Documents indicated that KPMG, which resigned as auditor of FIFA last week, concluded that the new leadership of world football’s governing body "was not serious about reform in the wake of a devastating corruption investigation," according to Ahmed, Agnew & Atkins of the FINANCIAL TIMES. The "big four" accountancy group made the move last week "after more than a decade in the role, saying continuing fiduciary duties meant it could not discuss the reasons behind the decision." Correspondence sent in May between FIFA President Gianni Infantino and senior execs from KPMG Switzerland shows the firm "expressed concern that his management team would not do enough" to "fully implement" the big reforms FIFA had agreed to in response to a bribery scandal. A person "familiar with KPMG’s thinking" said that after subsequent meetings with FIFA, the firm decided it "did not have trust that the new management would do what they said they were going to do to improve governance." The person added that without "trust and transparency" KPMG’s role as auditor "was therefore not tenable." FIFA declined to comment but a person close to the body’s leadership "accused KPMG of seeking reasons to ditch an account that had caused reputational damage," saying, "Where were they for the past 12 years when money was being misused and Gianni wasn’t part of Fifa?" KPMG Switzerland did not respond for requests to comment (FT, 6/20). In N.Y., Letzing & Robinson reported KPMG had sent Infantino a letter in early May, expressing "concerns regarding the potentially significant increase of development funds" that Infantino planned to distribute to FIFA’s member associations. The higher payments, KPMG said, "bear an increased risk of funds being misused" by their recipients. In a separate letter to KPMG from FIFA, Infantino disputed KPMG’s "interpretation of the increased development funds." Infantino wrote he did not understand "why the amount of the funds to be distributed should per se constitute a particular issue." The firm's letter to Infantino "followed unspecified friction between FIFA and KPMG" before the auditor agreed to sign off on FIFA's recently published annual financial and governance report, people familiar with the matter said (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 6/19).
