UK: notices of auditors leaving office - BIS consultation

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has today published a consultation paper concerning the simplification of the arrangements for the provision of information when an auditor leaves office: see here (pdf). In particular, the Government is seeking views on:

• removing the duty to notify audit authorities of an auditor’s departure in some cases where it is of little interest to those authorities;
• removing the duty on the audit authorities to notify the accounting authorities of all auditor departures of which they are informed;
• whether there should be any changes to requirements for information to be provided to investors when auditors leave listed companies;
• removing the need for companies to notify Companies House in certain cases of auditor departure; and 
• simplifying the legislation by clarifying definitions.