Page 18 - Patisserie Valerie Teaching Note

Shares in the company, which is 37%-owned by

entrepreneur Luke Johnson, were suspended, 10

October 2018.

Also, the firm announced that its board had become

aware of an HMRC winding-up petition against its

principal subsidiary Stonebeach, with the tax body

seeking a payment of £1.14m.

All of the above would suggest that, for what ever
reason, the finance director did not have his eye on the

ball.

Q4 Why didn't the auditors, Grant Thornton, raise the

alarm?

A4 They signed off on accounts dated September 2017,
declaring the financial statements were in agreement

with the accounting records. This will be a specific

concern for Grant Thornton and another question mark
raised over the quality of the whole accountancy

profession after high-profile busts from out-of-the-blue

like Carillion.

However, the short answer must be that they did not

know that fraud was being perpetrated and

consequently must be questioned over what they saw
their duty as.