Britain’s accounting watchdog has fined PwC €2.1m after it failed to properly challenge telecoms group BT once a half-a-billion pound fraud was discovered in BT’s Italian operations.. Photograph: Getty ImagesBritain’s accounting watchdog said on Monday it had fined auditor PwC £1.75 million sterling after it failed to properly challenge telecoms group BT once a half-a-billion pound fraud was discovered in BT’s Italian operations.
“The sanctions imposed in this case, where certain elements of the adjustments following a fraud were not subject to the required level of professional scepticism, underscore this message and will serve as a timely reminder to the profession,” Claudia Mortimore, deputy executive counsel at the FRC, said in a statement.