KPMG quits as FIFA auditor

KPMG SWITZERLAND has resigned as auditor of FIFA after more than a decade vetting the accounts of the football’s scandal-hit governing body.

The announcement comes amid one of the most serious corruption investigations facing FIFA and weeks after the resignation of its finance director Markus Kattner following an internal probe that found he had received millions in bonus payments.

In a statement, FIFA said it “welcomed this change as it gives the organisation the opportunity to work with a new audit firm”.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has initiated a comprehensive financial audit of FIFA’s finance function including its processes and procedures. It plans to appoint a new auditor, a new chief financial officer and a new chief compliance officer.

“In light of the serious allegations involving financial transactions outlined by the Swiss and US authorities, it is essential that the financial function at FIFA be externally reviewed and thoroughly reformed,” FIFA said.

KPMG has already launched an internal probe into its Swiss arm’s audits of FIFA, while FA chairman Greg Dyke last year questioned KPMG’s role in FIFA’s corruption scandal.

Last month, FIFA’s audit chairman Domenico Scala quit the governing body after it passed a resolution which he claimed undermined the independence of its watchdog committees.