Auditing

Consultation Response: Competition and Markets Authority re Statutory Audit Market Study

UKSA  and ShareSoc made a joint response to this consultation. The key points we made were: We believe that there is competition in the market for audit services, although in the case of FTSE 100 companies, market competition is limited - wider choice and more competition would be beneficial. Nonetheless, competition does not necessarily lead to improved quality which is the main concern about audit at present. We believe that the main problem lies in the way in which audit services are procured. We ...

BT Hit By False Accounts

The share price of BT Plc (BT.A) fell by over 20% yesterday after reporting that it would have to write off £530 million in its accounts as a result of "improper accounting practices" in its Italian subsidiary. That included "improper sales, purchase, factoring and leasing transactions" according to the announcement by the company. BT's CFO Simon Lowth commented that including borrowing against receivables to pay debts, improper sale and leaseback transactions and shifting of operating expenses into capital budgets. The company's ...