KPMG admits misleading regulators over Carillion audits

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Accountancy giant KPMG auditors admitted misleading regulators during routine inspections of their work on audits on Carillion the main boss said in hearing.

The shocking admission of misconduct by KPMG was made on the first day of an industrial tribunal bought by the Financial Reporting Council where the accountancy firm and six of its former auditors are accused of forging documents printing these documents and misleading its inspectors.

Jon Holt explained KPMG’s UK chief executive said that the firm had discovered the misconduct in its own internal investigations these findings were in turn reported to the FRC.

In a statement, Jon Holt admitted it was clear to him that misconduct had occurred and that the regulator was misled over the forging of documents which lead to the collapse of the company and the loss of over 3000 jobs and disruption to many movement contracts which included hospitals and schools.

“The misconduct that this Tribunal will hear about over the coming weeks is disturbing and upsetting for me and for my colleagues,” he said.

“We became aware of the misconduct at the centre of this case as a result of our own internal investigations and immediately reported it to our regulator. We have co-operated fully with their investigation since then.

“This misconduct is a violation of our processes and clearly against our values.

“It is unacceptable, we do not tolerate or condone it in any way, and I am very sorry that it occurred in our firm.

“Since this misconduct came to light, we have worked hard, and with complete transparency to our regulator, to assure ourselves that it does not represent the wider culture or practice of our firm.”

Holt added: “I very much regret that individuals involved in this case failed to act properly or to call out the inappropriate behaviour of others, and I am saddened that some relatively junior former members of staff are facing very serious regulatory sanction at an early point in their careers.”

The FRC is also running two other investigations into possible failings in Carillion’s audits, while liquidators also prepare a separate £250m negligence claim against KPMG.

Nationaltrdesmen.co.uk has been reporting on this ongoing saga since Carillion went under nearly three years ago place find more news about Carillion here.