The financial penalties imposed on accounting firms and auditors who conducted poor audit work or breached standards for the sector has dropped by 65% from last year’s £32m record high.

In its second annual review of its fines and penalties, published 31 July, the Financial Reporting Council said that sanctions for 2019-20 had reached a sum of £11.3m for nine investigations. This total is after the deduction of discounts for co-operation and earlier settlements by firms.