Tories to push for audit cap solution
Renewed pressure has been put on the government to introduce some form of liability cover for auditors by the shadow economic affairs minister, Andrew Mitchell.
Link: Liability cap special report
Mitchell will respond to last week’s Department of Trade’s rejection of the pleas of the accountancy profession by tabling eight amendments to the companies bill tomorrow.
‘Basically, I’ve come up with every conceivable way I can think of capping liability,’ Mitchell told the Times. ‘I’m going to say to the minister in the debate tomorrow, we know that you recognise this is a problem. This is not about auditors; it’s about the good and proper governance of the UK corporate system. Here are all the different ways you can do it.’
Accountancy Age understands from sources close to secretary of state for trade, Patricia Hewitt, that the government is keen to push some form of compromise measure into the companies bill as early as October. She has asked the business and audit worlds and other interested parties to ‘work together’ to determine whether a system of proportionate liability via contract would work.