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Aschheim Payment service provider Wirecard sees no reason to correct its balances after a special audit by KPMG. The auditors found no “incriminating evidence” for the balance-sheet tampering allegations and there were no “substantive findings” that led to the need to correct the 2016-2018 annual financial statements, Wirecard said Tuesday.
However, KPMG auditors at Wirecard found documentary and organizational weaknesses during the investigation period. These have already been identified by the group. Weaknesses are countered by creating a compliance department, which is supported by outside consultants.
The final report of the special audit, which has been going on for months, was expected on Monday. But Wirecard had missed the KPMG deadline to present the auditor’s report a third time. Investors and observers criticized the payment service provider’s action accordingly. “The fact that Wirecard has passed the publication deadline a third time and now doesn’t even comment on it is unacceptable and unprofessional for a listed company in general and for a Dax company in particular,” said Volker Brühl, Managing Director of the Center for Financial Studies at the University of Frankfurt Goethe, Handelsblatt. “The idea is obvious that one argues about the central statements of the report,” said Brühl.
KPMG only released the document to Wirecard on Tuesday morning, it was said to justify Wirecard. The company in Aschheim, near Munich, made the report available for download shortly thereafter on its website. Wirecard’s share fell significantly early Tuesday morning. At 9:15 a.m., it was almost 17 percent lower than the previous day’s close.
The audit firm KPMG had examined Wirecard’s books since October. This was preceded by an excruciating debate about the Group’s business practices, the reason for the special audit being serious allegations. Since January 2019, the British financial newspaper Financial Times (FT) has published a series of articles on opaque contracts and dubious partners of the group. Above all, inconsistencies in the important Asian business raised suspicions: Has Wirecard manipulated its balance sheet?
The special test was carried out with great effort. Meanwhile, around 40 auditors reviewed the balance sheets. These had already been approved by the former EY group auditor, whose attention, however, was in doubt.
The balance sheet press conference scheduled for Thursday (April 30) with the release of the annual financial statements will be postponed, he said. Wirecard did not call a new appointment.
Plus: Business has collapsed in many industries with the pandemic. Some payment service providers, on the other hand, benefit from stronger online commerce.
