The investigation, begun under the Accountancy Scheme, is into the accounting and auditing of interest rate swap arrangements which gave rise to a prior period adjustment in the Manchester Building Society’s financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2012.
The decision to investigate follows information received from the Prudential Regulation Authority in relation to the conduct of the auditors at the time, Grant Thornton.
Today’s announcement follows one yesterday from the FRC that it is investigating Grant Thornton as auditors of Vimto maker Nichols, into whether Grant Thornton was independent when it conducted the audits of Nichols’ financial statements for the years ended 31 December 2011 and 2012.
Grant Thorton said in a statement: “We acknowledge the FRC statement today regarding their investigation.
“The FRC and Grant Thornton have a common interest in promoting good corporate governance and reporting standards and as such we alerted the regulator as soon as we became aware of a potential issue.
“We shall, of course, fully co-operate with any investigation. As a firm, we continue to strive to deliver quality work for our clients.”
