Following the news that P&O Ferries had a new auditor, Rachel Davis, owner of Just Audit Limited, went online to stress her firm was well, ānot themā!
The new auditors are in fact Just Audit & Assurance Limited (JAA).
Davis explained she had issued a press statement and gone online to āmitigate any damage to our established name and reputationā.
There was, she said, quite a few news outlets that didnāt get the name right.
One that did was The Guardian. And, it reported that Just Audit & Assurance is based in Witney and has four employees. Yes, you read that right fourā¦
Not surprising that P&O Ferries hiring what has been described as a tiny accounting firm after KPMG quit the audit job has raised more than a few eyebrows. Lord Sikka told the Guardian: āThere are some serious questions about auditor independence. A small firm of four staff is auditing a giant conglomerate. The fees from this are likely to form a large part of the firmās income and the concern will be that the fear of losing a major client might influence the auditor approach.ā
JAA has a very basic website, which explains the major shareholder is Jonathan Russell, a chartered accountant with almost 40 yearsā experience. He is one of two people who are Responsible Individuals ā authorised to sign off reports. The other RI is Martin Wright. On the website it says āMartin brings a fusion of technological savvy and professional understanding to the engagement.ā He going to need that for the P&O Ferries audit!
It has been suggested that JAA has quoted Ā£265,000 to undertake the audit, which is quite a bit off the Ā£1.3m fee charged by KPMG.
This story will run and run!
