FRC's CEO comments on the publication of the Competition Commission’s report on the audit market
News types: Response
Published: 22 February 2013
“The FRC called for a thorough investigation by the competition authorities and welcomes today’s preliminary report. We look forward to assessing it and working with the Commission further.
In particular we are pleased to see that the Commission is exploring measures to enhance competiveness and switching including regular audit retendering, strengthening the work of audit committees and a prohibition of Big 4-only clauses in loan provisions. The FRC introduced enhanced audit committee reporting, and retendering into the Corporate Governance Code last year, taking the view that retendering secured the benefits of mandatory rotation without its significant risks. We also welcome the Commission’s recognition of the value of our audit quality reviews, and look forward to discussion of whether there should be more transparency of their findings and an increase in their scope. The UK has already seen the benefits of being more open than other countries.”