Accountancy firm to be probed over Patisserie Valerie audits
The accountancy watchdog has launched an investigation into Grant Thornton’s audit of Patisserie Valerie and will also probe the crisis-hit cafe chain’s former chief financial officer.
The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) is to investigate the financial statements of Patisserie Holdings for the 2015, 2016 and 2017 financial years, which will be conducted under the Audit Enforcement Procedure. Although Patisserie Holdings is based in Birmingham, its accounts were audited by Grant Thornton’s Milton Keynes and Cambridge offices.
A spokesperson for Grant Thornton UK LLP said: “I can confirm we have received a letter from the Financial Reporting Council informing us of its decision to commence an investigation and we will, of course, fully cooperate in this matter.”
It will also scrutinise the preparation and approval of the Birmingham-based company’s financial statements and other financial information by Chris Marsh, the chief financial officer who resigned last month.
The news comes just days after the company announced it had appointed a new chief executive to lead the ‘revival’ of the business in a bid to find a way out of its crisis.
Steve Francis, a turnaround specialist who was most recently the chief executive of pork producer Tulip, replaced Paul May, who resigned last week.
It is now more than five weeks since the business suspended trading of its shares on the Alternative Investment Market and launched an investigation into suspected accounting irregularities which brought the business to the brink of collapse.
