AUDITORS IN SPOTLIGHT

EVENTS at Patisserie Valerie sent shockwaves through Britain’s auditing sector.

A day after UK competition officials announced a review, Grant Thornton faces questions over work for the cake shop chain, it has audited since 2007. The accountant said: ‘Given our duty of client confidentiality it would be inappropriate for us to comment.’

Prem Sikka, an accounting expert based at Essex University, tweeted: ‘What did the auditors do?’ Russ Mould, at AJ Bell, added: ‘This is incredibly damaging for investor sentiment towards corporate reporting transparency in general.’