The report of the investigation from the independent disciplinary tribunal published the ‘serious findings’ of misconduct from KPMG and its former head of KPMG Manchester restructuring, Costley-Wood, which determined the level of the fine that the FRC would give.

The FRC previously announced the misconduct findings and the record-breaking £13m sanction on 5 August 2021.

The report stated that for the first time, the FRC Tribunal held that KPMG and Costley-Wood had advanced a ‘fundamentally untruthful narrative in their defence’.

The statement said that the respondents were entitled to defend themselves but said advancing a defence which a respondent knew to be untruthful risked undermining the regulatory system and compounded the original failings.