Britain's accounting watchdog blasts KPMG

Britain’s accounting watchdog blasts KPMG for ‘unacceptable’ bank audits for a third year in a row

Britain’s accounting watchdog has blasted KPMG for ‘unacceptable’ bank audits for a third year in a row. 

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) said performance at the Big Four bean-counter had not improved and that it would now be ‘closely monitoring’ the firm. 

KPMG was singled out for criticism in the FRC’s annual audit quality inspection, which also reviewed Big Four rivals Deloitte, EY and PwC as well as smaller firms Mazars, Grant Thornton and BDO.

'Unacceptable': The Financial Reporting Council said performance at the Big Four bean-counter had not improved and that it would now be 'closely monitoring' the firm

‘Unacceptable’: The Financial Reporting Council said performance at the Big Four bean-counter had not improved and that it would now be ‘closely monitoring’ the firm

The report said: ‘Inspection results at KPMG did not improve and it is unacceptable that, for the third year running, the FRC found improvements were required to KPMG’s audits of banks and similar entities. The FRC will be closely monitoring KPMG’s actions to ensure findings are addressed in a timely manner.’ 

KPMG received the worst audit quality scores of any Big Four firm, with only 59 per cent of its cases in the top category.

Cath Burnet, head of audit at KPMG UK, said: ‘Audit quality is our number one priority and we will not be content until our scores reflect our commitment to audit quality and the efforts we’ve made to enhance it.’ 

source: dailymail.co.uk