Accountants’’ Negligence and Liability

The second edition focusses on the difficult legal issues surrounding the liability of accountants in negligence claims. It covers statutory and non-statutory audits, tax advice, specified procedures reporting, due diligence reports and corporate finance reporting. It looks at the scope of losses for which the accountant may be liable with detailed reference to case law as well as money laundering and regulatory issues. Limitation and contributory fault are considered with special reference to accountants' cases.

The following important developments and case law is included:

- Lowick Rose LLP v Swynson Ltd & Anor 2017] UKSC 32 on transferred loss
- BPE Solicitors & Anor v Hughes-Holland 2017] UKSC 21 on scope of duty and the SAAMCO principle
- Steel v NRAM Limited 2018] UKSC which revisited the Caparo test for establishing a duty of care
- The SAAMCO principle (the scope of a professional's duty for claimed losses) was also considered by the Court of Appeal in Manchester Building Society v Grant Thornton UK LLP 2019] EWCA Civ 40
- AssetCo v Grant Thornton 2019] EWHC 150 (Comm), a controversial decision in which an auditor was held liable for trading losses caused by management fraud
- Deloitte & Touche v Livent

Simon Salzedo QC’s practice covers all areas of Commercial Law. He is recommended by the legal directories for Commercial Litigation, Banking and Finance, International Arbitration, Professional Negligence, and Insurance and Reinsurance work. He is an experienced advocate at all levels of the court system and in international arbitration.
Simon Salzedo is a qualified Chartered Accountant and the author of books on the Arbitration Act 1996 and Conflicts of Interest.

Tony Singla is widely recognised as one of the leading juniors at the Commercial Bar. In 2014 Tony was awarded ＂Commercial Litigation Junior of the Year＂ at the Chambers Bar Awards where it was said that ＂he has long been considered a leading commercial junior, as evidenced by his wealth of experience in the most high-profile cases＂. In 2018 Tony was nominated by Legal 500 as ＂Commercial Litigation Junior of the Year＂ and as ＂Competition Junior of the Year＂ by Chambers & Partners.