Cycling's governing body - the International Cycling Union (ICU) - has employed Big Four firm KPMG to review its governance procedures, as well the Cycling Anti-Doping Foundation (CADF).

The move follows in the wake of the ongoing fallout of the highly damaging and embarrassing Lance Armstrong doping scandal which rocked the sport earlier this year.

The ICU also announced that a wide-ranging stakeholder consultation exercise looking at cycling's future will be entirely separate from the Independent Commission, which is tasked to review all the issues contained in the US Anti Doping Agency (USADA) report on Lance Armstrong and the US Postal Service Team.

After consulting all the sport's stakeholders, the UCI has divided the topics under four pillars: globalisation; anti-doping; riders; and the sports calendar. In addition, governance issues will be considered in all four pillars.

UCI President Pat McQuaid said: 'We must all work together to recover from the damage which the Armstrong affair has undoubtedly done to our sport, the sport we all love and cherish.

'The world is moving forward and cycling has to keep up - as all cycling enthusiasts know, when the peloton moves forward you either keep up or get left behind.'

The detailed logistics of how the stakeholder consultation exercise will be announced in early January 2013.

The consultation will be extended to cycling's millions of fans using social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter.