Auditing/Accounting (Hansard, 5 March 2003)

§ Mr. Austin Mitchell
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will publish minutes of her meetings with the President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. [100522]

§ Miss Melanie Johnson
In line with the common practice of this and previous governments, we do not publish such minutes under Exemption 2—Internal Advice and Discussion—of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

§ Mr. Austin Mitchell
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will propose legislation under which plcs would be required to publish their accounts within 90 days of the year end. [100534]

§ Miss Melanie Johnson
The Government's plans for a revised reporting regime for all companies were contained in the White Paper "Modernising Company Law" (Cm 5553), published in July 2002. This included the proposal that public companies should be required to file their annual reporting documents with Companies House within six months of the year end as opposed to seven months at present. In addition, quoted public companies would normally publish these documents on the Internet within four months of the year end.

§ Mr. Austin Mitchell
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will introduce legislation under which accountants would be forbidden from acting as reporting accountants for a bank and then becoming liquidators and receivers on behalf of the same. [100538]

§ Miss Melanie Johnson
We do not intend to introduce such legislation. Under existing guidelines for liquidators, where there has been a prior material professional relationship no principal or employee of the firm acting as reporting accountants should accept appointment as liquidator of an insolvent company. If the company is solvent, the insolvency practitioner should nevertheless give careful consideration to all the implications of his accepting appointment as liquidator.
Under existing guidelines for receivers, any insolvency practitioner proposed to be appointed administrative receiver of a company after acting as reporting accountant should take steps to satisfy himself either that the company does not object to his acceptance of the appointment or that the circumstances are such that, in accepting the appointment, he will be able to act, and be seen to act, independently and effectively.
1097W
Under the Enterprise Act 2002 the circumstances in which the holder of a floating charge will be able to appoint an administrative receiver will be significantly reduced.

§ Mr. Austin Mitchell
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will publish her Department's correspondence with the Accounting Standards Board over the implementation and compliance with FRS17. [100762]

§ Miss Melanie Johnson
The Department has had no correspondence with the Accounting Standards Board over the implementation and compliance with FRS17.

§ Mr. Austin Mitchell
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when officials of her Department had meetings with partners in Arthur Andersen to discuss the firm's role in(a) Enron and (b) WorldCom. [100525]

§ Miss Melanie Johnson
Officials in the Department had no meetings with partners in Arthur Andersen to discuss the firm's role in Enron and WorldCom.

§ Mr. Austin Mitchell
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what regulatory action was taken by her Department against the auditors of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International. [100521]

§ Miss Melanie Johnson
The Supervisory Bodies of the accountancy profession are currently responsible for taking action against individual auditors. In the case of the Bank of Credit & Commerce International, action was taken against the auditors/firms by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales (ICAEW), through the Joint Disciplinary Scheme (JDS). The results were published by the press.
Arrangements for monitoring and disciplining audit firms are to change as a result of the recent Review of the Regulatory Regime of the Accountancy Profession. Copies of the Review Report have been placed in the Libraries of House.