PwC, Deloitte, EY and KPMG dominate the auditing sector, but they are failing at their taskIt was not only bankers, and central bankers, who got off lightly in the crisis of a decade ago. The group that most successfully stayed out of the spotlight was the auditing profession. Vast financial institutions fell over in a heap, sometimes only months after their books had been signed off as healthy, yet the auditing industry was never seriously held to account. Even when inquiries happened, their findings were mostly banal, and they took years to arrive.The mood now seems to be turning. Sir John Kingman, a former Treasury official who is now chairman of Legal & General, is already conducting a review for government to determine whether the audit watchdog, the Financial Reporting Council, is fit for the future. A heavier battalion arrived this week in the form of the Competition and Markets Authority, which launched a inquiry into concerns that the audit market is not working well for the economy or investors. Encouragingly, the CMA says it will move quickly: provisional findings are promised by Christmas. Continue reading...
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