PUNDITS are betting on a three-way tussle to win the RBS audit.
With RBS set to announce its Q3 2014 interim results on Friday, expectations are growing that the bank may use the event to declare the winner, tipped to be either KPMG or EY. Accountancy Age understands that PwC did not pitch for the account.
While Deloitte could technically still retain the account it has held for 14 years, it is deemed unlikely. It was responsible for overseeing accounts ahead of the bank’s government bailouts in 2008 and 2009, which left taxpayers with an 81% share of the group.
Deloitte was appointed RBS auditor in 2,000 by ex-chief executive Fred “The Shred” Goodwin, before his fall dramatic fall from grace and annulment of his knighthood in 2012.
The RBS board already announced in its latest annual report that it intends to put the contract for the 2016 and beyond audit out to tender later this year. It endorsed the group audit committee’s recommendation that shareholders approve the reappointment of Deloitte at its AGM in June 2014.
RBS have declined to comment.