
Audit ‘Reform’ in the UK: Hello … Is Anybody There?
It’s one thing to discuss the breadth of the UK government’s March 18 consultation paper, “Restoring Trust in Audit and Corporate Governance,” with its 98 questions spread over 232 pages, as I did recently in a conference mixing academics and practitioners. It’s quite another, and thoroughly dispiriting, to observe the public silence on the likelihood […]

Audit ‘Reform’ In the UK: The Government Finally Speaks, and Says Little
On March 18, the UK government weighed in with its long-promised consultation paper (the “Consultation), “Restoring Trust in Audit and Corporate Governance.” Ninety-eight questions, spread over 232 pages, contain much that is cautious and little that is innovative. The problem is, what is cautious would not innovate, and what would innovate is not cautious. For another day, […]

New SOX In the U.K.? It’s (Probably) Coming Soon
The February gloom was broken recently by the news that the British government will be introducing reforms targeting company financial reporting and audit oversight. In truth, none of this should be a surprise. There have been several accounting scandals in recent years where the directors of various companies have been unscrupulous and their external auditors […]