ACCA welcomes the opportunity to respond to the Department for Business and Trade’s (DBT) consultation on refining the UK’s competition regime. From public practice to the corporate and public sectors, ACCA has over 100,000 members working in accountancy and finance roles across the UK. By leveraging data-driven insights, they are increasingly looked to for guidance beyond day-to-day financial management. Key areas include managing cashflow, regulatory challenges, and capitalising on growth opportunities.

ACCA recognises the positive role of regulation on the UK’s position in the global marketplace. In a changing world on trust, sustainability, and AI, effective regulation can give businesses the confidence to grow and invest. It is for this reason that we support proposed improvements to the UK’s competition regime, especially those that stand to deliver faster decision-making and greater consistency.

Rather than respond to each of the questions, ACCA’s response follows the four thematic areas outlined in the consultation document. Those include measures to enhance the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) accountability, markets work, merger control regime, and investigative powers for algorithms. In addition, ACCA also makes the following overarching recommendations.

1. Competition framework that provides certainty: A strong, modern, institutional, and legislative framework is key to ensuring the UK meets its potential. ACCA supports improvements that deliver faster decision-making and greater consistency.
2. Welcome inclusion of sunset clauses when designing remedies: A commitment to review can mitigate the cumulative burden of regulation, ensuring the UK’s competition framework remains fit-for-purpose.
3. Principle-based approach over exhaustive check list: ACCA advocates the importance of a principles-based approach and not one based on closed criteria. Based on ACCA’s experience regulating members in audit and anti-money laundering (AML), it can avoid emergence of a ‘tick box’ mentality.
4. Investigative powers matched with safeguards: Enhanced powers to investigate algorithms should take a balanced approach. These should support inter-operability and not conflict with existing requirements.

To read the response in full, please download the document found on this page.