PwC Head to Run for Re-election

PwC chairman and senior partner Ian Powell has confirmed he will run for a second term later this year when the post comes up for re-election following his first four year term.

In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Powell said: ‘People say am I going to stand again? I definitely am. I've really enjoyed the job, it is fascinating.’

Powell told the newspaper that while European Commission proposals to reform the audit market included ‘a lot of good stuff’, he was critical of plans to stop non-audit services being delivered to audit clients, mandatory audit rotation every six years, and the audit-only proposal, all of which he described as ‘completely unworkable’.

However, Powell also said that the current economic situation suggested there was a lot of scope for improvement in audit reporting and for closer liaison with regulators.

‘We think as a result of the financial crisis there are a lot of areas that we should all learn from, not just us as auditors, but financial institutions, regulators, governments and everybody. We think there is a lot that we should be talking about, but that the focus should be on improving audit quality, not on looking at the competition issues,’ Powell said.