In the weeks following the Financial Reporting Council’s (FRC) decision that it would not be pursuing disciplinary action against KPMG over its audit of HBOS in the period that led up to the bank’s collapse in 2008, there has been no small amount of astonishment, particularly from commentators, MPs and the public that we are still no closer to holding anyone responsible for the crash in 2008.

Naturally, the profession has defended itself, stoically initially, particularly the FRC’s role and indeed its own. Many stakeholders, such as PwC chief risk officer Margaret Cole and tax partner at law firm Hickman & Rose, Ross Dixon (see HBOS-KPMG: looking beyond the audit) claim that the FRC did not have much of a chance of finding against KPMG.