Adecco will not face penalties following the accounting foul-up that delayed publication of its results last year.

The world’s largest temp agency said that an investigation into the fiasco has recommended that no action be taken.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) launched an informal investigation after the delayed publication of the results, which were published five months late in June 2004.

Adecco had discovered accounting problems in its North American operations and twice put off publication of the results.

Analysts said that the whole episode had been a public relations disaster, rather than an Enron-style accounting scandal.