The organisation responsible for appointing auditors should take away up to 20% of current contracts from existing suppliers and put them back out to tender, a top accountancy body has said.

In a consultation response, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) said Public Sector Audit Appointments (PSAA) should vary the contracts to allow other firms on the local audit register to bid for the work, which would help overcome ‘immediate short-term resource issues'.