MP, Labour’s Shadow
Chancellor, responding to news that the
Government is backsliding on planned reforms to split up the Big
Four accounting firms, said:
“It’s just weeks in to this Government and the Tories keep
backtracking on plans to tweak regulation in our economy.
“There has to be a full-break up of the Big Four accounting
firms to remove conflicts of interest, as Labour has long
demanded.
“But the Government cannot even commit to implement the
watered-down recommendations of the Competition and Markets
Authority – another sign this will be a weak administration, too
timid to tackle long-term challenges facing the economy.”
Ends
Notes to editors
Labour has recommended structural separation of the Big
Four: see https://labour.org.uk/press/report-supports-labours-demands-break-big-four-rebecca-long-bailey/ and https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/rewriting-the-rules.pdf.
This is based on careful work done by Professor Prem Sikka and
his team: http://visar.csustan.edu/aaba/LabourPolicymaking-AuditingReformsDec2018.pdf.
The CMA has recommended operational separation.
It was reported this morning that the Chair of the
Competition and Markets Authority has had meetings with the Big
Four to try to kickstart reform plans “as momentum behind reform
of the audit market shows signs of stalling”: https://www.ft.com/content/ca81908c-3548-11ea-a6d3-9a26f8c3cba4?segmentId=bf7fa2fd-67ee-cdfa-8261-b2a3edbdf916
