The engineering giant Wood Group is being investigated by the United Kingdom's financial control agency after an independent review that discovered “cultural failures” with its accounting practices.
The investigation of the Financial Behavior Authority (FCA) will analyze the period between January 2023 and November 2024.
The problematic Scottish group, which provides oil and engineering field services, warned in April that he had to reaffirm his accounts of previous years.
He also delayed the publication of results for the 2024 financial year, which he had to win at the end of April, which means that his actions have been suspended from the negotiation in the London Stock Exchange since then.
This followed an independent review by Deloitte finding “weaknesses and material failures in the financial culture of the group” within its project business unit and the commitment to its group finance team.
This included “inappropriate management pressure” to maintain previously reported positions and “overtime and/ or lack of evidence with respect to accounting judgments.”
“Cultural failures seem to have led to cases of information that are retained inappropriately and unreliable information is provided to Wood auditors,” the results found.
The company emphasized that since then there has been a significant change within the group and the steps taken to address the discovered failures.
Meanwhile, Wood Group, based in Aberdeen, has been the subject of an acquisition approach to the Sidara buyer based in Dubai.
The last offer, received in April, valued the company in around £ 242 million.
A year ago, Sidara made an acquisition approach of £ 1.56 billion before the collapse conversations, and the price of Wood Group shares has collapsed since then.
