Company Law Reform Bill [HL]

The Minister has set out the view of the DTI and its advisers on this matter, but if you put yourself in the position of an audit firm, would you, as an audit partner, want to take on the uncertainty relating to this without clear words? That is the point. A number of audit firms have already reported to us that the effect of the Bill is leading some within their firms to consider giving up responsible individual status. We shall come on in a moment to the specific offence, but this is another part of the whole picture. It may be very nice to have an auditor sign the report, but if there is any suggestion that additional personal liability might attach to that, people will walk away in droves.