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The FRC has announced the opening of an investigation into the EY statutory audits of Post Office Limited for the financial years 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.
The investigation will be focused specifically on the role of statutory auditors in meeting the auditing standards that pertained at the time, and not the broader issues related to the Horizon IT system itself.
The decision to start the investigation was taken during a board meeting on 13 March, following the conclusion of the public hearings related to the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry.
The regulator has said that while the Post Office is not classified as a Public Interest Entity (PIE) and its oversight is typically delegated to the ICAEW, it has reclaimed the matter on this occasion given the “heightened public interest considerations”.
In the official press notice, the FRC said: “While the [Horizon IT] Inquiry was extensive, it purposefully did not encompass the role or knowledge of external auditors in its scope. The FRC has been actively monitoring the Inquiry’s developments and awaits the formal Inquiry findings in due course.”
