KPMG

===HBOS audit role===
The HBOS accounts were published in February 2008 and six months later HBOS had to be rescued by Lloyds Bank. One reason for undertaking an investigation into the audit, was that the audit did not reveal the HBOS Reading branch fraud.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/business/mps-press-for-a-probe-into-kpmg-over-hbos-reading-a3869601.html |title=MPs press for a probe into KPMG over HBOS Reading|date= 22 June 2018|newspaper=Evening Standard|access-date=27 May 2022}}</ref> HBOS, and subsequently Lloyds Bank, accountant Sally Masterton wrote the Project Lord Turnbull Report which described how the Bank and other organizations reacted to the Reading Branch fraud.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.appgbanking.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Lord-Turnbull-DRAFT09012014-docx.pdf|title=Project Lord Turnbull: Operation Hornet|publisher=All Party Parliamentary Group on Fair Business Banking  |date=1 September 2013|access-date=28 May 2022}}</ref> This report was highly critical of KPMG and stated, "KPMG have not only just been negligent but their direct involvement in a number of material malpractices and violations regarding HBoS is fundamental and exposes them to claims in relation to misconduct, serious dereliction of duty and breach of regulatory and statutory duties." However, the audit was investigated by the FRC which concluded, "there was not a realistic prospect that a tribunal would make an adverse finding against KPMG in respect of the matters within the scope of the investigation", and "The firm's work did not fall significantly short of the standards reasonably to be expected of the audit, the test that a tribunal would apply".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/sep/19/kpmg-cleared-in-hbos-audit-investigation |title=KPMG cleared by watchdog in HBOS audit investigation |newspaper= The Guardian|date=22 September 2017|access-date=22 May 2022}}</ref>