Regulator fines private equity backed HW Fisher and partner £157,000 for multiple ‘serious and pervasive’ breaches throughout audit of Gupta owned Liberty Commodities, plus six figure legal costs
Private equity backed HW Fisher and audit partner fined £157,000 for ‘serious and pervasive’ breaches in audit of Gupta owned Liberty Commodities flagging fundamental lack of professional scepticism
In a major six-figure fine and severe reprimands, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has fined HW Fisher LLP and audit engagement partner Simon Mott-Cowan for multiple audit breaches, most of which involved a ‘fundamental lack of professional scepticism’.
The audit failures by HW Fisher and the lead partner related to the audit of the financial statements of Liberty Commodities Limited (LCL), a subsidiary of the wider Gupta Alliance, for the financial year ended 31 March 2020. This is one of many audit sanctions issued to a number of different firms for sub standard work on Gupta Alliance audits.
