The increase in the total financial sanctions, up nearly 200% from £16.5m in 2020/21, reflects the seriousness and high number of cases concluded with a total of 13 audits slated for poor audit quality and misconduct.

Even with discounts for cooperation over investigations, FRC issued fines valued at £31.8m to five audit firms – the Big Four PwC, Deloitte, EY and KPMG, and Grant Thornton.

The overwhelming majority of the sanctions were for audit firms rather than individual staff and partners, with the largest fine of £13m given to KPMG over pension work related to Silentnight audits. Grant Thornton was fined a total of £7m for audit failures related to Patisserie Valerie, Interserve and Sportsdirect. PwC faced £8m in sanctions for audit misconduct linked to the Kier and Galliford Try audits.