Auditors face scrutiny from City firms
The role of auditors will come under the microscope following a request by the Hampel Committee on corporate governance for City institutions to comment on how companies are run.
Committee chairman Sir Ronald Hampel, ICI chairman, has asked up to 50 representative organisations in the City if they think the role of auditors should be strengthened in the interests of shareholders.
Hampel wants to know if auditors should get greater legal protection for whistleblowing, if the reporting requirements on auditors should be extended, and whether or not the terms of reference auditors use to review directors’ internal control statements should be widened.
The committee will also look at the role of non-executive directors and directors’ remuneration. Responses to the survey must reach Hampel by the end of the year.