PwC probed in audit scandal

THE UK FINANCIAL Reporting Council opened an investigation into PricewaterhouseCoopers’ (PwC’s) audits of BT Group over three years, following an accounting scandal in the carrier’s Italian unit that led to a write-down of £530 million (R8.85 billion). The review will cover fiscal years ending in March 2015 to 2017, the council said yesterday. The action is designed to investigate and sanction breaches of auditing requirements. A government investigation could help clarify PwC’s role in the matter and determine where oversight fell short in BT’s Italian unit. BT said this month it would replace PwC with KPMG following the discovery of years of allegedly false transactions. BT was already planning to change auditors within the next few years. – Bloomberg