PwC fined Shs 50 billion over "bogus" audit in the UK
A former PwC partner has been banned from audit work for fifteen years and fined £500,000 by a watchdog after admitting misconduct in the accounting firm’s audit of British Home Store (BHS), UK newspaper, The Independent reported yesterday.
Steve Denison left PwC earlier this month after 33 years at the firm. PwC was fined £10m by industry regulator the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) and ordered to review all policies for handling high-risk companies. The fine is the biggest ever imposed by the FRC.
The fines will be reduced by 35 per cent to £6.5m and £325,000 respectively if the parties agree to settle early.
The billionaire sold BHS for 1 pound in 2015, days after PwC signed off its accounts for the previous year.
In April 2016 BHS collapsed putting thousands of people out of work and leaving a £571m pension deficit. Sir Philip later agreed to pay £363m into the pension scheme.
“We recognise and accept that there were serious shortcomings with this audit work and that it is important to learn the necessary lessons,” PwC said.
“We are sorry that our work fell well below the professional standards expected of us and that we demand of ourselves.”
"At its core this is not a failure in our audit methodology, the methodology simply was not followed."
The firms said that its audit failings did not contribute to BHS’ collapse.
The FRC also ordered PwC to supply annual reports for the next three years about its audit practice in Leeds, the office where Mr Denison had been a partner.
