Is it tickets for UK's aspiring accountant-consultants?
PwC, EY, Deloitte and KPMG often provide lucrative consultancy work to the same businesses they audit, raising concern that accountants may not be willing to challenge management of those firms
London — Britain's accounting watchdog could ban accountancy firms from consultancy work for clients whose books they check, it said on Monday, stopping short of a break-up of the Big Four auditors. Under pressure from legislators to toughen up supervision of accountants after collapses at outsourcer Carillion and retailer BHS, the Financial Reporting Council announced a new "strategic focus" to ensure that audit serves the public interest better. PwC, EY, Deloitte and KPMG often provide lucrative consultancy work to the same businesses they audit, raising concern that accountants may not be willing to challenge management of those companies. PwC was fined a record £6.5m by the Financial Reporting Council in June for failing to flag its concerns about BHS. Its lead partner recorded only two hours of work on the audit but 31 hours on nonaudit services. "The review will include determining whether further actions are needed to prevent auditor independence being compromised, including ...
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