KPMG has settled a \u00a31.3bn lawsuit that alleged the audit of Carillion, which it carried out before the contractor collapsed, was negligent.<\/p>\n
The accounting giant previously described the allegations as \u201cwithout merit\u201d \u2013 but has now paid an unknown sum to settle the case, which was launched by Carillion\u2019s liquidator<\/a>, the official receiver, in February last year.<\/p>\n The official receiver alleged that KPMG missed serious red flags during the audit work it carried out in 2018, such as not responding to allegations that the financial performance of 20 major projects was misstated in Carillion\u2019s accounts.<\/p>\n The legal action sought to recoup money for Carillion\u2019s creditors, arguing that compensation should be paid for advisory fees taken by KPMG, \u00a3230m of dividends that were allowed to be taken out of the company before its collapse, and other trading losses suffered by Carillion.<\/p>\n In a statement, KPMG\u2019s UK chief executive Jonathan Holt said: \u201cI am pleased that we have been able to resolve this claim. Carillion was an extreme and serious corporate failure, and it is important that we all learn the lessons from its collapse.\u201d<\/p>\n KPMG is still under investigation by the Financial Reporting Council for its work auditing Carillion\u2019s accounts between 2014 and 2018.<\/p>\n