The initiation of these investigations takes the number of probes into the firm to seven. The FRC was already scrutinising PwC’s audits of Eddie Stobart, BT, London Capital & Finance, Wyelands Bank and Babcock.

The latest investigations were not originally published by the FRC but were first reported by the Financial Times.

Galliford Try had to restate its accounts in 2020 after it was rebuked by the FRC, which decided that it should not have recognised an £80 million legal claim related to the ill-fated Aberdeen bypass project as an asset.

PwC audited the firm for 20 years until it was replaced by BDO in 2019, The Times reports.

On the other hand, PwC continues to audit Kier’s accounts, as it has done since 2014. In March 2019, months after a £250m rights issue, Kier told investors that there had been an accounting error. Net debt was stated to be £180.5m, £50m more than it had previously thought.

PwC, the FRC, Kier and Galliford Try declined to comment on the launch of the investigation.