§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the President of the Board of Trade on how many occasions auditors have acted as company secretaries in each year since 1990.
§ Mr. Neil HamiltonThis is a matter for Companies House. I have asked the chief executive to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from David Durham to Mr. Austin Mitchell, dated 21 June 1993:
As this is a matter which is within my responsibility as Chief Executive and Registrar of Companies, I am writing to you direct.I should explain that the Companies Act does not prohibit an auditor from acting as secretary to a company provided, of course, that he does not carry out the audit of that company's accounts. We, therefore, have no reason to compile figures of this nature, and it would involve disproportionate costs to identify from company records occasions where an auditor has acted as company secretary.We have, since 1990, received one complaint which suggests that an auditor is acting as secretary to the company whose accounts he is auditing. That complaint was received this year and we are currently investigating the matter. We have also dealt with one case where the secretary of the company carried out the audit of the company's accounts. He was formally warned that he would be liable to prosecution if he repeated the offence.I hope that the above information is helpful to you.
§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what assessment his representative on the Auditing Practices Board has made of the going concern exposure draft circulated to the One Hundred Group of Directors.
§ Mr. Neil HamiltonMy Department has sent comments on the draft guidance for directors of listed companies on going concern and financial reporting direct to the secretary of the working group on going concern, in response to an invitation from the chairman of that group.
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