Accounting firm Grant Thornton's UK chief to step down

(Reuters) - Accounting firm Grant Thornton said its UK chief Sacha Romanovitch will step down by the end of this year once a successor is identified.

"Following discussions with Sacha, the board has agreed that a new CEO is the logical next step to create long term sustainable profits for the firm," Chair of the Partnership Oversight Board at Grant Thornton UK Ed Warner said.

"We have agreed that the time is right for a new CEO to take the firm forward", Romanovitch said in the statement.

Romanovitch and Grant Thornton did not immediately respond to a Reuters request to comment on the reason for her departure.

Grant Thornton handles the accounts of Patisserie Holdings, the cafe chain owner, which has been rocked by an accounting scandal and came close to collapse before getting a 20 million pound ($26.30 million) lifeline from its chairman Luke Johnson.

The Financial Reporting Council, which oversees accounting in Britain, said on Friday it was looking into the Patisserie Holdings case. Britain's anti-fraud agency had also said separately it had opened an investigation into an unidentified individual in connection with the scandal.

In August, Grant Thornton was fined 4 million pounds by the Financial Reporting Council after four of its senior staffers admitted misconduct in handling the financial audits of Nichols Plc and the University of Salford.

($1 = 0.7603 pounds)

(Reporting by Sangameswaran S in Bengaluru. Editing by Jane Merriman)