Government to push US for audit concessions
Competition minister Melanie Johnson will urge the Securities & Exchange Commission to ensure that UK audit firms are not subject to regulation by the new US accounting watchdog.
Link: US audit watchdog bares its teeth
Following the implementation of strict new corporate governance rules under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the SEC set up the Public Company Accounting and Oversight Board to police audit firms.
UK auditors, that do the books for companies listed in the US, could potentially come under scrutiny from the PCAOB.
But, according to the FT Johnson will tell SEC officials that UK audit firms should be regulated from the UK only.
She will warn that double regulation will increase the cost to firms and could lead to them raising their audit fees, passing on the burden to the companies they audit.
Johnson will be accompanied by Sir Bryan Nicholson, chairman of Financial Reporting Council, which takes over from the Accountancy Foundation as the independent regulator of the profession.