The auditors of Birmingham City’s parent company, BDO, have resigned with immediate effect as they have been unable to obtain consistent, reliable and complete information on which to base their audit of the accounts.
The auditors of Birmingham City’s parent company, BDO, have resigned with immediate effect as they have been unable to obtain consistent, reliable and complete information on which to base their audit of the accounts.
In June, BDO said it was ‘sceptical’ whether it had received ‘all relevant information’ from the club’s directors, something owner Carson Yeung disagreed with. He said at the time the club’s directors had ‘taken all the steps’ to give the auditors all the information required. Mr Yeung has been contesting money laundering charges in Hong Kong but there is no direct connection between these proceedings and Birmingham City.
The dispute between the club and BDO had been in regard to Birmingham City PLC’s results for the year to 30 June 2011, which were filed in June this year at Companies House.
This is a serious blow to the standing of Birmingham City as a properly run entity and will mean a further delay in the production of the accounts, even though the parent company are seeking to appoint new auditors without delay. Whether the football authorities will stand idly by, as they tend to, remains to be seen.