BACK SEAT FOR ETHICS

摘要

The opaque world of limited liability partnerships may be set for a period of greater scrutiny with a spate of audit scandals rocking firms. The latest round of audit inspections reveals an endless litany of failures to adhere to ethical standards, with basic reporting of conflicts of interest simply being overlooked when an audit changes hands through to a complete failure to monitor share buybacks and external interests. And this is nothing new; this year's Audit Quality Inspection (AQI) season showed little improvement in the way firms deal with ethical issues, with all but one of the firms hauled up for failures to apply the revised Ethical Standard introduced by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) in 2016.