Overview

• Just Audit And Assurance, a four-person firm in Witney, Oxfordshire, was appointed in June to audit P&O Ferries’ 2023 accounts, which are eight months overdue, after KPMG resigned in March.
• KPMG cited its inability to complete the 2023 audit to the required standard within management’s desired timetable when it stepped down as auditor.
• The new auditor plans to charge around £265,000, compared with the £1.3 million fee KPMG billed for auditing P&O’s 2022 accounts.
• Industry experts, including Labour peer Lord Prem Sikka, have warned of potential opinion shopping and questioned the independence of a tiny audit team reviewing a major ferry operator.
• Just Audit And Assurance expects to publish P&O Ferries’ 2023 accounts by the end of June 2025.