Audit and Corporate Governance Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Lord Sikka
Main Page: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Sikka's debates with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
(3 years, 9 months ago)
Lords ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Lord Callanan (Con)
I know that my noble friend is passionate about not imposing new burdens on companies. I share her desire, but we think that the current regime could be improved. There will be a 16-week consultation period, so we will take the time to get these proposals right, but I think that some worthwhile improvements could be made without damaging competitiveness.
Lord Sikka (Lab) [V]
My Lords, I have two points. First, in the absence of a central enforcer of company law, improvement in corporate governance is unlikely. Secondly, in the absence of tougher auditor liability and accountability, there are not sufficient pressure points to secure improvements in audit quality. When will the Government realise that their appeasement of big corporations and accounting firms is actually a recipe for more scandals?
Lord Callanan (Con)
We are not appeasing the big accountancy firms; many of them do not like some of our proposals. These are worthwhile reforms that will improve the market and help to bring about the state of affairs that the noble Lord refers to.