Months of audit failures and punitive fines for audit firms has left the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) under fire from all quarters, but now the government has set up the Kingsman review to assess its structures, powers and funding. Sara White, editor of Accountancy, says it may be time to rethink the regulator

As the Monitoring Group considers the response to its ambitious proposals to overhaul audit standard setting, Mark Babington, deputy director, audit policy of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), calls for wide stakeholder involvement to ensure the proposed Public Interest Framework, set for release this autumn in draft format, is fit for purpose

The Labour party is commissioning an independent review of the corporate auditing and accounting regime in the UK, with shadow Chancellor John McDonnell declaring ‘no more Carillion scandals on Labour’s watch’

The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) has issued a consultation on how to improve the standards of professional scepticism shown by accountants and auditors, and whether to make it a mandatory requirement

Two ICAEW members are among the panel of 11 senior figures from business, the investment community, governance and regulation that will support Sir John Kingman’s review into the audit regulator, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC)

MPs have raised warnings about procurement issues with a £330m NHS England contract with outsourcer Capita which was designed to achieve a 35% cost saving

MPs are calling for an urgent review into the competition review into the statutory audit market, citing concerns over the lack of competitive tenders, dominance of the Big Four audit firms and an absence of independent scrutiny following the collapse of Carillion, reports Sara White

The joint select committee’s claims of auditor failings in its report on the collapse of Carillion marks a ‘watershed’ for the accountancy profession according to the head of the ICAEW, with the Big Four firms also acknowledging that the statutory audit market needs reform

In a lacerating report on the collapse of Carillion, the joint Parliamentary select committee has castigated the ‘parasitical relationship’ between the Big Four, accused the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) of ‘toothlessness’ and called for a major overhaul of the statutory audit market and the regulatory regime

Buildings materials group SIG has begun an immediate search for a new external auditor, after shareholders at its annual general meeting (AGM) voted by a large majority against the reappointment of Deloitte, following on from the discovery earlier this year of historic profit overstatements at the FTSE 250 business

The Financial Reporting Council’s first ever study of audit culture has concluded it is important that firms create a culture where achieving high quality audit is valued and rewarded, and which emphasises the importance of ‘doing the right thing’ in the public interest

Plans put forward by the Monitoring Group for a major overhaul of the global audit standard setting process, which include significant governance changes and the creation of a single audit and ethical standards setting body, have run into stiff opposition