MPs look to smash cosy auditors club

The cosy relationship between auditing firms and company directors is set to be disrupted with a parliamentary committee recommending that corporations go to market for their audit every decade, or explain to shareholders why they won't open up the role to rival firms.

The committee examining audit quality in Australia has proposed that more than 500 listed companies that have had the same auditor for more than a decade be forced to put their audit out to public tender by 2022.