Troubled high street café chain Patisserie Valerie has called in KPMG to help the company consider its options, after investigations found the accounting misstatements identified in October are much larger than originally estimated, with evidence of ‘devastating’ fraud and deliberate manipulation

Both academics and business experts raised concerns of ‘unintended consequences’ of audit reforms to the business, energy and industrial strategy (BEIS) committee, with broad disagreement over whether the changes should be led by government or business, reports James Bunney

The European Court of Auditors (ECA) wants EU legislators to intervene and ensure the European Central Bank (ECB) allows full access to documents for audits related to banking supervision, arguing that the current position prevents them from carrying out their work properly

The number of NHS and local government bodies with significant weaknesses in their arrangements for delivering value for money is ‘unacceptably’ high, but bodies are failing to take action on auditors’ warnings, according to a report from the National Audit Office (NAO)

FTSE 100 energy provider SSE has appointed EY as its external auditor, subject to approval by shareholders, ending a 20-year relationship with KPMG

In this month’s round-up of audit news, the Competition and Markets Authority releases its initial findings into the lack of competition in the listed audit market with the Big Four under fire, while the Kingman review questions to competency of the audit regulator, while Patisserie Valerie drops Grant Thornton in auditor switch to RSM

US firm Crowe has agreed to pay a penalty of $1.5m (£1.18m), after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) identified significant failures in audits of Corporate Resource Services, which went bankrupt in 2015 after the discovery of $100m in unpaid federal payroll tax liabilities

The luxury car company has begun the search for a new auditor after KPMG declined to reapply for its audit tender, less than three months after the company made its debut on the London Stock Exchange

Investors in Guernsey-based company Providence Investment Fund (PIF), which collapsed in 2016, are to sue the audit firm for £14m for what they term ‘negligence, breach of duty and breach of contract as its auditors’

Increasing focus on the quality of audit in the UK means that the Big Four audit firms are under severe pressure with threats of breakup and radical reform. In our exclusive annual FTSE 100 Big Four Alumni survey, Philip Smith analyses the inextricable link between UK boards and the top audit firms

The Competition and Markets Authority’s initial report on reforming the UK audit market ignores auditor independence and risks putting the cart before the horse, argues Peter Swabey, policy and research director at ICSA: The Governance Institute

Two auditors have been reported to their professional body in the wake of the Charity Commission’s follow-up report on auditors’ compliance with the requirements for reporting matters of material significance, with the regulator warning it may take similar action without prior warning in future

Donald Brydon, outgoing chair of the London Stock Exchange Group and chair of Sage Group has been appointed to lead a new independent review of the quality and effectiveness of the UK audit market, in the wake of the Kingman review and the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA’s) interim findings, following a nine-month search for an independent chair

A five-week consultation has been launched on the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) proposals to address the lack of competition in the audit market with reforms including the introduction of joint audits for listed companies, with at least one firm being non-Big Four, and closer scrutiny of auditor appointments, reports Amy Austin