Audit - PwC hit by conflict row
PricewaterhouseCoopers was told last week to qualify the accounts of a client, following accusations that the firm faced a conflict of interest.
The directors of investment specialist Knight Williams, which collapsed in 1995, said Coopers consultants gave the company a clean bill of health only months before the Investors? Compensation Scheme contradicted its advice and declared investors were owed millions of pounds.
Both Knight Williams and the ICS were audited by Coopers leading to a conflict of interest, said a company spokesman.
Now Knight Williams directors have written to PwC chairman Peter Smith demanding the firm qualify the accounts of the regulator. The letter stated: ?In respect of [several] cases, Coopers found no liability, but the ICS has made offers.? The auditors of ICS should declare the payments invalid, it said.