The audit and corporate governance reform bill proposal was first proposed in last year’s Queen’s Speech and was designed to make companies more transparent about director accountability after numerous accounting scandals following the collapse of Carillion, Thomas Cook and Patisserie Valerie.

The bill is required to introduce the regulatory framework for a new audit regulator, the Audit Governance and Regulatory Authority, which is supposed to replace the Financial Reporting Council, and would be given new powers to  stamp out audit misconduct.