Mazars resigns as British Steel auditor over fee dispute
The steelmaker had reportedly refused to pay a proposed minimum fee for the audit of its last financial statements
Mazars has reportedly resigned as the auditor of British Steel over a disagreement regarding its fee to audit the company’s latest financial statements.
According to the Financial Times, Mazars resigned in July after the steelmaker refused to agree to a proposed “minimum fee” for the audit.
In a filing from Companies House, Mazars said the minimum fee had been necessary to check the accounts “to an acceptable level of audit quality” given the “complexity, risk and control environment” of the business.
It added that to date, British Steel had not agreed to pay “requested overruns for delays and audit issues arising during the prior year audit”. The firm consequently resigned.
The resignation comes as British Steel remains in talks with ministers over a support package of up to £500m, after Chinese firm Jingye bought the company out of insolvency in 2020.
British Steel employs about 4,000 people, most of them at the energy-intensive blast furnace works at Scunthorpe.
A British Steel spokesperson told Accountancy Today: “Following a tendering exercise, we have appointed another firm to act as our auditors.”
Mazars declined to comment.
