AIDB drops PwC invoicing complaint
Accounting watchdog drops complaint against PwC over invoice structures in Mayflower tribunal
In a surprise move the Accountancy Investigation and Discipline Board
yesterday dropped one of its two complaints against PricewaterhouseCoopers for
the audit firm’s role in the collapse of Mayflower.
Part-way through the proceedings of a disciplinary tribunal a lawyer for the
AIDB said he wanted to drop the complaint that PwC failed to carry out
substantive tests on an invoice discounting facility that a Mayflower subsidiary
had allegedly misused.
The AIDB said the decision to drop the one complaint followed a private
exchange of views between expert witnesses.
The FT reports that PwC still faces a complaint that it fell short
of the standards expected of members of the ICAEW.
PwC said it welcomed the decision to drop the complaint. It has always
maintained that both complaints against it were ‘misconceived’.
Earlier this week complaints that Ian Shelton, the financial controller of
Transbus, the subsidiary concerned, had acted dishonestly in relation to the
facility, were dismissed by the panel hearing the allegations.