It is a curious development in professional auditing circles that being sued for negligence has almost been overtaken in the nightmare stakes by the threat of a regulatory mauling. Widely broadcast findings that an auditor’s work has been negligent lead to severe reputational attrition and massive fines.

And unlike judgments in case law, none of this money is used to compensate the victims of that negligence. Instead it may be paid to the professional body that lodged the complaint in the first place, which strikes me as a suspiciously commercial arrangement.