The Guardian reported that audit firm Mazars has stepped away from the role of auditor after British Steel refused to pay for signing off on its books. In a filing at Companies House, Mazars noted its resignation as auditor for British Steel, due to a dispute over what the client was willing to pay for its services. The resignation occurred in July, but only emerged in November, days after British Steel owner Jingye was reported to have asked the UK Government for financial support. Mazars told Companies House “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.” While Mazars also noted it was not aware of any matters that it should bring to the attention of the company’s creditors, its exit will have raised further questions on the future of British Steel. British Steel Limited is a long steel products business. It was founded in 2016 with assets acquired from Tata Steel Europe by Greybull Capital, before being purchased by the China headquartered Jingye Group in 2020. At that point, the company’s auditor was already Mazars. It was reportedly paid £323,000 for its work on the company’s 2020 audit. However, it has since sought compensation for the difficulties of that audit something reports in the British press suggest the steelmaker balked at. At the same time, Mazars quoted fees to sign off on the company’s books for the latest financial year and British Steel seems to have been unwilling to meet those expectations either.
The Guardian reported that audit firm Mazars has stepped away from the role of auditor after British Steel refused to pay for signing off on its books. In a filing at Companies House, Mazars noted its resignation as auditor for British Steel, due to a dispute over what the client was willing to pay for its services. The resignation occurred in July, but only emerged in November, days after British Steel owner Jingye was reported to have asked the UK Government for financial support. Mazars told Companies House “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.” While Mazars also noted it was not aware of any matters that it should bring to the attention of the company’s creditors, its exit will have raised further questions on the future of British Steel. British Steel Limited is a long steel products business. It was founded in 2016 with assets acquired from Tata Steel Europe by Greybull Capital, before being purchased by the China headquartered Jingye Group in 2020. At that point, the company’s auditor was already Mazars. It was reportedly paid £323,000 for its work on the company’s 2020 audit. However, it has since sought compensation for the difficulties of that audit something reports in the British press suggest the steelmaker balked at. At the same time, Mazars quoted fees to sign off on the company’s books for the latest financial year and British Steel seems to have been unwilling to meet those expectations either.
