Policy makers in Europe are not listening to businesses, according to a recent Baker Tilly survey.
Jane Bleach, Head of Baker Tilly Audit explains:
‘Around the world auditors and their regulators are all being called into question over the banking crisis. Two of the primary ideas going round the European Commission, quite properly dismissed in UK regulatory and government circles, are to make it illegal for audit firms to provide non-audit services to their audit clients or to use a two firm system like the French.”
Baker Tilly recently surveyed directors of 117 businesses with an annual turnover of £5m plus and discovered that neither of these propositions is popular.
Jane Bleach, continues:
“UK corporates do not appear to agree with the proposed ban on existing advisors providing both audit and non-audit services. Only a quarter of respondents did not value the option to purchase advisory services from their auditors. Our research findings strongly underscore UK regulators’ conclusions. Amongst those who value the option to purchase other advisory services from the same firm that provides audit services 81% said they ‘like dealing with someone who understands my business already’, 70% said it saved them time and 48% reported that it saved them money.”
With regards to using two firms on every audit, a remarkable 72% of our respondents think that a two-firm system is a bad idea as it would increase time and cost spent on audit process.
Jane Bleach concludes:
“The need for transparency and ethical conduct in the profession is obvious, but many of the respondents to our survey would prefer to deal with just one firm which has a fundamental understanding of their business.”
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