Accountants ‘are feasting on Carillion carcass’
BRITAIN’S BIG four accountancy firms have been savaged by MPs who have accused them of “feasting on the carcass” of collapsed construction giant Carillion and collecting more than £70m in the process.
MPs from the business and pensions committees, who are conducting a joint inquiry into Carillion’s demise, have published a breakdown of fees collected by KPMG, PwC, Deloitte and EY. It shows that the professional services firms have pocketed a total of £71.6m in Carillion-related work since 2008, including on its pension schemes.
Veteran Labour MP Frank Field, head of the Work and Pensions Committee, said: “The image of these companies feasting on what was soon to become a carcass will not be lost on decent citizens.
“The former directors of Carillion are, unlike their pensioners, suppliers and employees, alright. These figures show that, as ever, the Big Four are alright too. All of them did extensive – and expensive – work for Carillion.”
PwC, which is handling the liquidation process, comes in for particular criticism from Mr Field.
He said: “PwC managed to play all three sides – the company, pension schemes and the Government – to the tune of £21m and are now being paid to preside over the carcass of the company as Special Managers.
“It was perhaps telling that, with their three fellow oligarchs conflicted, PwC were appointed to this lucrative position without any competition.”
Neanwhile, more workers formerly employed by collapsed construction giant Carillion have lost their jobs, taking the total to almost 1,000.
A further 59 employees working on construction projects that have been paused, will leave the business later this week, the Official Receiver announced.
A total of 989 jobs have now been lost since Carillion went into liquidation.
An estimated 6,668 have been saved out of the previous directly-employed workforce of 18,000.