Company Law Reform Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 317BA:"Page 233, line 29, after ““report”” insert ““or being named in such report pursuant to section 493””" The noble Baroness said: This is a probing amendment. The Bill introduces for the first time the signature of an audit report by an individual rather than a firm. Clause 492(3) is helpful in making it clear that there is no additional civil liability attaching to signing an audit report in the auditor’s own name, but the Bill is silent with regard to Clause 493, which requires the naming of a senior statutory auditor. Amendment No. 317BA was suggested to us by some corporate lawyers in the City as a way in which to provide absolute certainty that there are no circumstances, in signing or naming, that will lead to a civil liability on the individual. I hope that the Minister will see that as a helpful amendment. I beg to move.