P&O Ferries to be probed over possible audit failings

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has opened a probe into the conduct of an accountant at P&O Ferries over the accuracy of information they provided to auditors. 

The FRC said it has opened the investigation to assess the financial information provided to the auditor of P&O Ferries Holdings Limited and its subsidiaries between December 2020 and December 2021. 

However, the watchdog said the probe into the ferry operator only relates to one person and “it would not be fair to treat any part of this announcement as constituting or evidencing an investigation” into any other people or entities. 

“The opening of an investigation does not indicate that the FRC has made, or will make, any findings of misconduct by the relevant individual,” the regulator explained. The decision, the FRC said, was made in February 2026 and will be conducted by the FRC’s executive counsel. 

This follows the Big Four accountancy firm KPMG, which unexpectedly resigned as P&O Ferries’ auditor in March 2025 after nearly two decades, following years of late financial filings.

The Big Four giant had been auditing the ferry operator since 2007, and resigned with immediate effect, according to Companies House filings.

KPMG said that this was because it was “not possible to complete an audit of the 2023 accounts to the required standard within management’s desired timetable,” according to The Telegraph.

KPMG, in a letter announcing its decision to step down as the firm’s auditor, said it would not be able to meet the auditing deadline because “some of the drivers of that delay remain.”

In June, P&O Ferries hired a four-person accountancy firm, Just Audit & Assurance, after KPMG’s exit.

It was reported that the firm was hired to audit P&O Ferries’ overdue accounts, but experts said the ferry operator’s decision to hire a significantly smaller auditor “raised potential concerns over the financial health and governance standards of P&O Ferries”.