auditing

It seems to me that whilst many of the local rural initiatives set up as a response to public austerity, with independent structures, face intrusive scrutiny with its tap root arising from the Kids Company collapse, if you’re a big private sector player then you have a softer ride.  This is particularly scandalous if you thrive, or fail to deliver on public sector contracts. This article tells us:

Britain has a good claim to be the birthplace of the modern audit profession. Yet more than 150 years after being forged in the heat of the industrial revolution, British auditors are under intense scrutiny after a string of scandals. Grant Thornton, the former auditor of cake chain Patisserie Valerie, which collapsed this month amid fraud allegations, argued this week that it is not the role of accountants to uncover fraud.

Last year, the Financial Reporting Council found that there had been a decline in quality across the “big four” auditors – Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC. In recent years auditors have been criticised for failing to spot financial problems at some of the UK’s best-known companies. 

If you follow the hyper link for the story you’ll see a lot more information about how this lack of scrutiny works to all our disadvantages.