The `I Found You` hitmakers have been told by their accountants the "depressing" fact that their bank balances are not full with cash, despite their phenomenal pop success.

Band member Jay McGuiness, 20, revealed: "We met our accountant the other day. It was so depressing. It took him two hours to say, `Boys, you`re skint!` "

The group - which also includes Nathan Sykes, Tom Parker, Siva Kaneswaran and Max George - are believed to be losing out on profits to their songwriters, manager Scooter Braun and their label Geffen Records, despite their hit `Glad You Came` selling over three million copies in the US which is exactly the same number as One Direction`s `What Makes You Beautiful`.

However, One Direction are worth around £100 million - despite record companies Syco and Columbia Records taking the majority of their earnings.

Max, 24, added on British talk show Alan Carr`s `Chatty Man`: "They [One Direction] are [worth millions]. We`re not."

The Wanted and One Direction have had an ongoing chart battle with each other and have traded insults and challenges with 1D`s Louis Tomlinson further stoking the feud by declaring: "If you want to create that rivalry, lay down the challenge."

However, The Wanted are keen to play down their supposed issues with One Direction, with Tom admitting "it is hardly Blur versus Oasis" - a reference to the two Britpop bands intense war of words in the 90s which culminated in a singles chart battle for number one in August 1995 between Oasis` `Roll With It` and Blur`s `Country House`.
sections: Celebrities