In the wake of the banking crisis, three leading politicians from the main parties got together. David Davis, John McFall and Vince Cable were concerned that, despite talk of reform, things were returning to ‘business as usual’. So, with the support and backing of Which?, they assembled a commission to investigate the future of banking. It began by consulting the banks’ customers, and went on to take evidence from some of the leading figures in the industry. One of the areas it focused on in particular was audit and accountancy.

Britain is just emerging from the worst financial crisis of our lifetime. Over the past two years global banks have written down $2.3trillion (£1.5 trillion) of assets. Our government and others were forced to step in to prevent a complete collapse.