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The auditing work of one of many world's "Big Four" accounting corporations has been sharply criticised by the trade's watchdog.
KPMG had proven an "unacceptable deterioration" and might be topic to nearer supervision, the Financial Reporting Council stated.
The FRC added all of the Big Fourwhich additionally embody PwC, EY and Deloittewanted to reverse a decline.
However, KPMG was singled out for the poor high quality of its work, the FRC stated.
Every yr the watchdog evaluations the audits of Britain's largest corporations to make sure they're as much as scratch.
"There has been an unacceptable deterioration in quality at one firm, KPMG," the FRC stated. "50% of KPMG's FTSE 350 audits required more than just limited improvements, compared to 35% in the previous year."
Stephen Haddrill, head of the FRC, stated: "At a time when public belief in enterprise and in audit is within the highlight, the Big Four should enhance the standard of their audits and accomplish that rapidly.
"They must address urgently several factors that are vital to audit, including the level of challenge and scepticism by auditors, in particular in their bank audits. We also expect improvements in group audits and in the audit of pension balances."
He stated corporations "must strenuously renew" their efforts to enhance audit high quality to fulfill the reliable expectation of buyers and different stakeholders.