PricewaterhouseCoopers, Britain's biggest audit firm, will face formal complaints from the country's Accountancy Investigation & Discipline Board in connection with the failure of bus manufacturer TransBus.
The board said that it will file disciplinary complaints against both PwC and the former finance director of parent company Mayflower, David Donnelly.
The regulator's complaint against PwC relates to the firm's audit of the 2002 TransBus accounts, as well as PwC's audit of Mayflower's 2002 accounts. The board alleges that significant TransBus funds were held illegally on behalf of a bank under an invoice discounting facility.
TransBus fell into bankruptcy in April 2004 after the collapse of its parent company, Mayflower. Of its more than $360 million in debts, more than $35 million could not be documented and four founding directors face charges of stealing from a $16 million pension fund.PwC is also expected to face a tribunal this fall looking into its auditing of BCCI, a bank closed by the Bank of England more than 15 years ago after an investigation into its probable terrorist ties.
