Accountancy Magazine
PwC chief attacks ‘conflicting regulations’
Ian Powell backs ‘one in, one out’ principle
30 September 2008
PricewaterhouseCoopers chairman Ian Powell has criticised ‘conflicting national regulations’ that introduce cost and complexity ‘for no real benefit’.
Speaking at his firm’s Building Public Trust awards, Powell said regulation had seen significant growth over the past decade.
He said: ‘Too often in the past regulators have fallen prey to the belief that regulation designed to cope with the last crisis will prevent the next one. Which is about as likely as winning a Formula 1 race only looking in the rear view mirror.
Powell added: ‘The real challenge is to improve our regulations, not just add more. A “one in, one out” principle is worth considering and by that I mean we improve and replace regulations, not just add new ones.’
But the biggest issue was systemic risk. ‘We need a better mechanism to flag problems, to highlight the symptoms. I want the leading accounting firms to be willing to join the top table, with business leaders, with regulators, central bankers, credit rating agencies and others to identify ways of creating an early warning system.’
He added: ‘Precisely how we do this, I honestly don’t know – but if we are to learn from recent events we need to find an answer.’
Speaking at his firm’s Building Public Trust awards, Powell said regulation had seen significant growth over the past decade.
He said: ‘Too often in the past regulators have fallen prey to the belief that regulation designed to cope with the last crisis will prevent the next one. Which is about as likely as winning a Formula 1 race only looking in the rear view mirror.
Powell added: ‘The real challenge is to improve our regulations, not just add more. A “one in, one out” principle is worth considering and by that I mean we improve and replace regulations, not just add new ones.’
But the biggest issue was systemic risk. ‘We need a better mechanism to flag problems, to highlight the symptoms. I want the leading accounting firms to be willing to join the top table, with business leaders, with regulators, central bankers, credit rating agencies and others to identify ways of creating an early warning system.’
He added: ‘Precisely how we do this, I honestly don’t know – but if we are to learn from recent events we need to find an answer.’
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