RE: Kerry Gold Agreement1 May 2024 18:15
What may not be obvious is that not all auditors can audit an quoted Plc. If you look at the register of auditors that are authorised to audit Public Interest Entities (PIE) there are not that many. 37 to be exact and the 3 one-person bands probably don't count as they seem to work for the National Audit Office. Long story short, there are not that many auditors for quoted Plcs...
https://www.frc.org.uk/library/supervision/audit-firm-supervision/pie-auditors/
Some of the smaller ones only have one or two "responsible individuals" whereas PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, for instance, have 140. If you choose to use one of the top 5 expect to pay maybe three or four times as much for an audit.
I understand the frustration with the suspension but these are extremely tight deadlines. A Dec 31st year end, which many companies share, creates additional hurdles with key staff not necessarily back in the office immediately after year end! ;-)
Those pointing out examples of AIM junior resource companies that seem to cope ok (e.g. POW), bear in mind they have 6 months to report rather than just 4.