EU backs down on auditing rules

The EU's top institutions have agreed on a compromise version of pan-European auditing rules, scrapping the proposals greatly criticised by companies.

The original blueprint suggested firms would have to set up special audit committees, rotate audit partners after seven years and face some restrictions on non-audit work, writes the Financial Times.

It was designed to prevent accounting scandals as those reported in the last years in relation to the US firm Enron, the Dutch retail...