Barclays may leave accountant PwC after 117 years

British bank Barclays is considering re-tendering the audit contract with PwC. The accounting firm has been involved with auditing the bank for over 117 years. PwC has contractual relationship with Barclays since 1896, and it received £44 million from the bank for auditing and tax consulting last year. In 2011 this amount was £ 54 million.  Less than a year ago, the bank told the FRC supervisor that a change of auditors would be "highly disruptive and costly".

HSBC and KPMG

Last week it was announced that Europe's biggest bank HSBC wants to start a tendering process for auditing. The last time HSBC organized a tender for an external auditor was in 1991. KPMG thus threatens to lose one of his biggest audit clients in the UK. In the past year, the bank paid $81 million in fees to KPMG. A newly appointed accounting firm may have to be replaced KPMG from 2015 onwards.