Last week Stephen Haddrill, CEO of accounting regulator the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), called for an investigation into whether the Big Four accounting firms should be broken up.

Such an investigation, which would focus on the possibility of the audit arms of PwC, KPMG, Deloitte and EY being spun off into separate entities, would be aimed at increasing competition and eliminating conflicts of interest.

It follows a series of corporate accounting scandals, including UK construction firm Carillion, whose books were signed off by KPMG and which collapsed under a pile of debt in January.

With increasing clamour for a resetting of the UK’s audit industry, all ideas must be brought to the table.