform to ensure scandal is not repeated Audit reform On the fifth anniversary of the collapse of outsourcer Carillion, MPs and audit sector leaders have united in calling on the UK government to push forwards with plans to overhaul the country’s audit sector. MPs said a shake-up of the country’s accounting industry is needed imminently to ensure that audit failures, such as the one [...]
KPMG’s failings led to Carillion’s collapse, High Court lawsuit says Carillion KPMG’s incompetence in its audits of Carillion played a core part in the construction giant’s 2018 collapse, Carillion’s liquidators have said, as part of a £1.3bn lawsuit against the Big Four accounting firm. KPMG’s 2016 audit of Carillion lulled the construction firm’s board into a false sense of security that saw the firm make a [...]
FRC fines hit record highs as watchdog sends ‘clear message’ to UK’s audit sector Audit The UK’s Financial Reporting Council (FRC) fined auditors a record £33.3m in the year running up to 30 September 2022, new figures from Thomson Reuters Confirmation shows. The record high sum marks a 77 per cent increase on the £18.7m fines – after discounts and adjustments – handed out in the previous year. The [...]
Auditors should stop ‘complaining’ about fines and improve the quality of their work, FRC chief says August 3, 2022 The head of the UK’s accounting watchdog has said Britain’s major auditors should stop “complaining” about fines and start improving the quality of their work instead. In an interview with the Financial Times, Financial Reporting Council (FRC) chief executive Sir Jon Thompson said “the solution” to auditors’ problems with fines is “entirely” in their own [...]
Record £14m fine for KPMG over Carillion and Regenersis audits with partner Peter Meehan banned from ICAEW July 25, 2022 The UK’s accounting watchdog has fined KPMG £14.4m and told it to pay £3.95m in costs for providing false and misleading information during its audits of Carillion and Regenersis. The UK’s Financial Reporting Council (FRC) also fined four of KPMG’s former auditors, banned them from the accounting sector’s professional membership body, and severely reprimanded another [...]
UK’s cost of living crisis has created ‘perfect conditions for fraud to flourish,’ new report says July 6, 2022 The UK’s cost of living crisis is creating the “ideal environment for fraudulent activity,” a new report from the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors (CIIA) has warned. Covid-19, the war in Ukraine, and the UK’s cost-of-living crunch are creating the “perfect conditions for fraud to flourish,” the report says, as it calls on businesses to [...]
IoD: Voluntary director code of conduct will help prevent future Carillions June 20, 2022 Directors of companies should follow a code of conduct to prevent Carillion-like scandals from happening again, according to the representative body for business leaders. Some 78 per cent of directors agree a set of rules should be created to boost corporate compliance, the Institute of Directors (IoD) said in a policy paper published today called [...]
UK audit chief in the running for HS2 top job May 2, 2022 The head of the UK’s accounting watchdog is reportedly in the running to lead the High Speed 2 rail construction project, raising further questions about the future of the country’s audit regime. Sir John Thompson, chief executive of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), is in the frame for becoming the new chair of the project, [...]
Major shakeup is needed to fix the Big Four, expert says March 18, 2022 A prominent academic has called on the government to expedite its audit reforms, after arguing a serious shakeup is needed to prevent an “appalling” situation from getting worse. Speaking to City A.M. accountancy expert Professor Atul Shah said, “the record of the UK’s auditing industry has been appalling over the last two decades and it’s [...]
Investigation finds errors in Carillion’s drain caused Stonehaven crash March 10, 2022 Errors in the Carillion-built drainage system caused the 2020 Stonehaven rail crash, the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) said today. According to the investigation, design differences and the way the system was built meant that it was unable to sustain the amount of rail falling on the morning of 12 August 2020 in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. [...]