Writing in NLJ this week, Mark Beardsworth, Sharon Takhar and Nikara Rangesh of Signature Litigation say the reforms give auditors greater incentive to engage early with the FRC over fraud, misconduct and going-concern concerns. That could mean earlier demands for internal investigation material—and new danger for privilege, limited waivers and control of regulatory strategy.
Companies cannot assume an auditor will accept their view of whether documents are privileged; in A v B, the court confirmed that an auditor must form its own view.
The authors urge boards, audit committees and in-house lawyers to build privilege in from the outset, separate factual audit material from legal analysis, control waivers in writing and coordinate self-reporting decisions early. In this ‘new landscape’, disclosure is no longer administrative housekeeping: it is regulatory strategy.
