Revolut not happy with how fintech deals with audit red flags: Report

Revolut reportedly issued a public statement and hired lawyers in March in order to prove “misreporting” of the audit opinion by BDO.

Crypto-friendly fintech Revolut is reportedly having some issues related to its recently released annual report for the year ending December 2021.

Revolut, a British-Lithuanian neobank that allows customers to buy and sell crypto, reported its first-ever full year of profit on March 1, 2023. The firm said it generated a revenue of 636 million British pounds ($769 million) in 2021, which was a significant surge from 220 million pounds ($266 million) in 2020.

The financial report was reviewed by independent auditors from the global accounting network BDO, which confirmed that Revolut’s financial statements provided a “fair view of the state of the group’s and of the parent company’s affairs” as of Dec. 31. The auditors stressed that the report was correct “except for the possible effects of the matters described in the basis for the qualified opinion section” of the report.

In the opinion section, BDO argued that the accounting firm was unable to get enough information related to “completeness and occurrence of certain revenues” for 2021, stating:

“We have concluded that where the other information refers to revenue or related balances these may be materially misstated for the same reason.”

Revolut has reportedly responded to BDO’s remarks, insisting on the validity of its annual report. The Financial Times reported on March 30 that Revolut issued a public statement and hired lawyers in March in order to prove “misreporting” of the audit opinion by BDO. The company argued that the $769 million revenues have been “independently verified” and were “not in question.”

The public statement has apparently been since taken down by Revolut as some board members reportedly felt it was an “overreaction” and showed a lack of understanding of what BDO’s opinion meant, according to sources cited by the FT.

The statement “was written by people who probably didn’t fully understand the nuancing of an audit opinion”, said one source. It also contained “inaccuracies”, another source claimed. The sources also alleged that it was possible that Revolut’s true revenues could either be higher or lower than stated in the report because some transactions could be missing.

Revolut declined to comment on the matter to Cointelegraph. The firm also didn’t respond to Cointelegraph’s query to share the statement about BDO’s opinion section as it appears to have been taken down.

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