Alumni from the Big Four accountancy firms and their predecessors have a wide influence in Britain's biggest companies. Their pervasive influence has left them open to accusations of conflicts of interest, especially where a company's finance director, or one of its other top executives, has links with its auditor. Whether such accusations are justified are discussed on the previous page. Here we show the companies where there are alumni links, which are highlighted in orange on the table.
Companies where the auditor is the old firm of the finance director (or another top director) are shown in orange
FTSE company FD (or other Qualification director) 3i Group Michael Queen ICAEW Abbey National Mark Pain ICAEW Alliance & Leicester Richard Pym ICAEW Alliance UniChem George Fairweather ICAS Amersham Giles Kerr ICAEW Amvescap Robert McCullough CPA Associated British Foods John Bason ICAEW Astrazeneca Jonathan Symonds ICAEW Aviva Mike Biggs ICAEW BAA Margaret Ewing ICAEW BT Group Ian Livingston ICAEW Boots & Co Howard Dodd ICAS British American Tobacco Paul Rayner ICAEW British Land Co Graham Roberts ICAEW British Sky Broadcasting Group Martin Stewart ICAEW Bunzl David Williams ICAEW Capita Group Gordon Hurst ICAEW Compass Group Andrew Lynch ICAEW Daily Mail & General Trust Peter Williams ICAEW Dixons Group Jeremy Darroch ICAEW Emap Gary Hughes ICAEW Exel John Coghlan ICAEW Friends Provident Martin Jackson ICAEW GKN Nigel Stein ICAS Gallaher Group Mark Rolfe ICAEW GlaxoSmithKline John Coombe ICAEW Granada Henry Staunton ICAEW HSBC Holdings Douglas Flint ICAS Hanson Jonathan Nicholls ICAEW Hilton Group Brain Wallace ICAEW Imperial Tobacco Group Robert Dyrbus ICAEW Invensys Adrian Hennah ICAEW Land Securities Group Andrew Macfarlane ICAEW Legal & General Group Andrew Palmer ICAEW Liberty International Aiden Smith CA Man Group Stanley Fink ICAEW Marks & Spencer Group Alison Reed ICAEW mmO2 David Finch ICAEW National Grid Transco Stephen Box ICAEW Northern Rock Robert Bennett ICAEW Old Mutual Julian Roberts ICAEW P&O Princess Cruises Nick Luff ICAEW Prudential Philip Broadley ICAEW Jonathan Bloomer ICAEW Reed Elsevier Mark Armour ICAEW Reuters Group David Grigson ICAEW Rexam Graham Chipchase ICAEW Rolls-Royce Paul Heiden ICAEW Royal & Sun Alliance Julian Hance ICAEW Royal Bank of Scotland Group Fred Goodwin ICAS Fred Watt ICAS Sage Group Paul Harrison ICAEW Sainsbury (J) Roger Matthews ICAEW Scottish & Newcastle Ian McHoul ICAEW Scottish & Southern Energy Ian Marchant ICAEW Scottish Power David Nish ICAS Shire Pharmaceuticals Angus Russell ICAEW Six Continents Richard North ICAEW Smith & Nephew Peter Hooley ICAEW Smiths Group Alan Thomson ICAS Tomkins Ken Lever ICAEW WPP Group Paul Richardson ICAEW Whitbread David Richardson ICAEW Wolseley Steve Webster ICAEW Xstrata Mick Davis CA FTSE company Alumni firm 3i Group Coopers & Lybrand Abbey National Touche Ross Alliance & Leicester Thomson McLintock Alliance UniChem Thomson McLintock Amersham Arthur Andersen (partner) Amvescap Arthur Andersen (partner) Associated British Foods Arthur Young Astrazeneca KPMG (partner) Aviva Arthur Andersen BAA Deloitte & Touche (partner) BT Group Arthur Andersen Boots & Co Arthur Andersen British American Tobacco Deloitte & Touche British Land Co Arthur Andersen (partner) British Sky Broadcasting Group Stoy Hayward Bunzl Price Waterhouse Capita Group Coopers & Lybrand Compass Group KPMG Daily Mail & General Trust Thomson McLintock Dixons Group Deloitte, Haskins & Sells Emap Ernst & Whinney Exel Arthur Andersen Friends Provident Touche Ross GKN Ernst & Whinney Gallaher Group Coopers & Lybrand GlaxoSmithKline Dixon Wilson Granada Price Waterhouse HSBC Holdings KPMG (partner) Hanson KPMG Hilton Group Price Waterhouse Imperial Tobacco Group Deloitte Haskins & Sells Invensys Price Waterhouse Land Securities Group Ernst & Young (partner) Legal & General Group Brewer & Co Liberty International KPMG Man Group Arthur Andersen Marks & Spencer Group Touche Ross mmO2 Arthur Andersen National Grid Transco Coopers & Lybrand (partner) Northern Rock Unknown Old Mutual Price Waterhouse P&O Princess Cruises KPMG Prudential Arthur Andersen Arthur Andersen Reed Elsevier Price Waterhouse (partner) Reuters Group Spicer & Pegler Rexam Coopers & Lybrand Deloitte Rolls-Royce Peat Marwick Mitchell Royal & Sun Alliance Deloitte Haskins & Sells Royal Bank of Scotland Group Touche Ross Grant Thornton Sage Group Baker Tilly, Price Waterhouse Sainsbury (J) Price Waterhouse Scottish & Newcastle KPMG Scottish & Southern Energy Coopers & Lybrand Scottish Power Price Waterhouse (partner) Shire Pharmaceuticals Coopers & Lybrand Six Continents Coopers & Lybrand (partner) Smith & Nephew Thornton Baker Smiths Group Arthur Andersen, Price Waterhouse Tomkins Arthur Andersen (partner) WPP Group KPMG Whitbread Touche Ross Wolseley Price Waterhouse (partner) Xstrata Peat Marwick FTSE company Company auditor Fees paid to auditors (m) 3i Group Ernst & Young 1.8 Abbey National Deloitte & Touche *1 7.7 Alliance & Leicester Deloitte & Touche 1.7 Alliance UniChem Deloitte & Touche *2 1 Amersham PwC 1.7 Amvescap Arthur Andersen *3 4.0 Associated British Foods KPMG 3.9 Astrazeneca KPMG 4.9 Aviva Ernst & Young 13.3 BAA Deloitte & Touche 1.3 BT Group PwC 27.9 Boots & Co KPMG 5.1 British American Tobacco PwC *4 20.5 British Land Co Arthur Andersen (now D & T) *5 2.4 British Sky Broadcasting Group Arthur Andersen (now D & T ) 14.4 Bunzl KPMG 3.9 Capita Group Ernst & Young 0.6 Compass Group Deloitte & Touche 5.0 Daily Mail & General Trust Deloitte & Touche 2.8 Dixons Group Deloitte & Touche 1.4 Emap PwC 1.7 Exel Ernst & Young 4.9 Friends Provident PwC 5.3 GKN PwC *6 5.7 Gallaher Group PwC 8.6 GlaxoSmithKline PwC 42.9 Granada KPMG 1.3 HSBC Holdings KPMG 24 Hanson Ernst & Young 3.6 Hilton Group Ernst & Young 3.5 Imperial Tobacco Group PwC 6.6 Invensys Ernst & Young *7 12.0 Land Securities Group PwC 1.6 Legal & General Group PwC 2.0 Liberty International PwC 2.9 Man Group PwC 1.0 Marks & Spencer Group PwC 3.5 mmO2 PwC 1.4 National Grid Transco PwC 12.4 Northern Rock PwC 1.0 Old Mutual KPMG 7.0 P&O Princess Cruises KPMG 4.2 Prudential KPMG 20.1 Reed Elsevier Deloitte & Touche 5.9 Reuters Group PwC 15.1 Rexam Ernst & Young 2.0 Rolls-Royce KPMG 5.0 Royal & Sun Alliance PwC 26.5 Royal Bank of Scotland Group Deloitte & Touche 12.2 Sage Group PwC *8 0.7 Sainsbury (J) PwC 2.7 Scottish & Newcastle Ernst & Young 4.4 Scottish & Southern Energy KPMG 0.3 Scottish Power PwC *9 18.1 Shire Pharmaceuticals Deloitte & Touche Six Continents Ernst & Young 6.7 Smith & Nephew Ernst & Young 3.3 Smiths Group PwC 11.6 Tomkins Deloitte & Touche 2.6 WPP Group Arthur Andersen (now D & T) 17.3 Whitbread Ernst & Young 1.6 Wolseley PwC 4.9 Xstrata Ernst & Young 0.3METHODOLOGY
We have included in the table FTSE 100 companies that have a chartered accountant as finance director, chairman or chief executive officer. Accountants who trained in industry and, with one exception, overseas have been excluded.
Information on directors' alumni firms has been gathered from biographies published by the FTSE 100 and the PricerwaterhouseCoopers Corporate Register, and from the companies themselves. The biographies do not distinguish between training firms and alumni firms.
The number of mergers between accountancy firms will have an effect on the 'matching' statistics, the most difficult being the fortunes of Deloitte, Haskins & Sells and Touche Ross. A merger between Deloitte, Haskins & Sells and Touche Ross was brokered by the New York firms in the 1980s.
The UK firm of Deloitte, however, rebelled and merged with Coopers & Lybrand to form Coopers & Lybrand Deloitte, which later dropped the 'Deloitte' part of its name before merging with Price Waterhouse. For the purposes of this survey, former Touche Ross employees in the UK are 'matched' with Deloitte & Touche and Deloitte, Haskins & Sells employees are matched with PwC.
KPMG was formed from, of course, Peat Marwick Mitchell and Thomson McLintock, Ernst & Young from Arthur Young and Ernst & Whinney, and Spicer & Pegler merged with Touche Ross, which later formed part of Deloitte & Touche.
NOTES
*1 Pain is MD of wholesale banking. Group FD Stephen Hester is not an accountant
*2 Executive chairman Jeff Harris is an FCA - alumni firms are Touche Ross, E&Y and Spicer & Pegler
*3 Andersen audited 2001 results, but Amvescap has since hired E&Y
*4 Chairman Martin Broughton is ex-Peat Marwick Mitchell
*5 Deputy chairman Derek Higgs is ex-AA. Executive director Cyril Metliss is a former Stoy Hayward partner.
*6 Chairman Sir David Lees is ex-Binder Hamlyn
*7 Previous CFO Kathleen O'Donovan (retired December 2002) is a former E&Y partner
*8 COO Paul Stobart is ex-Price Waterhouse. CEO Paul Walker is ex-Arthur Young
*9 Chief executive Ian Russell is ex-Thomson McLintock
Fees paid to auditors are the latest published.