Jan Du Plessis, who was attending an appointment hearing, was highly critical of the audit regulator, telling MPs that the quality of governance was poor and the organisation needed an overhaul to be able to fulfil its role as an effective regulator.

‘The governance situation at the Financial Reporting Council is in a pretty poor state,’ Du Plessis said, ‘and they have not had a chair for some time; there are only three directors on the board – that is no way to run a regulator. It is really not good enough and one of the first things I will do is to address governance. My understanding is that they will soon appoint some non-executive directors.

‘I can’t bring magic but I can bring many years of leadership experience and a real commitment to make this work. You need to approach the role with a degree of pragmatism. While I’m critical of governance at the Financial Reporting Council I have to give credit to Sir Jon Thompson and his team as they have progressed the agenda in a number of ways.

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