In considering tax avoidance by global corporations, political leaders have turned their scrutiny to the accounting profession and issued a missive for transparency in the direction of the very advisers of multinational companies taking heat for aggressive planning which sees them pay as little tax as possible.

At a hearing at the House of Lords, accountants were quizzed specifically about their policies in developing countries. Unsurprisingly, they each declared they did not have policies which were country-specific.