KPMG’s Banking Audits Aren’t Good Enough, U.K. Watchdog Says (2)

KPMG LLP faced renewed criticism for the quality of its banking audits after the U.K.’s industry regulator said it was “unacceptable” that for the third year running the accounting firm’s work wasn’t up to scratch.

Across the U.K.’s seven biggest auditing firms -- including Ernst & Young and Deloitte -- almost 30% of all bookkeeping was below par in the year to the end of March, according to the Financial Reporting Council’s annual report. That’s well above the 10% benchmark the watchdog previously set.

Accountancy firms have faced intense scrutiny by regulators and prosecutors for any role they may ...