Grant Thornton in dock

Grant thornton faces yet another probe into the quality of its audit work following the collapse of contractor Interserve.

In a fresh embarrassment for the UK’s fifth biggest beancounter, the Financial reporting Council (FrC) is investigating Grant thornton’s sign-off of Interserve’s financial statements in 2015, 2016 and 2017.

the accountant is already under scrutiny over its audit of bakery chain Patisserie Valerie, which folded in January after a £40m black hole was discovered in its parent company’s accounts.

It was also criticised for its role in serial bankrupt Dominic Chappell’s purchase of BHS from Sir Philip Green for £1 in 2015.

Interserve collapsed into administration last month after shareholders rejected a proposed rescue deal that would have relieved the firm of a £650m debt mountain but wiped out existing investors.

a swift pre-pack administration transferred ownership to lenders including banks and private equity firms. Interserve had warned it would run out of money to pay its staff and suppliers within weeks if it did not get a huge injection of cash.

the company, which did everything from building roads to cleaning Government departments, had 68,000 staff worldwide including 45,000 in the UK.

a spokesman for Grant thornton said it had been contacted by the FrC, and added: ‘We will of course fully co-operate with them in this matter.’

Interserve ran into trouble after it took on a series of projects to build energy-fromwaste plants, which triggered a debt spiral.

Last May the Financial Conduct authority said it was investigating Interserve over the accuracy of its financial reporting between July 2016 and February 2017.

Interserve declined to comment on the FrC probe.