// Boohoo appoints new auditor after PwC resignation
// PKF will become Boohoo’s new group auditor as co-founder Mahmud Kamani pledges to fix retailer’s supply chain failings
Boohoo on Monday announced that it has appointed PKF Littlejohn LLP as the group’s new auditor, with immediate effect.
PFK will replace PricewaterhouseCoopers, who resigned from its role as auditor at Boohoo in October.
PwC had worked as the online fast fashion specialist’s auditor since Boohoo went public in 2014.
READ MORE:
- Boohoo chair Mahmud Kamani vows to fix Leicester supply chain failings
- Boohoo appoints Sir Brian Leveson to oversee plans for supply chain overhaul
- PwC resigns as Boohoo auditor
Sources speaking to The Financial Times said PwC had cited concerns about the risk of continuing to work with Boohoo.
On Monday, Boohoo said the appointment of PKF follows “a competitive tender process” lead by the group’s audit committee.
Speaking in light of the appointment, equity analysts at Jefferies said that while PKF is not one of the Big 4 auditors, it is still one of the top ten in the UK.
“We recognise that there may be some disappointment from investors that Boohoo’s new auditor is not one of the ‘Big 4’.
“However, PwC has just left the role, and a number of other larger players are engaged to provide non-audit services. Meanwhile, PKF Littlejohn is the seventh-largest UK accountancy practice by number of stock market clients and eighth-largest by total market cap of stock market clients,” Jefferies noted.
Last week Boohoo co-founder and executive chairman Mahmud Kamani pledged to MPs that he would fix the online retail giant’s supply chain failings.
Giving evidence to the Environmental Audit Committee, Kamani said he was “shocked and appalled” by the modern slavery allegations linked with his company’s Leicester supply chain.
In September, Boohoo accepted all the recommendations of an independent review which found major failings in its supply chain in England in response to the allegations of poor working conditions and low pay, and outlined steps to tackle the issues.
Boohoo has since appointed retired judge Sir Brian Leveson to provide independent oversight of improvements planned for its supply chain and business practices.
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