New Questions for Manchester City Auditors Over Financial Scandal

By the Editorial Team · Saturday, October 3, 2026

Manchester City was found to have breached financial regulations by nearly £900 million through artificially inflated income from sham sponsorship deals between 2009 and 2018, leading to a major sanctions dispute. The case has raised serious questions about the adequacy of BDO’s audit work and prompted calls for the Financial Reporting Council to investigate potential oversight failures in one of British sport’s largest financial scandals.

Manchester City’s auditors, BDO, are under renewed scrutiny following findings that the Premier League club breached financial regulations by nearly £900 million between the 2009-10 and 2017-18 seasons. The football club has lodged an appeal after being sanctioned for what regulators described as the most significant cheating scandal in British sports history.

An analysis of Manchester City’s accounts reveals that BDO, the fifth-largest accountancy firm in the United Kingdom, received comparatively modest fees for its audit work over the nine years in question. Payments to BDO peaked at £47,000 in 2016 and declined to £42,000 by 2018. This stands in stark contrast to the £500,000 reportedly paid by rival club Manchester United to its auditors in 2018.

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire observed that the audit fees appear low relative to the scale of Manchester City’s business. “A partner would be charging £250 to £300 an hour and you’ve got staff so you’re not getting many hours of work for a £500 million business,” he said. Maguire noted that the rapid increase in Manchester City’s “other operating income,” which grew to £232 million by 2018 and surpassed both broadcast and gate receipts, should have been flagged as a high-risk area during the audit process.

The Premier League's three-year investigation concluded that Manchester City’s owners in Abu Dhabi and their commercial partners engaged in a series of “sham” sponsorship deals to artificially inflate the club’s income and reduce reported costs, thereby violating financial fair play rules. These methodically structured deals were found to have misrepresented the club’s financial position over an extended period.

In response to these revelations, there is mounting pressure on the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), the industry regulator responsible for audit oversight, to clarify how it intends to address potential audit failings in this case. Liam Byrne, chairman of the Commons Business and Trade Select Committee, has formally requested an assessment from FRC chair Jayne-Anne Gadhia. Byrne emphasized the need to understand how the existing audit and regulatory frameworks failed to detect alleged misstatements over nearly a decade. He called for the FRC to identify breakdowns in scrutiny and determine necessary reforms.

Manchester City has rejected the Premier League’s ruling, stating that the decision contains “clear material errors” and is “unsafe.” The club maintains its innocence and asserts it possesses a comprehensive body of evidence to support its case.

Both BDO and the Institute for Chartered Accountants in England and Wales declined to comment on the ongoing inquiry and the allegations surrounding the audit. The Financial Reporting Council has yet to issue a detailed response regarding the investigation into audit conduct.

This article was reported by synthesizing coverage from multiple independent news outlets to present a balanced, unbiased account. Read about our editorial standards. Spotted an error? Let us know.