Britain’s big accountancy firms have been put on red alert after telecoms giant Vodafone PLC (LON:VOD) announced it was on the look out for a new auditor.
PricewaterhouseCoopers has overseen Vodafone’s books since 2014 and was paid £21mln last year for providing its services.
PwC will audit the books again for the current year ending in March, but Vodafone said today it is looking for a new auditor for next year.
The decision comes amid a legal spat with Phones4U, the high street retailer which collapsed four years ago after Vodafone and some of its rivals cancelled their distribution contracts.
PwC is acting as Phones4U’s administrator and earlier this week confirmed it would be taking Vodafone and a handful of others to court as part of that role.
Those claims could run into hundreds of millions of pounds, according to some reports.
“While PwC are assessed as independent and will continue as the group's statutory auditors for the year ending 31 March 2019, it is uncertain how this matter may evolve and whether future developments may give rise to risks to audit independence,” read a statement on Friday.
“Accordingly, the Vodafone Group Audit and Risk Committee has decided to launch a tender process for the audit of the year ending 31 March 2020.”
Vodafone, which is worth £42bn, hopes to have appointed a replacement by the end of February.
Shares were down 2.2% to 156.5p in early deals on Friday.