Big Four firm KPMG has made a new audit deal with Rentokil Initial, in a move that provides the company with a cheaper form of audit. An interim statement on Friday announced that Rentokil has knocked £1m off its annual payments to external and internal auditors, by agreeing that KPMG, its newly appointed external auditors, will take on some internal audit work alongside Rentokil's own internal audit team, the Financial Times reports. PricewaterhouseCoopers was previously external auditor, while Deloitte carried out internal audit work. PwC is now continuing to provide non-audit services. The move comes as a surprise to the corporate governance world, following the creation of Sarbanes Oxley post-Enron, where any conflict of interest with audit work is ring-fenced to avoid auditors and clients becoming too involved. But KPMG said there is no conflict in the deal. 'Conceptually, doing internal audit isn't a conflict in itself, only if you get involved in the wider aspects such as management - which we are not,' Oliver Tant, head of audit for KPMG told the paper. 'Companies are aware today of the importance of good assurance yet at the same time they've got to look at costs. There are ways you can do it more efficiently and effectively.'