FRC dings MacIntyre Hudson $156K over public interest entity violations

The U.K.’s Financial Reporting Council (FRC) fined audit firm MacIntyre Hudson (MHA) and two employees for breaching the agency’s requirements.

MHA will pay 120,250 pounds (U.S. $156,000), former partner Deborah Weston 19,500 pounds (U.S. $25,300), and former employee Geeta Morgan 18,750 pounds ($24,300), for violating the FRC’s Audit Enforcement Procedure for work conducted in 2018 and 2019, the agency announced Tuesday in a press release.

According to the FRC, MHA did not gain an “adequate understanding” of audit subject MRG Finance, a Monaco-based holding company that had issued bonds on the London Stock Exchange debt market instead of public shares. By failing to audit MRG as a public interest entity (PIE), MHA and its auditors also failed to gain the regulatory framework applicable of MRG’s structure, leading to breaches of audit requirements, the agency alleged in its final settlement.