De commissie economische zaken van de House of Lords gaat ook onderzoek doen naar klachten over de kwaliteit van jaarrekeningcontroles en mogelijke belangenconflicten tussen controlewerkzaamheden door de grote accountantskantoren en hun consultancywerk. De centrale vraag in het onderzoek zal zijn of accountants meer hadden moeten doen in de periode voorafgaand aan de bankencrisis om beleggers te wijzen op de risico’s van bezittingen bij banken.

Commissievoorzitter Lord MacGregor: ‘The auditing industry has been dominated by a very small number of players for some time now. We will look at the scope for promoting more competition. Auditing is a very high profile issue following the financial crises and we will seek to establish whether the market dominance by a small number of auditors contributed to a failure to pick up on unsustainable risks being taken on by international banks. The aim of the consultation is to improve operation of the auditing market to ensure it provides a better service to both business and investors.’