German payments company Wirecard has hired KPMG to conduct an independent audit to address allegations by the Financial Times that its finance team had sought to inflate reported sales and profits, it said on Monday. It has rejected the newspaper’s latest allegations, based on internal spreadsheets and correspondence, that Wirecard’s senior finance team had sought to inflate reported sales and profits at its businesses in Dubai and Ireland. The FT’s reporting has however led to calls on Wirecard from investors and corporate governance advocates to hire an outside auditor both to clear up the matter and to demonstrate that it meets the governance standards of a top-tier public company.
