Chronic fimbrosis
FIMBRA: a state of terminal obscurity (Latin finis, an end, and umbra, a sha- dow?). A modest species of aquatic life? A ligament at the base of the spine, subject to painful degeneration — fimbrosis? Some of each, in fact; Fimbra is the regulatory body which licensed Dunsdale Securities, where £20 million of clients' money, sup- posedly invested in Government stock, now seems to be missing. When word reached Fimbra's dockside offices, its re- sponse was to threaten libel actions against newspapers which suggested that it might have been slow off the mark, and beyond that to indicate that it could not be expected to do the auditors' job for them. Dunsdale's accounts were audited by David A. Rose of Hertfordshire, whose name is new to me. I impute no blame. It must, though, be clear that if the whole costly structure of investor protection established by the Financial Services Act proves to stand on the foundation of auditors' certificates, that foundation needs another look. Not all auditors are the same. Some are vast and eminent firms, some are one-man bands. And there are other differences as well. We may need a register of firms acceptable as auditors for the purposes of the Act — and firms privileged to be on the register could be required to post a bond, against the day when the accounts they have audited turn out to have a hole in them.
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