Richard Moriarty, chief executive of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) told delegates at the Centre for Public Interest Audit (CPIA) conference that directors must be held accountable as well as auditors for company failures.

He also warned that the regulator needs urgent modernisation as its systems and different departments are hampered by legacy systems, and requires an overhaul of the ‘vital plumbing’ as means the various teams cannot work effectively.

Although a representative from the Department for Business, Eoin Parker, director of business frameworks ,was at the conference, he did not provide any detail on if and when the Audit Reform Bill would go to draft legislation stage, far less come into effect.