Britain's accounting watchdog said on Thursday it had opened a probe into KPMG's financial audit of British oilfield services and engineering firm Wood Group for the fiscal year ended December 2023.
The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) also said it would probe two individual accountants, whom it did not name, for financial statements and communication in relation to the firm's Projects Business Unit from 2022 to 2024.
The FRC said the decision to open the investigations was made at a meeting of its Conduct Committee last month and said the investigations would be conducted by its executive counsel, but gave no detail of reasons for the probe.
A KPMG UK spokesperson said in a statement emailed to Reuters: "We will fully cooperate with the FRC to conclude this matter as quickly as possible".
Wood Group declined to comment.
The investigation comes months after the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which regulates financial services firms in the UK, imposed a $17.39 million fine on Wood Group for publishing inaccurate information in its financial results for 2022, 2023 and the first half of 2024.
Wood Group was bought out by Dubai-based Sidara in March for $292 million, more than a year after inaccuracies in its financial statements became public, triggering a massive plunge in its share price and the subsequent suspension of trading in its stock.
