Company Law Reform Bill [HL]

My Lords, I support the noble Baroness in these amendments. She asked me to confirm that my report did not envisage the creation of a two-tier structure. I can confirm that most assuredly. Nothing was further from our minds at the time. We thought that a company is a company is a company. We were persuaded that the C&AG should be able to audit companies. I shall have to be careful in my choice of words. I was going to say that this is a cynical attempt to get around the implementation of what I recommended. I do not see how you can have two types of company. A company’s objective may not be profit-making, but that is irrelevant: it is a company; that is the important thing. Our corporate legislation has always been, not about the company’s objectives, but about responding to the limitation of liability by audit and public reporting. That is what company law is about. It is not about whether you choose to incorporate a company to do A, B or C. If you incorporate, you limit liability. Therefore, you are bound by certain rules and regulations which you must adhere to, one of which is to audit within a corporate regime.