Changes in the International Regulation of Auditors : (In)Stalling the Eighth Directive in the UK

In 1984 the European Commission issued the Eighth Company Law Directive requiring each member State to ensure that its national rules met common standards for the education, training and qualification of statutory auditors (84/253/EEC; OJ 1984 L126/20). The Directive insisted that national governments take responsibility for the regulation of auditors, a requirement that clashed with the autonomy which many professional bodies believed they possessed. In this article we explore the processes through which the Eighth Directive on the regulation of auditors has been implemented in the UK. We argue that the Eighth Directive illuminates the effects of political and economic discourses on the development of accounting and auditing regulations and the protocols involved in installing such regulations into particular national contexts. The Eighth Directive represents a revealing moment in the shifts in political discourse (towards neo-liberalism) in the UK and the problems of reconciling new modes of economic and political thinking with international regulatory programmes and institutions. Moreover, the implementation of the Eighth Directive in the UK cannot be comprehended outside of (i) an analysis of the problems the British Government has had in “managing” the accountancy profession in the UK and (ii), understanding the powerful image of the auditing industry as a key contributor to the UK economy