Audit profession needs to change, says Heseltine

Tory grandee Lord Heseltine has called for a shake-up of audit regulation in response to the economic crisis.

Speaking at a business dinner last week the former defence secretary asked why auditors had so far escaped the blame game in who should have foreseen the financial crisis.

Heseltine favours setting up an independent commission with the power to appoint auditors to firms for a fixed period of five years.

His comments come amid concerns that the big audit firms could be vulnerable to litigation over their role in credit crunch related securitisations.

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