UK accountants push to end fees cap for ESG work from companies they audit

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Senior accountants in the United Kingdom are pushing the ministers to remove the CAP on the work of ESG for their customers in scrutiny, a step that will reduce independence rules and help the four major companies to enhance their revenues.
Alan Vallas, head of the Institute of Legal Accountants in England and Wales, told the Financial Times that work to verify environmental and social claims and corporate governance does not rely on the maximum non -excellent fees that accounting companies are allowed to receive audit clients.
The cover is prohibited accounting Companies from imposing fees on higher than 70 percent of their audit fees for other businesses, such as consulting or tax advice, to customers who make their financial accounts.
CAP was presented in 2016 as part of the European Union measures to enhance the independence of auditors after fears that the profession has become very comfortable with corporate customers. It is designed to ensure that the auditors’ desire to win the consulting fees from companies will not undermine their willingness to challenge the management at the accuracy of their financial numbers.
In an interview, Valelas said that he urged business minister Jonathan Reynolds and Labor Minister Justin Maadrs to exclude ESG data audits of CAP work.
He added that he had sparked the case regularly with Richard Morarti, CEO of the Financial Reports Council, which regulates the accounting and review sector.
Vallas said that his organization had conversations with the major audit companies on this issue “individually and jointly,” adding that it had supported his organization’s approach. A person in one large company said that the groups wanted to change the cover “for years.”
ESG guarantee – checking the information published by companies about their social and environmental impact, such as CO₂ – is a profitable and growing working line for accounting companies and other consultants who do not reside through the maximum fees because they do not implement the financial operations.
The European Union rules that apply from this year require large companies working in the mass to obtain independent verification when spreading uniform information of this type.
FRC numbers show that Big Four – Deloitte, Ey, KPMG and PWC – performed 40 percent of ESG 350 FTSE audits in 2023, and companies are eager to increase this share. In comparison, companies completed 88 percent of financial audits in the same year.
Vallance, the largest member of its organization, said the four major, that the timing of the new European Union rules would cause an ESG guarantee this year, creating a “huge opportunity.”
But he added that UK companies were “in undoubted position regarding European audit companies”, which could include ESG work within regular audit fees, while UK companies cannot do so. “It is really important for the UK PLC to be eaten,” he said.
Valelas said that European companies “cannot deal with the demand for ESG audits, and they were moving to the surplus of UK companies. But UK’s bases often prevent UK companies from taking work.
The UK government has allocated professional services as one of eight sectors that can feed economic expansion and pushed Organizers to determine growth priorities.
The long -awaited audit reform bill can be aimed at improving standards after the prominent company such as Carillion and Patisserie Valerie failed, a means of changes.
Vallance also said that accountants were more qualified than other advisers to implement Esg Assurance because of their training in checking the numbers published by companies.
“The skills that you learn to become a legal accountant – objective, and critical rule, those types of things – are equally relevant[to ESG audits]. . . “Our profession must be the profession for that,” he said.
Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PWC refused to comment.
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2025-02-12 05:00:00