According to the Financial Times, Aberdeen Asset Management’s head of corporate governance, Paul Lee, has declared “a more strident line” on extended audit relationships.
Lee stated that Aberdeen will vote against the reappointment of auditors who have been in place “for a long time”.
The move is likely to have the biggest effect on international groups that have used the same auditors for many decades, reports the FT.
Last year, in a move widely viewed as an upheaval for the Big Four international audit firms, the European Union moved to reform audit arrangements with a limit of ten years on the period auditors can remain with a client. They also introduced restrictions on other services an auditor could provide to an audit client.
In April it was revealed that French audit firm Mazars (which has a UK presence) would merge with German auditor Roever Broenner Susat to create a much larger business, able to compete with the Big Four as they are forced to put long-held audits up for retender. The reforms come into effect in June 2016.