“We absolutely recognise that in the first year of government, combined with a volatile geopolitical and economic climate, matters often have to be reprioritised. Government, and DBT in particular, have led on global trade deals, the Industrial Strategy and sector plans, as well as the trade strategy and the nationalisation of British steel, and we acknowledge that this takes a lot of bandwidth.
“But an audit and corporate governance reform bill has been on the stocks for almost a decade, through successive governments and eight Secretaries of State for Business. These reforms are a big part of the government’s correct prioritisation of a growth mission designed to attract capital and investment, making the UK the best place to start and scale up a business.
“Last month’s Industrial Strategy has professional and business services as one of eight key growth sectors. Not only does the sector plan highlight accountancy, audit and tax as a key frontier industry designed to boost growth, it cites Audit Reform and Corporate Governance Bill as a key measure to enable this to be achieved. After almost a decade of delay, we urge the Government to bring this forward at the earliest opportunity now, or at least commit by the end of this year.”
ENDS
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