The omission of audit reform from the King’s speech last November was met with a combination of weary inevitability and deep frustration across accounting regulators and the profession more widely.

According to ICAEW, inertia by the government on this issue leaves in place inadequate rules, an underpowered regulator and a reduced capacity to anticipate and address the next Carillion.

It was, of course, the collapse of Carillion six years ago that finally forced the government’s hand in committing to comprehensive reform underpinned by primary legislation. 

In response to the news of further delay to audit reform, ICAEW chief executive Michael Izza said: ‘We won’t be able to handle the next Carillion-like event any better than we did the last one. And the pressures in the marketplace that the primary legislation was intended to deal with – oversight of directors, competition, quality – will remain unresolved. These are issues that will need to be tackled by a future government.’

Kicked