GRANT THORNTON has been fined over £700,00 by UK regulator Financial Reporting Council (FRC) for audit failings at Interserve, a British multinational construction business which collapsed in 2019.

The fine comes just over a month after the FRC issued the firm a £2.3m sanction for a "serious lack of competence" in the company's audit of cafe chain Patisserie Valerie.

Following administration, the high-street chain was found to have overstated its cash position by £30m and failed to disclose overdrafts of nearly £10m.

The FRC said the fine against Grant Thornton for Patisserie Valerie would have been £4m, but was adjusted for "exceptional levels" of cooperation.

Similarly, the FRC reduced the sanction against Grant Thornton, the UK's sixth largest accounting firm, for its audit of Interserve, a former FTSE 250 company, from £1.3m to just under £720,000.

There was "significant public interest" in the audit of outsourcing group Interserve, the FRC said, due to its size and the high-profile nature of the company, whose clients included public-sector organisations.

(c) 2021 City A.M., source Newspaper