FRC chief calls for more competition between audit firms at Carillion hearing

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has been branded ‘useless’ by a Parliamentary joint committee investigating the collapse of Carillion, while the regulator’s chief executive has called for wider powers of investigation, and suggested more needs to be done to encourage competition for audit work.

FRC CEO Stephen Haddrill faced strong criticism from MPs from the work and pensions and business, energy, and industrial strategy (BEIS) select committees over the regulator’s failure to spot problems with Carillion in the months leading up to its collapse.

Haddrill rejected claims the FRC was ‘toothless’, saying it was ‘one of the most effective audit regulators in the world’.

MPs q