Xchanging FD Ken Lever defends company against ‘aggressive’ accounting claims
Xchanging FD and ASB member Ken Lever says accusations of aggressive accounting are ‘unfair’ as company misses targets
A MEMBER OF the Accounting Standards Board has been forced to refute suggestions that his services company’s accounting practices had been “unnecessarily aggressive”.
Xchanging, which handles procurement and customer service for several large companies, saw its share price fall 60.5p to 56.5p. This was after it was forced to admit that it would not achieve operating profits this year, despite expectations to the contrary.
Its founder, David Andrews, will step down from the board with immediate effect.
Matthew Earl, head of business services research at the Matrix financial services group, told The Telegraph: “Aggressive accounting appears to have caught up with Xchanging.”
ASB member Ken Lever, who became finance director of the company in October, denied the accusations.
“The constant reference to aggressive accounting is very unfair. It’s extremely misleading,” he said. “It’s important we don’t make a crisis out of a drama.”