Big Four told to ring fence auditing in Britain by June 2024

PwC, Deloitte, KPMG and EY should ring fence auditing as a separate business by June 2024 to improve the quality of auditing, Britain's accounting watchdog said on Monday. Corporate failures at builder Carillion and retailer BHS led to three government-backed reviews that recommended a shake-up of auditing, but the government has yet to introduce legislation to mandate change, partly due to Brexit and more recently, the COVID-19 pandemic. The Financial Reporting Council had already begun seeking voluntary changes to help speed up reform, and said on Monday it was asking the "Big Four" firms to agree to operational separation based on a set of principles it has already discussed with them.