KPMG facing £14m lawsuit

KPMG has been slapped with a £14m lawsuit by insurance firm Watchstone over a bodged audit.

The Big Four accountancy firm has already been fined £4.5m by the UK’s audit watchdog, for misconduct when signing off Watchstone’s books in 2013.

It is now being taken to court by Watchstone, formerly known as Quindell, over its handling of the scandal, which led to the insurance software firm’s collapse.

Quindell had been a darling of London investors but in 2014 it had to restate 2013 results, and an £83m profit became a £68m loss.

Last month, the Serious Fraud Office dropped its six-year probe as it was unable to gather strong enough evidence. Watchstone is claiming £13.7m plus interest. If it wins, the money will likely go to creditors. KPMG is to defend the claim, and while it has admitted it did not meet the required standards, ‘we do not accept that this caused the losses being claimed’.