UK hands audit reform baton to US
FRC hands over details of its study into audit choice to US government
The UK accounting regulator has made its study into choice in the audit
market available to the US government, after Stateside regulators surprised the
market by announcing their own review into the dominance of the Big Four.
Henry
Paulson, US Treasury Secretary, disclosed the move last week. The
announcement has caused some confusion among firms, who are uncertain how
seriously they should take the move.
Paul Boyle, chief executive of the
Financial Reporting
Council, said he was pleased that the US decided to launch the study
officially: ‘The issue of auditor concentration is one that has global
dimensions to it.’
Paulson has tasked former
SEC chairman Arthur Levitt and
former SEC chief accountant Donald Nicolaisen with co-chairing the committee
conducting the assessment.
In the UK, Mazars was set to send out letters to the chairmen of the 500
largest companies in the UK this week to push the firm’s audit credentials. The
letter campaign follows similar moves from
BDO
Stoy Hayward, who wrote to 100 top finance directors requesting meetings.