Britain's accounting watchdog demands Big Four to ring fence auditing

Corporate failures at builder Carillion and retailer BHS led to three government-backed reviews that recommended a shake-up of auditing. Still, partly due to Brexit and more recently, the COVID-19 pandemic, the government has yet to introduce legislation to mandate change.

The Financial Reporting Council had already begun seeking voluntary changes to support the new reform, and it was asking the Big Four companies to agree to operational separation based on a set of principles it has already discussed with them.

An implementation plan should be submitted to the FRC by October 23, 2020 for implementation by June 30, 2024 at the latest, the regulator said, Reuters added.