Grant Thornton has been fined £4m and severely reprimanded by the audit watchdog for failing to spot allegedly fraudulent accounting irregularities at Patisserie Valerie that sent the company into administration in January 2019.

The Financial Reporting Council said it was sanctioning the mid-tier accounting firm and its audit partner David Newstead in relation to their audits of Patisserie Valerie’s parent company Patisserie Holdings in 2015, 2016 and 2017.