Peter Wyman, head of professional affairs at PricewaterhouseCoopers, has called for a review of the audit profession in response to the banking crisis.

Wyman told Accountancy Age that although the audit profession had been reviewed by the government in 2004 and was doing a good job, the shockwaves caused by the banking crisis underline the need for a fresh review of the industry. ‘We are in the worst financial crisis in living memory. It would be ridiculous to just go on as before,’ he said.

He said a review of the audit profession could take place in the summer as part of a wider review into global regulatory structures, banking supervision, fair value accounting and complex Basel II Capital adequacy rules.

Wyman is the first big hitter in the profession to call for a review of the audit industry amid growing pressure from politicians and experts for a shakeup of auditing.

Last month, Chris Dickson, executive counsel of accounting regulator JDS, called for a review into whether auditors can rely on debt ratings given by credit rating agencies such as Fitch, Moody’s and S&P, when valuing company assets and signing off company accounts.