The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined PwC £15m for failing to alert the regulator to concerns that London Capital & Finance (LCF) may have been involved in fraudulent activity.
The move marks the first time that the regulator has fined an audit firm. PwC experienced "significant issues" throughout a 2016 audit of LCF, as per an FCA update shared today (16 August). This included a senior individual at LCF acting aggressively towards auditors and the firm providing PWC with misleading and inaccurate information. The audit proved complex and took "considerably longer" than expected to complete, as per the FCA press release. "LCF's actions, and PwC's own work on the audit, led PWC to suspect that LCF might be involved in fraudulent activity," the regulator st...
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