Accountants could do with some good

If there is a group of people in need of the positive gloss of public relations it must be accountants. It's bad enough that, as a group, they suffer from a public perception of greyness.

They are also suffering in the public eye in their reaction to the global tightening of rules on disclosure of wrongdoing by their clients.

Most recently, Deloitte Touche, one of the Big Five, has been appealing to US regulators to speed up investigations of audit fraud and negligence. The company claims investor confidence in accountancy is being damaged as cases drag on for years. In the same breath, it showed why it does truly have reason to be worried by saying that auditors might be more willing to be open with the authorities if they had assurances that the information would not be made available to others.

The whole point of the new system is to increase transparency and ensure that investors can have confidence in the system.

For too long, some company accounts have in effect been an exercise in the art of dissemblance - looking to bury information that might prove injurious to the corporate client at the expense of the shareholder.

And that is before one considers allegations that auditors have simply turned a blind eye in certain instances in order not to jeopardise other contracts their practices may have with the corporate client.

If accountancy wants investor confidence in the work it does, it is going to have to earn it.