The Financial Reporting Council (FRC), UK's accountancy watchdog, has said that it will launch an investigation to determine if PwC acted independently while conducting an audit of the books of UK house builder Berkeley Group.

FRC will determine if the investigation would look at PwC's audit of Berkeley's financial statements for the year till 30 April 2012 after joined the board of Berkeley's board. PwC is still acting as the Berkeley's auditor and said that had received a letter from the FRC informing them that the investigation has begun.

"We will continue to fully cooperate with the FRC's enquiries. We take our independence responsibilities very seriously," PwC said in a statement.

Berkeley chairman Tony Pidgley also confirmed that he came to know about the investigation into the role of non-executive director Glyn Barker in the audit conducted by the global audit firm. Barker, who joined the board in January 2012, said that Glyn had a respectable career and said that the board is pleased to have him as part of the board.

The investigation comes a week after FRC's independent tribunal fined Deloitte £14 million for failing to manage conflicts of interest while advising MG Rover and the Phoenix Four.