Probe: Grant Thornton worked on outsourcer Interserve’s accounts in 2015, 2016 and 2017
Grant Thornton has been fined £700,000 for botching audits at one of its clients.
The accounting industry regulator reviewed the auditor’s work on outsourcer Interserve’s accounts in 2015, 2016 and 2017 and found that it failed to treat a major contract with enough scepticism.
Grant Thornton will also need to pay a further £467,000 in investigation costs, said the Financial Reporting Council.
And Simon Lowe, a former partner who led the team that signed off Interserve’s accounts, was fined £70,000.
The accountancy group was also fined £2.3million in September over its audits of failed café chain Patisserie Valerie.
Interserve tumbled into administration in 2019.
Grant Thornton said: ‘Whilst we acknowledge the regulator’s findings that certain limited aspects of our work were below expectations in this instance… the findings did not assert that the company’s accounts were materially misstated in respect of these matters.’
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