The Guardian reported that British Steel’s auditor Mazars has resigned as the troubled Chinese-owned steelmaker had balked at the fees it quoted to sign off the company’s books for this year and was refusing to compensate it for difficulties with the previous year’s audit.Mazars did not say what fee it had proposed but it was paid GBP 323,000 for its work on the company’s audit in 2020, a year in which British Steel reported revenues of GBP 844 million but suffered heavy operating losses. Mazars said “That year’s audit, the first since British Steel was bought by the Chinese firm Jingye, proved trickier than expected. Based on our understanding of the complexity, risk and control environment of the company gained from our prior year audit, we proposed the minimum fee we believed necessary to audit the financial statements of the company to an acceptable level of audit quality. Despite extended discussions, the company was not prepared to agree to that minimum fee level. Furthermore, to date, the company has also not agreed to pay requested overruns for delays and audit issues arising during the prior year audit. Consequently, we have resigned as auditor to the company.” A British Steel spokesperson said “Following a tendering exercise, we have appointed another firm to act as our auditors.”
The Guardian reported that British Steel’s auditor Mazars has resigned as the troubled Chinese-owned steelmaker had balked at the fees it quoted to sign off the company’s books for this year and was refusing to compensate it for difficulties with the previous year’s audit.Mazars did not say what fee it had proposed but it was paid GBP 323,000 for its work on the company’s audit in 2020, a year in which British Steel reported revenues of GBP 844 million but suffered heavy operating losses. Mazars said “That year’s audit, the first since British Steel was bought by the Chinese firm Jingye, proved trickier than expected. Based on our understanding of the complexity, risk and control environment of the company gained from our prior year audit, we proposed the minimum fee we believed necessary to audit the financial statements of the company to an acceptable level of audit quality. Despite extended discussions, the company was not prepared to agree to that minimum fee level. Furthermore, to date, the company has also not agreed to pay requested overruns for delays and audit issues arising during the prior year audit. Consequently, we have resigned as auditor to the company.” A British Steel spokesperson said “Following a tendering exercise, we have appointed another firm to act as our auditors.”
