Accounting watchdog probing PWC audit of BT

Britain’s accountancy watchdog has opened an investigation into Pwc’s audit of BT following the telecom giant’s Italian accounting scandal.

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) said yesterday it had commenced an investigation under the Audit Enforcement Procedure into audits of BT undertaken by PWC from 2015 to 2017.

“The decision to investigate follows announcements by BT in relation to accounting issues in its Italian operations,” the FRC said.

The move comes after the scandal at the firm’s Italian division, BT Italia, resulted in the firm booking a £530 million writedown. Earlier this month, BT appointed KPMG as its new auditor.