Paul Boyle, FRC chief executive, made the pledge at the second stakeholder meeting on audit choice held last week. ‘The FRC recognises the need to review its position, if market-based solutions are not effective,’ Boyle told the gathering at the Royal Society of Arts in London.

The recommendations to open up the market include bringing firms within the Combined Code, and encouraging outside investors into the market
Some have argued that the process has effectively reached a dead-end with all radical proposals watered down by compromise. BDO managing partner Jeremy Newman told Accountancy Age: ‘At present there is no real evidence of a willingness to put aside individual preferences.’

He added that the regulatory threat was the main contribution to the debate that the meeting had to offer.

Boyle said that the law of unintended consequences applies for those who said the recommendations should have been tougher.

‘You could be very tough but also cause more problems than you set out to, like Sarbanes-Oxley did. And secondly, as the Companies Act reveals, if one relies on a legislative solution, it can be a very slow process, whereas the recommendations in the MPG report can be practically implemented in a reasonably short period,’ said Boyle.