Joe O'Toole (Independent)

I said earlier and will say again for the benefit of Senator Mooney that the chief executive of the second largest group of accountants in the United Kingdom is opposed to the raising of the threshold. While I have some sympathy for the raising of the threshold, it is accountants who are most strenuously opposed to it. I receive strong representations that it is time we made limited liability the privilege that it is, that it is worth something and important. In that sense, it has been forgotten. It was bequeathed by society to companies on the basis that we had trust and confidence in them to manage their own affairs.

I read out the story from the accountancy magazine about the auditor who found that there was no fire safety door on a company's premises which could be deemed a criminal offence. This kind of scare story is a two-edged sword and could take off. There are many who would like this kind of pressure being brought to bear on companies. I am certainly not one and know of no one on the interim board of the IASA who supports that point of view.