Discussions start on EU’s accounting shake-up

The accounting watchdog in Britain kicked off a public consultation yesterday to apply a sweeping EU reform of company accounting from next June.

The EU law followed fury that accountants gave banks a clean bill of health just months before some had to be rescued by taxpayers in the 2007 to 2009 crisis.

The EU rules will mean that 50 accounting firms will come under the supervision of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC). The watchdog inspects the reports of the 10 biggest accounting firms, a sector dominated by the “Big Four, PwC, EY, KPMG, and Deloitte.