Deloitte was fined £362,500 by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) after not being involved in an audit of the former client’s defined benefit pension plan.
Deloitte did not guarantee that the work carried out by the Engagement Quality Control Review (EQCR) was properly documented. The FRC also said the company has not obtained sufficient audit evidence to demonstrate clients’ defined benefits pension plans cash holdings.
The previous client in this case has not been named by the FRC.
“We acknowledge and regret that aspects of this entity’s audit work do not comply with relevant standards. However, as the FRC recognizes, these did not question the truth or fairness of the financial statements in question,” a Deloitte spokesman said.
“Audit quality remains a priority and we continue to strengthen our audit quality process and seek improvements in every task.”
Claudia Mortimore, assistant executive adviser at FRC, commented: “Proportional sanctions reflect the failures by respondents to obtain adequately appropriate audit evidence and to properly document their work in critical areas of audit risk, but recognize the limited nature of violations that have not questioned the truth or fairness of the financial statements.”
