Just imagine that fox guarding the henhouse. It also designs its locks, paints it, and distributes recipes for roast chicken. That, dear reader, is the world of auditing and consulting in the UK today. In this world, conflicts of interest are not incidental. They are all but institutional.

Let’s start with an example I’ve explored before: KPMG and the Patent Box.

In short, KPMG helped design a government tax incentive to boost innovation. Then, they advised corporate clients on how to exploit it as a tax-saving tool. It’s a masterclass in conflict of interest. Click here to read my full analysis.

If this sounds like an exception, remember the 2008 financial crisis?

During that time, the Big Four were playing the fireman and the arsonist simultaneously. EY and Deloitte advised the government on handling bank bailouts. At the same time, they were auditors of those same banks. These banks had been taking undue risks in lending and in their accounting for many years. Read more about the financial crisis and auditors here. To read a thought provoking piece by journalist and author, Ian Fraser, please click here.

Major auditing firms don’t just help clients fiddle the books – they also help write the recipe. Take, for example, the role of PwC in Luxembourg’s tax rulings revealed through the LuxLeaks scandal. PwC had advised the government of Luxembourg on how to draft tax laws that multinational corporations could exploit. Then they advised the same corporations-including Amazon and Apple-on how to exploit the laws.

Read about the LuxLeaks scandal here

Pwc and its Big Four brethren have huge influence in the writing of international accounting rules. These are the supposed rules of the road for promoting transparency and fair play. It is interesting that they also sell advice to their clients. This advice is on how to game those very rules. Creative revenue recognition? Check. Clever lease structuring? Absolutely.

They’re setting the playing field and then giving their clients the cheat sheets. Read on corporate lobbying of accounting standards here. and here

Public services are not spared either!

KPMG is acting again. This time they are advising the NHS on cost-cutting. Simultaneously, they are consulting for private healthcare providers waiting in the wings. The recommendations? Outsource services, close gaps, make way for. private providers. See below how auditors influenced NHS strategies.

The apologists for these practices will say it’s just business. It’s not just business when the so-called “independent” advisors shape our policies. They audit our books while lining their pockets with profits. These profits come from the loopholes they designed. It is betrayal of trust and betrayal of ethics. It is a betrayal of the very notion that some players should stand above the fray.

What is to be done?

Greater regulation, compelling a divorce between audit and consultancy arms; even root-and-branch reform in how these firms work. But the real question, as ever, is this:

why do we keep letting the poachers guard the gates?

Until we answer that, the hens will keep disappearing-one by one.