FOR THOSE THAT DON'T KNOW19 Feb 2025 19:30
(from memory) when a director is appointed to the board of a plc they have to disclose their directorships for the previous ten years and if their is a professional qualification involved they need to provide evidence - for an accountant it might be a certificate which has the appropriate seal attached / embedded in the certificate. BUT thereafter the NOMAD / broker checks the details to make sure they are correct. So the blame is shared here. HOWEVER, just because he is not a Chartered Accountant does not mean he is an incompetent accountant or the results would be materially inaccurate ....
The company's annual reports and accounts are audited and I can't imagine the detail that a top audit firm would get in to here ..... reputational risk would be huge.
Lets see how the market reacts to this and the news from Barclays - but the major institutions will have sat across the table from the CEO and CFO during presentation of the interims and final accounts etc. and had plenty of opportunities to grill the pair on their numbers and on top of this the inhouse analysts would also have a close relationship with the CFO as they need to write their reports and guidance notes.
Many were asking for heads to role - the CFO had to go once this anomaly had been discovered - but I wonder how long it has been since this error was discovered........so maybe one or two will be happy.
Should be an interesting day tomorrow.....
GLA