Legal Services Bill Articles

Use these articles and resources to help you write law essays, law dissertations and law coursework.

Quick Links:
Legal Services Bill Index- Legal Services Bill Sitemap 1- Legal Services Bill Sitemap 2

Accountancy reform Bill to hurt MDPs

BYLINE:

Legal Week; news@gpmuk.com

LENGTH:

213 words

A radical US Bill to reform the accountancy profession has been approved by the influential Senate banking committee.

If passed, the Bill will prevent accountancy firms from cross-selling other services to their audit clients.

The legislation, proposed by the Democratic chairman of the committee, Paul Sarbanes, is named the Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Bill and will now go before the Senate (Legal Week, 20 June).

The Bill states: "It shall be unlawful for an accounting firm that performs for any issuer any audit to provide to that issuer contemporaneously with the audit, any non-audit service including legal services."

The Bill also lists plans to tighten oversight of the profession in step with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) moves to set up a US accountancy regulator.

If the Bill goes through it will give the US a stronger line than last month's European Commission call for tighter restrictions on MDPs.

Colin Reeves, director of the UK-based Accountancy Foundation's review board, told Legal Week the profession would be watching the outcome of the US Bill very closely.

Although a loss of referrals from audit clients would not kill off MDPs, it would make an already restrictive environment harder.

LOAD-DATE:

June 28, 2002

Legal Services Bill Articles

Law essay writing

Law resources

Law essays

Law dissertations