ACCOUNTANTS, AUDIT AND CONFLICT OF INTEREST

Early day motion 972, tabled 19 February 2008 by Diane Abbott (Labour). Signed by 31 members.

That this House notes that PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) was Northern Rock's auditor and also provided it with a range of consultancy services; further notes that PWC earned £1.3 million for non-audit work but only £500,000 for the audit; further notes that at no point did PWC indicate any problem with Northern Rock's business model; believes that if an accountancy firm is making more money from consulting for a particular firm than from auditing it then there is a clear conflict of interest; further notes that this is not the first time that the audit of a financial institution has given no hint of systemic financial problems; and therefore calls on the Government to take steps to end this long-standing conflict of interest issue in order that the public may have confidence in the audit process.

Signatures by party: Labour 24, Liberal Democrat 5, Social Democratic and Labour Party 2.