From 1 July, he will replace current head of assurance Sue Almond, who is leaving the UK business to join the firm’s the international network of Grant Thornton as global head of assurance.

Almond has been in the role for nearly three years since she was appointed to head up the audit team in September 2015. Although she originally trained at Grant Thornton, she specifically rejoined the mid-tier firm to take up the role after a spell at the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), where she most led the external affairs programme.

The shakeup to the audit function at Grant Thornton comes three months after the mid-tier firm announced that it would pull out of tendering for FTSE 350 audits, citing poor cost benefit analysis as a major factor with tenders costing as much as £300,000 a shot without only the smallest chance of winning the audit business.

 In the latest Accountancy FTSE 250 Auditors Survey, Grant Thornton audited five listed companies with audit fee income of £2.5m. It currently has no FTSE 100 audits. The firm is focusing on non-audit services for listed companies, plus its core audit business in the public sector, and owner managed and AIM companies.

Roberts has a strong public sector background and is currently lead audit and assurance partner for Grant Thornton’s public sector team in the South West, where he leads a team of more than 75 public sector specialists, working with local government, health, police, fire and central government clients throughout the region.

The appointment comes after harsh criticism of the audit profession over the last two years over auditor independence, quality and standards, with the Big Four and mid-tier firms all being pulled up for poor audit performance, and a lack of challenge and scepticism.

Roberts said: ‘Audit needs to make a difference, in the public sector there is a broader remit for audit, it is beyond the standard audit, can investigate governance issues, for example. Audit is becoming too much about compliance and box ticking; people are not standing back and setting time aside to question. Audit methodology has not changed in 30 years; it might all be computerised now but it is fundamentally the same.’

‘I’ve not seen such an acceptance until now that the audit profession has to change; there is the Kingman review into the future of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), a potential competition investigation, and government’s plans to set up a government sponsored review – Project Flora - into whether going concern should be abandoned in audit. But no-one wants to chair that review – it would be a very tough one to find someone totally independent. They would have to be retired and would have to want to do it. No one does so far.’

At the same time MPs have set up a parliamentary group chaired by Richard Harrington to debate the future of audit and accounting. ‘This could also call for serious changes,’ said Roberts. ‘You never see a company director fined for audit failures, the FRC has no sanctions facility against directors, only the Insolvency Service does for what it’s worth.’

The appointment will shore up Grant Thornton’s audit practice and prioritise public sector audit.

Head of quality and reputation Jonathan Riley, who recently joined the firm’s main board, said: ‘Jon comes with a strong public sector skillset and insight about the procurement process. This is really important, especially when the FRC is under review, as is the procurement of audit, and there’s the possibility of a Competition & Markets Authority investigation into competition.’

Roberts also chairs the firm’s public sector assurance board, which oversees development of new service lines to the public sector and leads CIPFA’s pilot apprenticeship scheme at Grant Thornton, which has provided an alternative and innovative route to a career in accountancy at the firm and helped to develop a unique public/private accountancy qualification with CIPFA and ICAS.

Report by Sara White