Two former finance directors of collapsed firm Carillion have been fined and banned by the accounting watchdog for acting “recklessly” in the lead up to the outsourcing giant’s high-profile demise eight years ago.

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) also imposed sanctions on three other unnamed former Carillion senior accountants over the part they played in preparing financial statements before the company’s collapse in 2018.

It comes eight years since the outsourcing giant, which employed about 43,000 people, including some 19,000 in the UK, went bust with massive debts.

Before its failure, Carillion had been one of the UK’s biggest construction and facilities management companies, with several major government contracts.

The FRC said Carillion’s former group finance director Richard Adam has been fined £222,019, reduced from £550,000 in light of Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) penalties, while his successor Zafar Khan, who was also previously Carillion’s financial controller, has been fined…