While recently rummaging through some old papers I spotted the transcript of a lecture I gave in 2003 called ‘How can audits be made effective?’

I was intrigued, but not surprised, to note that the subject matter of that lecture nearly 17 years ago has hardly dated at all – conflicts of interest, independence, responsibility for fraud detection, law reform, proportional liability; you name it. And we appear to be no nearer a consensus on how to resolve these issues.

If anything, the problems have intensified. The Big Four firms’ grip on the large company audit market is tighter than ever and brooks no practical rival.