Free-to-use cash machines are vanishing more quickly in deprived areas than in affluent ones, new research shows.

Which? said its analysis shows nearly one in 10 free cashpoints across the country had closed or switched to fee-paying during a 17-month period after changes to how the network is funded were set out.

Reductions to the fees card issuers pay to ATM operators have sparked fears that “cash deserts” could be created, with bank branches also closing.

Looking just at the numbers of free ATMs which had been converted from free to fee-charging, Which? found that the most deprived areas across the UK had seen a reduction of 979 free-to-use machines – equivalent to 5.7 per cent of their ATM network.

Britain has a good claim to be the birthplace of the modern audit profession. Yet more than 150 years after being forged in the heat of the industrial revolution, British auditors are under intense scrutiny after a string of scandals. Grant Thornton, the former auditor of cake chain Patisserie Valerie, which collapsed this month amid fraud allegations, argued this week that it is not the role of accountants to uncover fraud.

Last year, the Financial Reporting Council found that there had been a decline in quality across the “big four” auditors – Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC. In recent years auditors have been criticised for failing to spot financial problems at some of the UK’s best-known companies. 

If you follow the hyper link for the story you’ll see a lot more information about how this lack of scrutiny works to all our disadvantages.