The Scotsman: Now Shell auditors are in the firing line
 

Posted 27 April 04

US LAWYERS have turned their attention to troubled oil group Shell’s auditors. Class action law suits have already been filed on behalf of US investors against the Anglo-Dutch group but now the spotlight has fallen on KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

A lawyer acting for investors who have taken big losses as a result of the writedown of Shell’s reserves said that he expected the action against the firms to run into billions. KPMG and PWC signed off on audits that included the overstated reserve figures, but both have said that calculating reserves did not fall under their audit remit.

Shell’s non-executive directors, including former Dutch prime minister Wim Kok and ITV chairman Sir Peter Burt, are also coming under increasing scrutiny - even though no non-executive had prior knowledge of the understated reserves.

http://business.scotsman.com/management.cfm?id=466202004