For the high jump

If you’re the CFO and wondering where all your money’s gone, well, have a look at your audit fees (we’re joking, of course).

The Quoted Compliance Alliance (QCA) has done some sums and worked out that the average audit fee for a listed company has jumped 75%. QCA looked at 220 companies listed in London and found that the average LSE Main Market constituent saw audit fees jump 127% on average over a five-year period, while average AIM market fees soared 110%. So shocked is QCA that it has dubbed the survey the “crisis of unaffordable audits”.

In a foreword, James Ashton, QCA’s chief executive, says business secretary Kemi Badenoch has given audit regulators the job of promoting the “competitiveness and growth of the UK economy”. Ashton observes that, if companies can access an “affordable audit, one that does not force directors to make difficult decisions about how to allocate their limited resources,” that mission would be fulfilled. Sadly, Ashton is sceptical that is happening. “For now, that moment is worryingly distant.”

No one likes paying for audit. After all, it’s a service for shareholders. But, on those figures, it looks like a lot of summer fun days are going to be cancelled.

Down under, down to earth

For the past couple of weeks, Board Agenda has been reporting on how a new piece of EU rule-making–introducing humans rights and environmental due diligence—has well and truly hit the skids.

EU leaders were all ready to sign off on the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) but German politicians suddenly objected, claiming it went too far and imposed too many burdens on companies.

The hold-up has caused consternation, especially among NGOs. But not campaigners. This week, the Financial Times reports Aussie mining billionaire Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest saying Germany has got things wrong. “I could not be more stridently opposed to the view that [the directive] is bad for business,” he says.

Moreover, he adds that Europe runs a risk if it fails to push ahead with the CSDDD. “What I do know is, if they don’t adopt this law, then there’ll be a cloud of suspicion over industry.”

So there you have it. I doubt German politicians will be inviting Forrest to a bierkeller any time soon.

Knight to the rescue

Want to strengthen your board? Need someone to strengthen your governance? Well, you could do worse than hiring the former chief executive of the UK’s governance watchdog.

Sir Jon Thompson, until last year chief executive of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), has joined the board of Frasers Group, the retailer. This is the group, the Financial Times reports, that was declared “an embarrassment to UK corporate governance” by PIRC, the investment advisers, after the firm’s accounts were delayed.

Sir Jon, already the new chair of HS2, will no doubt have the job of helping to ensure Frasers is not “an embarrassment”. Given Sir Jon’s success in toughening up the FRC, we would like to wager that Frasers will become a beacon of UK governance. Place your bets.