Former BDO International chief executive, Jeremy Newman, is the government's preferred candidate to chair and oversee the winding up of the Audit Commission.

Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, said Newman will attend a pre-appointment hearing before the Commons communities and local government select committee on September 3.

Should the chartered accountant be rubber-stamped by the MPs, Newman - who acted as an interim consultant to RSM Tenon earlier this year - will take over from the Commission's current chair Michael O'Higgins on October 1 and ensure 'an effective and efficient closedown' of the organisation.

The government announced its intention to close the Audit Commission in August 2010. The inspection function of the Commission has already ended with the work of its in-house audit practice outsourced to the private sector.

A draft bill containing proposals for the replacement audit regime was published in July 2012. The government's view of the future will see councils free to appoint their own independent external auditors with a new audit framework for local health bodies.

The coalition says its full programme of reforms will bring in a more 'localist approach' and will save some £650m over the next five years.

Before Newman became chief executive of BDO International in 2008, a position he held for three years, he was managing partner of BDO's UK operation from 2001-2008.

In June, the commission made another senior appointment when it was announced that Marcine Waterman would become its controller of audit.