LONDON—Accountancy firm Grant Thornton has been fined for its audit of Patisserie Valerie, the British cafe chain that collapsed in 2018, throwing 900 people out of a job and triggering a separate fraud investigation into accounting irregularities. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) said it was fining Grant Thornton 4 million pounds ($5.47 million) but would cut it to 2.34 million pounds due to mitigating factors, as well as imposing non-financial measures to improve its procedures. The FRC said Grant Thornton’s audits during 2015, 2016 and 2017 missed “red flags” and failed to stand back and challenge the management of the cafe chain, whose collapse FRC said led to the closure of 70 stores and more than 900 job losses. David Newstead, Grant Thornton’s audit partner for Patisserie Valerie, was to be fined 150,000 pounds, falling to 87,750 pounds, due to mitigating factors. The fines are low compared with record or …
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