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Problems: Mike Ashley
Two fashion retailers within Mike Ashley’s fashion empire have been hit by audit issues.
Auditors at Cooper Parry were unable to verify almost £7m of wage and salary payments at I Saw It First, which was bought by Frasers Group for £1m in July 2022.
And Hart Shaw, auditor at Choice, which Frasers Group bought from JD Sports in late 2022, said crucial information needed to complete its work was missing.
The auditing problems have raised fresh concerns about corporate governance standards at businessman Ashley’s fashion empire.
The Financial Reporting Council previously investigated the accounts of Sports Direct International (later renamed Frasers) for the 12 months to April 2016. It fined Sports Direct’s former auditor, Grant Thornton, £1.3m for “serious failings” in its audit of the retailer’s accounts.
I Saw It First said it lost some payroll data when it switched its accounting systems to those used by Frasers Group.
A Frasers spokesperson said: “A limited set of I Saw It First payroll data is no longer accessible because it was not migrated to Frasers Group systems during the post-acquisition integration process, and the I Saw It First system in which it was stored no longer exists.”
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