Even at the distance of half a decade, the chaotic collapse of Carillion shocks. One of the country’s biggest construction and contracting firms, embedded in schools and hospitals, failed with liabilities of £7bn and just £29m in cash. The company’s pension schemes were underfunded. Almost 3,000 employees lost their jobs and the implosion ricocheted through supply chains. The government had to spend £150m to maintain basic services, such as the cleaning of hospitals.
The detail that astonished everybody was that it took only six months from Carillion’s first profit warning in July 2017 for the entire pack of cards to fall over. That should not be possible at a large quoted company. It was therefore no surprise to hear – finally – formal confirmation that KPMG disgraced itself in its role as Carillion’s long-serving auditor.
