Letters - No axe to grind.

Sadly your reader Rebecca Joyce (Wiping the slate clean, 29 March, page 17) has got hold of the dirty end of the stick!

To put the record straight, the process for the selection of the new auditors for Tomkins was conducted by the audit committee and included consideration of four of the Big Five firms.

I am sure if any of the firms believed they were betting on a crooked wheel they would have not agreed to participate.

All was fair in love and war and Deloittes just had the edge. On this occasion the others all came a well deserved second. I suppose had PwC won, the finger would have been pointed at our chairman of the audit committee who is a PwC alumnus.

And as for me, well I am ex-Andersen and so had no axe to grind. In a market where there are now only five major firms there is a good chance those that way inclined will find some mischief to make. Well that’s put the record straight, hasn’t it.

Ken Lever, FD, Tomkins

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