Tory chairman Ben Elliot’s members-only concierge firm Quintessentially exits ties with BDO
Quintessentially has cut its links with auditor BDO following a breakdown in the relationship between the UK’s fifth biggest auditor and the luxury lifestyle firm.
BDO’s decision to exit its relationship with the members-only concierge company run by Tory party chairman Ben Elliot comes as Quintessentially is still yet to publish its 2020, results which were due in April last year.
The Belgian auditor is set to depart from its work with Quintessentially following a series of accounting and governance scandals involving the firm, that saw Big Four auditor PwC abandon the London lifestyle company last year.
The firm’s travel service has already cut ties with BDO, while the wider company is set to exit its relationship with the auditor imminently, sources told the Financial Times.
Founded in 1999 by old Etonian Ben Elliot and co-founders Aaron Simpson and Paul Drummond, Quintessentially offers its members an array of services, including access to exclusive events such as ones held at Downing Street and Buckingham Palace.
Elliot, the nephew of Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, continues to sit at the centre of the members-only concierge service that allows its high-net worth clients access to its network of connections at the top of British society.
BDO’s exit comes after the auditor took over Quintessentially’s accounts in 2020 after PwC pulled out of working for the company.
Quintessentially later admitted making £7m errors on its accounts and paying out £1.4m in unlawful dividends in 2021, after the firm reported a £4.4m loss in 2019 on revenues of £50m.
A Quintessentially spokesperson said “the change of the travel group auditors was entirely driven by the Quintessentially Group not BDO” as he claimed the firm “wanted to appoint travel specialists”.
The post Tory chairman Ben Elliot’s members-only concierge firm Quintessentially exits ties with BDO appeared first on CityAM.
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